There are no dragons in Skyrim and many other games because wyverns are NOT dragons. and don’t use the “well the overarching category is dragon so it still counts” argument on me, because I will dismiss it out of hand!
DnD isn’t the god of fantasy. Just because what’s physically a wyvern in DnD is labeled as a dragon in another fantasy universe doesn’t mean it isn’t a dragon in that other fantasy universe. It’s like TES calling dwarves deep elves. Just because dwarves aren’t a type of elf in DnD doesn’t mean they aren’t in TES
They are synonymous. Throughout most of history, the word “dragon” hasn’t been used to refer to a specific form of big reptile. Medieval sources aren’t specific, and artwork is all over the place on what they look like: how many legs, how many wings (if any), etc. It’s only through the relatively recent phenomenon of trying to classify and systematize things that people have adopted this rigid view of the word. My guess is that a big part of it is games like Dungeons & Dragons becoming more popular.
This picture illustrates the difference between the different dragon and dragon-adjacent creatures! My partner is also pretty adamant about this subject, so I’ve wound up developing the same pedantry.
Everyone knows that dragons don’t exist. But while this simplistic formulation may satisfy the layman, it does not suffice for the scientific mind. The School of Higher Neantical Nillity is in fact wholly unconcerned with what does exist. Indeed, the banality of existence has been so amply demonstrated, there is no need for us to discuss it any further here. The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the purely hypothetical. They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each non-existed in an entirely different way.
There are no dragons in Skyrim and many other games because wyverns are NOT dragons. and don’t use the “well the overarching category is dragon so it still counts” argument on me, because I will dismiss it out of hand!
DnD isn’t the god of fantasy. Just because what’s physically a wyvern in DnD is labeled as a dragon in another fantasy universe doesn’t mean it isn’t a dragon in that other fantasy universe. It’s like TES calling dwarves deep elves. Just because dwarves aren’t a type of elf in DnD doesn’t mean they aren’t in TES
Wyverns aren’t dragons? I thought the words were synonyms / interchangable … (Note: I have never played Skyrim)
They are synonymous. Throughout most of history, the word “dragon” hasn’t been used to refer to a specific form of big reptile. Medieval sources aren’t specific, and artwork is all over the place on what they look like: how many legs, how many wings (if any), etc. It’s only through the relatively recent phenomenon of trying to classify and systematize things that people have adopted this rigid view of the word. My guess is that a big part of it is games like Dungeons & Dragons becoming more popular.
That makes sense. Is Jesus still specifically a lich though?
Jesus is resurrected so under the rigid classifications he’d never be considered any type of undead
Fuck me that’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time. Fantastic delivery.
This picture illustrates the difference between the different dragon and dragon-adjacent creatures! My partner is also pretty adamant about this subject, so I’ve wound up developing the same pedantry.
Very pretty and on-point illustration!
Holy crap, this is useful. Thanks!
Stanisław Lem, The Cyberiad
Dragons have four limbs in addition to their wings
Wyverns have legs, and then their arms are their wings
Wyrms have neither legs, arms, nor wings