Perhaps the dragon that has had the most influence on Westernized Christian thought is the red dragon that dominates the last book of the New Testament — the Book of Revelation. The author of this book, who identified himself simply as John, had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, where he received a brilliant vision in which he was welcomed into the heavens to witness all things which were to come.
The Vision of Patmos
In the vision John was shown a book sealed with seven portions. He was allowed to see the contents of each sealed portion in turn, and commanded to write what he saw. In the twelfth chapter of Revelation, the great red dragon makes his appearance — described as having seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. With his tail he swept a third of the stars from heaven and cast them to earth.
A woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head, appeared in heaven. She was with child and cried out in the pain of labor. The dragon stood before her, ready to devour her child the moment it was born. But the child — a son destined to rule all nations — was caught up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she was nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
War in Heaven
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. The dragon — identified in the text as "that ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray" — was defeated and hurled down to the earth, along with his angels.
The defeat of the dragon in the heavenly realm was followed by his terrible activity on earth, where he made war against those who hold to the testimony of God. Much of the remainder of Revelation describes this conflict and its ultimate resolution — the binding of the dragon for a thousand years, his final release, and his ultimate defeat and consignment to the lake of fire.
Influence on Dragon Mythology
The red dragon of Revelation profoundly shaped the way Western culture imagined dragons for over a thousand years. The association of the dragon with the Devil gave European dragons their moral dimension — they were not simply dangerous beasts but embodiments of evil itself, the adversary of all that is good and holy.
This is why the slaying of a dragon, in the hands of knights like St. George or in the tales of Norse heroes, carries such enormous weight — the dragonslayer is doing something cosmically significant, repeating in miniature the battle Michael fought in the heavens.