The classic trio: the princess, the knight, and the dragon
"My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"
— Smaug, The Hobbit
Tropes about dragons, drakes, wyrms, wyverns, and any beast of this mythical taxon.
The Dragon, Bullying a Dragon and Dragon Lady are not about dragons proper.
Tropes:
- Armored Dragons: A dragon wears removable armor that is not part of their anatomy.
- Basilisk and Cockatrice: Basilisks and/or cockatrices, another type of monstrous and often winged reptile.
- Breath Weapon: Breathing out or vomiting forth a substance used as a weapon.
- Catlike Dragons: A dragon that looks and/or acts like a cat.
- Cold Hurts Reptiles: As (usually) reptilian creatures, dragons tend to be weak to ice or cold.
- Corporate Dragon: A figurative or literal dragon that owns a business.
- Cybernetic Mythical Beast: Sci-fi variants of dragons fused with technology.
- Delightful Dragon: A dragon that's nice and friendly.
- Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Dinosaurs portrayed as either being dragons or at least having some draconic traits.
- Dracolich: Undead dragons.
- Draconic Abomination: Eldritch dragons that go well above and beyond the rest in terms of power and unnatural horror.
- Draconic Humanoid: Anthropomorphic dragons with humanlike body shapes.
- Dragon Ancestry: Someone with draconic ancestry or dragon blood.
- Dragon Hoard: Dragons often guard treasure hoards.
- Dragon Knight: A knight with a dragon-like appearance and/or powers.
- Dragon/Phoenix Juxtaposition: Something represented by a dragon paired with something represented by a phoenix.
- Dragon Rider: Someone rides a dragon.
- Dragons Are Demonic: Dragons as evil beings.
- Dragons Are Divine: Dragons as holy beings.
- The Dragons Come Back: Dragons (or similar apex predators) returning from extinction/exile.
- The Dragonslayer: A character with a reputation for slaying dragons.
- Dragons Prefer Princesses: Either a dragon steals a princess or a princess is given to that dragon as an offering.
- Dragons Up the Yin Yang: Using oriental dragons and/or the yin-yang symbol to indicate awesome Asian stuff.
- Dragon Tamer: A character who tames or breeds dragons.
- Dragons Versus Knights: European dragons are the traditional foes of fairytale knights.
- Dragon Variety Pack: When a work includes multiple different interpretations of dragons by defining them as distinct in-universe species.
- Eastern Zodiac: The dragon is the fifth animal of the zodiac.
- Elemental Dragon: Dragons with elemental powers or associated with elements.
- Fairy Dragons: Small dragons with insect-like wings.
- Feathered Dragons: Dragons depicted with feathers on some or all of their body, most often on their wings.
- Feathered Serpent: A snake (or snake-like creature) with feathers (or feather-like projections). These are sometimes treated as a type of dragon, and sometimes not.
- Fiery Salamander: Another type of reptile known for Playing with Fire.
- Giant Flyer: Large flying creatures in general.
- Imoogi: Giant serpents from Korean Mythology that seek to achieve divine Dragonhood.
- Kirin: An East Asian mythical creature often resembling, or specifically linked to, dragons.
- Last of His Kind: A dragon is the last of its species (an endling), not exclusive to dragons but very common.
- Lazy Dragon: Dragons sleep a long time, and may act lazily even when awake.
- Legendary Carp: In Eastern myth and literature, carps that live for a sufficient time and/or leap over a waterfall become dragons.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Portrayals of dragons with varying traits from work to work.
- Our Hydras Are Different: A multi-headed dragon-like monster originating from Greek mythology, known for its impressive regenerative abilities.
- Our Wyverns Are Different: The different ways in which fiction portrays a specific sort of four-limbed (usually, two legs, two wings) and generally poisonous and dimwitted dragon.
- Orochi: An eight-headed and -tailed serpent from Japanese mythology, which can be considered an older or more primitive form of Japanese dragon.
- Scaled Up: A character — usually a villain — transforms into a more reptilian state.
- Sea Serpents: Aquatic serpents/reptiles that are often considered related to dragons or a subcategory of dragon.
- Seahorses Are Dragons: A creature seahorse-like and dragon-like.
- Shoulder-Sized Dragon: A dragon small enough to sit on someone's shoulder.
- Tiger Versus Dragon: Something representing or represented by a dragon against something representing or represented by a tiger.
- Weredragon: A shapeshifter who can change between human and dragon forms.