In Search of a Dragon
The thing about dragons is this. They belong in the realm of human mythology and folklore. They are a part of the way we make logical sense of ourselves, our being.​
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The physical realm, though, is the one that is most real to us, because it is the one that we sense. There are, however, plenty of realities other than our physical world. Has a dream ever affected your mood during the day and thus passed over from some psychological realm into the physical? It is to one of these realities that the dragons belong.​
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So, does it make sense to create a physical representation of a dragon? Should a dragon representative be expressed only as an intellectual construct, as in the written word?
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​Dragons in the literature have existed for a long time indeed. Beowulf battled not one, but two dragons in his lifetime. The last being his demise. That creature was the inspiration for Smaug, J.R.R. Tolkien’s dragon in Lord of the Rings, which we have seen as a physical representation in the movies.
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​Speaking of dragons on the screen, we meet physical representatives in the Game of Thrones, at least one of which was something other than a flamethrowing reptile (Episode 7 of Season 7, if you want to see it). And I think this brings us closer to what a physical representative of our TWR dragon might be. The ice dragon (or frost dragon in Ernest Drake’s Dragonology) reminds one of the TWR color scheme: its icy blues and its frosty whites.
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​We meet cold-breath dragons in the more recent literature, too. The Rock-wyrms in Lady Trent’s journal (Marie Brennan [2013], A Natural History of Dragons, A Memoir of Lady Trent) are typical of Northern frost dragons. And so too, it appears, our TWR dragon is of this Northern variety.
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​Thus, whether it makes sense or not, prepare to meet a physical representation of our TWR dragon. His first photos appear on this page. You will see them below. Read on, though, to find out more about our dragon and his kin.
Dragons in their Younger Years
Dragon newborns appear very much like baby sea serpents. They are born without wings and legs and are often completely white. It is difficult to tell them apart from the creatures that will grow to be true sea serpents.
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Young dragons spend much of their baby years undulating in the seas of their homelands. This is why dragons carry an affinity for the sea their entire lives.
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As they mature, dragons begin to sprout wings, legs, and horns – the hallmark appendages that differentiate them from all other creatures. These appendages slow them down in the water, so as they grow, young dragons gradually leave the sea behind and take up residence on land, often in caves near the sea. Sometimes, they come to live among humans, like the Reluctant Dragon in Kenneth Graham’s 1898 tale Dream Days. Even then, though, caves are the place of the dragon.
Dragon Coloring
The coloring of a frost dragon is rather unique among dragons. Frost dragons generally retain white hueing as their predominant color. Their wings, legs, and horns often take on different pigmentation as they mature; it is usually less dark than that of the more common dragons. It is not uncommon for frost dragons to display blue, green, and purple coloring. Contrast this with the deep reds, browns, and black of many fire-breathing dragons.
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It should not surprise you then that the coloring of our TWR dragon is similar to the TWR colors – white & blue with a touch of black. Indeed, it is because of the frost dragon that the TWR colors are such. It’s a pleasing combination both in the dragon and human sporting worlds!
Dragon Names
Entrenched as they are in Medieval folklore, it is not surprising that many dragons have medieval-sounding names. There are, for instance, the Germanic folklore dragon Fafnir, who battled Sigurd, and Jormungandr, the gargantuan sea serpent of the North that encircled the earth.
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A frost dragon, though, needs a name that evokes a winter scene, I think. It should be a name that makes one think of falling snow or an icy lake in a forest, perhaps. A name that reminds one of a frosty blue and white panorama with a forest of ice-touched pine trees against a clear, blue sky.
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With that in mind, let’s consider that the Sami peoples of Scandinavia are said to have hundreds of words for the different forms of snow. Among those words is one for what English-speaking people call an avalanche – Rido. The word Rido depicts a powerful churning and tumbling mass of icy blue and shimmering white/black snow chunks. Yet, the word Rido is soft enough sounding to make one think of the floating puffs of snowspray that hover over a mountain avalanche as it cascades down a slope.
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Ever-importantly, Rido begins with an R. Why is that important? Well, we know the T and W in TWR stand for “The Wilde.” But, the R? What does that stand for? Well, now you know!
And Finally!
So, I guess you can see where this is going. Here, come to live among the humans, at least for awhile – in his frosty whites and icy blues and common-dragon black – is Rido the TWR dragon. Thanks to Rido’s Creator Anna Griffiths for his splendor!
