Dragon is a fictional character from the
''Shrek'' franchise, who initially appears as a
villainess
A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...
guarding
Princess Fiona
Fiona is a fictional character in DreamWorks' ''Shrek'' franchise, first appearing in the animated film ''Shrek'' (2001). One of the film series' main characters, Fiona is introduced as a beautiful princess placed under a curse that transforms ...
, before becoming an ally to
Shrek
''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenso ...
and the mate of his sidekick,
Donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
, and helping to defeat the evil
Lord Farquaad
Lord Maximus Farquaad is the main antagonist of the 2001 animated feature film ''Shrek'', as well as ''Shrek 4-D'' and the musical. He is voiced by John Lithgow. He does not appear in William Steig's original picture book of the same name.
In ...
by eating him whole. She has since appeared in every series film in some regard, with a parallel universe version again becoming a villain in ''
Shrek Forever After
''Shrek Forever After'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek the Thi ...
''. Also appearing in spin-offs, she is commonly seen as a
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
in stage adaptations of the series such as ''
Shrek the Musical
''Shrek The Musical'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film ''Shrek'', along with elements of its sequels: '' Shrek 2'', ''Shrek Forever After'' ...
''. Dragon has become well-known in pop culture, and been noted as a satire of animated
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
dragons. Her appearance and role were praised by critics, some of whom praised her unexpectedly kind and heroic nature as a feminist twist on the trope of a male
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
slaying a dragon to rescue a princess.
Characteristics
Dragon resembles most classical interpretations of
European dragon
The European dragon is a legendary creature in folklore and mythology among the overlapping
cultures of Europe.
The Roman poet Virgil in his poem ''Culex'' lines 163-201, describing a shepherd having a fight with a big constricting snake, ca ...
s. She has keeled, ruby-colored scales, leathery bat-like wings, long, crested ears, bony spikes along her jawline, a row of dorsal spines, vertical slit
pupil
The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black ...
s, and a long, spade-tipped,
prehensile tail
A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has adapted to grasp or hold objects. Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees. If the ta ...
. Dragon does not speak, but does employ physically expressive
body language
Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
to communicate. Like her mate Donkey, she is never given a proper name in the films - in a passing line, Donkey refers to her as "Elizabeth", leading it to often be seen as her name by fans, but this may just be a gag.
Dragon's personality is "tender-hearted", despite having so few visitors that she incinerates any apparent knights sight-unseen. Similarly lonely as Princess Fiona, she regularly puts on
lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back to ...
in the hopes of finding a romantic partner.
Development
The animators of ''Shrek'' initially had Dragon breathe realistic fire for the film's rescue scene, similar to that used in torches and candles, but realized it looked unnaturally forced. Instead, they replaced it with a stream of roiling bubbles rendered with fluid technology, which was then coated with a skin of flame.
Appearances
''Film series''
Dragon has the task of guarding Princess Fiona in her isolated castle. While Shrek attempts to rescue the princess, Donkey finds himself at the mercy of Dragon. Upon learning that his captor is female, Donkey begins spouting flattery in order to distract her. Dragon becomes infatuated with him, despite the fact that her love is
unrequited. As a result, she picks him up in her teeth and carries him to her chambers, where she wraps him in her tail and flirts with him. Shrek soon comes back to "save his ass" (a
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
referring to Donkey), and the trio escape from Dragon's castle, leaving a chained and miserable dragoness in their wake. Dragon is not seen again until later in the film, having escaped and abandoned Fiona's volcanic keep. She and Donkey make amends, and aid Shrek in his quest to save Fiona from her marriage to Lord Farquaad. Dragon disposes of Farquaad by swallowing him.
Dragon is absent for much of ''
Shrek 2
''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek'' (2001) and the seco ...
'', but becomes one of Shrek's best friends prior to its events. Donkey claims at the film's beginning that she had been "all moody and stuff" recently, explaining his unannounced arrival at Shrek's swamp. Nevertheless, Dragon makes a full appearance in a
post-credits scene
A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
, in which she arrives with six young "
dronkeys" - dragon-donkey
hybrids that meet their clueless father for the first time.
In ''
Shrek the Third
''Shrek the Third'' (also known as ''Shrek 3'') is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The se ...
