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"The dragon hovered above them. Ninety feet was he, maybe, from tip to tip of his vast membranous wings, that shone in the new sunlight like gold-shot smoke, and the length of his body was no less, but lean, arched like a greyhound, clawed like a lizard, and snake-scaled."
Ursula LeGuin - The Farthest Shore

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The Occidental or Western dragon is very often thought of as an evil animalistic creature whose insticts are to kill people or cattle. If you look back into the legends of europe this is often true. However if you dig a bit deeper and go a bit further back in time you will find this was not always the case.

There are tales of dragons who, although still warlike, are guardians of humans such as the legend of Y Ddraig Goch who fought and killed the invading dragon Gwiber. In doing so he symbolised the welsh fighting off the saxons. And so although still a creature of battle he was benevolent to the people he protected.

This picture shows the battle that took place between the brit dragon Y Ddraig Goch (Red) and the saxon dragon Gwiber (White)

The celts also had other tales of the dragon some of which showed the creature as a defender. In the Celtic legend of Lludd and Llefelys a dragon is mentioned. I will explain the story in more detail else where but in short the story tells of a terrible scream which echoed every may eve over every hearth in britain. It left the lands barren and Lludd, the leader of the celts knew something would have to be done. The noise was that of a dragon screaming as he engaged an invading dragon in combat.
Nowhere does it mention the dragon defending the Celts but it does tell of the dragon defending the lands against the invading dragon. This tale then bears similarities to the legend of Y Ddraig Goch and although the symbolism of this tale is not factually written down anywhere i have seen, i do think in those times it too would have been similar to the welsh dragon.

The proud welsh name Pendragon which was later incorperated into the legend of King Arthur also reflects the protection of dragons.

Ancient Rome also had its fair share of dragon tales, not all of which were evil, such as Homers (The poet) account of the shield of Herculese apon which was coiled a fire breathing dragon.

Infact the name dragon is derrived from the latin word "Draco" which in turn was derrived from the ancient greek word "Draconta" or "Drakon" which means to watch or to guard. We believe this was given to the creature by way of the attribute of guarding something.

So not all dragons were as evil as perhaps we are led to believe. This is not to say there werent any dragons in europe who would cause us to despise them.
For instance the norse dragons were powerful beasts associated with war and death. They would have dragons heads carved onto the front of their warships and their dragon legends justified the fear the dragonships inspired.

For instance the dragon Nighoggr or Nidhogg. He would lay in Niflheim at the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree, and gnaw at them. The world tree was said to be the axis of the universe and therefore Nighogg's act was the worst possibe kind of evil. Even the name Nidhogg was a fearful name for it translates to "Envy dragon" or "Corpse tearer" or "dread biter"

Another perfect example of the fearsom dragon is the famous story of Beowulf. The story was thought to have been orally told from 600AD but the only written copy we have was written, possibly in Northumbria, in roughly 1000AD and is now kept by the british museum. In short it tells of a dragon named Grendel which had made its home in the fetid swamps near Heorot (The hall of the stag)
Grendel killed thirty warriors from Heorot at night and carried them off into the night to be devoured at the swamp. This would then happen every night until the King, Hrothgar, and his court fled from Heorot.
A hero from scandanavia named Beowulf of the Geats sailed to denmark (Where the story takes place) to rid the land of Grendel. 

This is a good example, not only because it tells of the darker side of the dragon but also because it indicates the dragon has intelligence. This indication is very much between the lines and some may disagree but when Grendel is killed by Beowulf, Grendels mother appears and in her rage kills a soldier. This is not the behaviour of a creature acting on instinct. Therefore if the dragons have intelligence it is likely that their actions are not evil but a way of survival. I expect many of you will have eaten a rabbit or a pig before. That is all these "evil" dragons are doing.
However this does not change the fact that in these legends the "evil" dragons were our enemies.

The dragon legends and stories were very much changed by the coming of Christianity. Dragons for good or bad were demonised by the new faith and were no longer associated with guarding. Tales from those times all showed the dragon as a creature of the devil or a beast for knights to test their courage against.

The most famous of these tales is of course the story of St George & the dragon. There are many variations of this legend and none of them show the dragon in a good light.
The cult of St George was introduced to western culture by the crusaders. Reputedly he lived in Palestine in the 3rd century AD and was a high ranking officer in the roman army.
When the Emperor, Diocletian, began a severe persecution of Christians in 303AD, George found the courage to remonstrate him and was killed for his efforts.
Its much later we hear about the dragon, in a 13th century book about the saints. It says the dragon is a swamp monster living near a place called Silene. Some think this is in Libya and others think it's near Beirut.
Its said the dragon started off innocently but soon started to eat sheep and finally demanded a maiden a day.
When it came to be the kings daughters turn to be tied to a rock, a wandering knight (George) unties her and slays the dragon.

Another version of the story is that George did not infact kill the dragon. He weakened it so much it could not move. He then took it to Silene and told those that dwelt there that if they did not become Christians he would not slay the dragon.

In the bible itself there is a dragon slayer named St Michael. "There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not. Neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him"  (Book of Revelations) Because of this tale, many churches are dedicated to St Michael, the leader of the hosts of heaven. This portrays St Michael standing triumphant over the dragon which in those times was a symbol for evil. It can be found at St Mary's catholic church, Belding. It is dated back to the late 19th century.

Its maybe because of Christianities attack on dragons that we know dragons as evil and self serving but it is also possible that this attack preserved the western dragon. Because the dragon was made out to be one of our fiercest enemies the legends stood the test of time and now they are as prominant in our culture as ever they have been before.

During the middle ages dragons under differing names were mentioned in bestiaries such as the Amphisbaena, The Draco and the Wyvern around europe where the symbol of evil was thoroughly exploited. One such tale comes from france of the Gargouille, a water sprouting dragon which nearly destroys Roven.

The alchemists took the dragon as a symbol for mercury and thus showing the dragon had many forms and traits around the western world.

In modern culture the dragon is just as diverse. JRR Tolkiens The Hobbit, first released in september 1937, helped to popularise the modern dragon with the dragon Smaug. The dragon was slain by the adventuring party and its treasure taken. Smaug was a fairly typical medieval dragon, which would burn towns and hoard gold.

Since then the dragon has been seen in all mediums. Books such as Robin Hobbs's Farseer Trilogy show the dragon as a noble and arrogant creature, with intelligence far beyond ours. In art as well there are several artists who dedicate their lives to capturing the dragon in all its splendor onto paper or disk.
Movies too have taken advantage of the dragons popular image and so films like Dragonheart and Eragon appear. There is even a pretend documentary on dragons called The Last Dragon which tries to proove the existence of the creature.

And so friend or foe, good or evil, protector or destroyer, the dragon in all its forms is immortal. The legends and stories of the Occidental dragon will live on far beyond our years. Who knows how they will evolve. But then, part of the magic of dragons is that there is very little we do know and that magic at least, will never be lost.

Bibliography

1. A Natural History Dragons & Unicorns - Paul and Karin Johnsguard
2. Encyclopedia of world Mythology - Arthur Cotterwell
3. Fabulous Creatures & Other Magical Beings - The Cryptozoologicial Society of London
4. Giants, Monsters & Dragons - Carol Rose
5. Here be Dragons - Ralph Whitlock 
6. Myth and Mankind, Heroes of the Celtic Dawn: Celtic Myth - Duncan Baird Publishers
7. Mythology - C. Scott Littleton 
8. Mythology of the celtic people - Charles Squire
9. The Flight of Dragons - Peter Dickinson
10. The Real Middle Earth - Brian Bates
11. www.museum.msu.edu
12. www.pantheon.org

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