'', Dragon and her young dronkeys stay behind with Fiona and the other "princess" characters to await Shrek's return. When
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, includi ...
attacks Far Far Away, Dragon is captured and disarmed by a large iron chain
cast net
A casting net, also called a throw net, is a net used for fishing. It is a circular net with small weights distributed around its edge.
The net is cast or thrown by hand in such a manner that it spreads out while it's in the air before it sinks ...
; her dronkey offspring are caught and imprisoned, as well. At the film's climax, Dragon helps dispose of Prince Charming by knocking over a stone stage prop
keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
on top of him. She is later seen in Shrek's swamp while Shrek and Fiona are caring for their
ogre triplets.
In the series' last film, ''Shrek Forever After'', Dragon appears briefly at the beginning of the film, but reappears later in a
parallel universe where she never met Donkey, having been captured by
Rumpelstiltskin
"Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; german: Rumpelstilzchen) is a German fairy tale. It was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of '' Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about a little imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a ...
. She attempts to eat Shrek and Fiona, and despite Donkey's attempts at romance, almost devours him before he is saved by Puss in Boots. The parallel Dragon ends up muzzled and bound in chains after being stopped by Shrek and Fiona, fading out of existence as the real world is restored. She is shown to be back to her normal self in the film's finale.
''Shrek 4-D''
Dragon helps Shrek and Donkey evade a statue of a dragon that had been brought to life. Dragon attempts to battle the creature, and succeeds, luring it into a narrow tunnel where its wings are scraped off while Dragon folds her wings against her body while traveling through it, subsequently torching Farquad's ghost.
Stage
Dragon appeared in the stage musical adaptation of the film, which ran on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
from 2008 to 2010, as a puppet controlled by
John Tartaglia
John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American actor, singer, and puppeteer.
Early life
Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 19 ...
.
Reception
In a contemporaneous review of ''Shrek'',
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
called the revelation about Dragon something "no one could have guessed". Petrana Radulovic of
''Polygon'' called Dragon "sexy" and a pop-culture icon, saying that the plot twist was "revolutionary" and that she "definitely should've been featured in more movies".
While initially seeming like a villainess, and therefore more similar to dragon characters like
Beowulf's dragon and
Smaug
Smaug () is a dragon and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', his treasure and the mountain he lives in being the goal of the quest. Powerful and fearsome, he invaded the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor 150 years prior ...
, Dragon was instead noted as being a satire of Disney dragons, like those featured in ''
The Reluctant Dragon'' (1941), ''
Sleeping Beauty
''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...
'' (1959), and ''
Pete's Dragon'' (1977), and one of numerous Disney figures parodied in the series. While the romance between Dragon and Donkey is "kinky", it serves the purpose to distract from the even more shocking intermarriage of human and ogre. Despite this, the interspecies romance and ensuing family is only "permitted" due to the fact that it is between non-humans. The relationship was called a visual realization of the film's moral message that appearances are not important, but at the same time, seemingly impossible due to the difference in size.
Dragon's
femininity
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...
was noted as a "major departure" from typical
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
gender roles
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
, in which most dragons are either masculine or gender-neutral. While
Grendel's mother
Grendel's mother ( ang, Grendles mōdor) is one of three antagonists in the anonymous Old English poem ''Beowulf'' (c. 700-1000 AD), the other two being Grendel and the dragon. Each antagonist reflects different negative aspects of both the hero ...
in ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'' is one of the most prominent examples of a female monster in folklore, her gender is not relevant to the plot. Dragon has been seen as reminiscent of ancient goddess figures, who commonly take the form of a dragon or serpent, such as those of
Sumerian myth
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.
Ove ...
. As
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
social structures were established, the goddesses, once thought as symbols of wisdom and life, were called monsters and emblems of evil, giving rise to the trope of a
knight slaying a dragon. However, in
feminist thought, dragons can also be understood as the maiden's double, representing their autonomy, with the knight slaying the dragon to make the maiden his servant or wife. In ''Shrek'', the patriarchal dragon slaying trope is "gloriously" reversed, with Dragon ultimately intervening to bring about the happy ending.
References
{{Shrek
Shrek characters
hu:Sárkány (Shrek)
Animated characters introduced in 2001
Female characters in animated films
Female film villains
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Fictional dragons
Film characters introduced in 2001