What is a dragon? Not in a biological sense but in essence, as an archetype. In fairy tales and myth lives on an image of a dragon tyrant, a powerful, invincible creature with oppressive demeanour that demands regular endowments of gold coins and beautiful maidens. A village or a country living under the dragon's reign doesn't question his power, or if they do, they have no idea how to beat him and free themselves from him. Some cower before the dragon, some love him, some respect and thank him for the protection and—though not much—food and resources the dragon provides his serfs, leftovers from the Tsar's plate. They may even "elect" the dragon themselves because, well, many are so accustomed to him and they believe that should the dragon be gone, even darker times would descend on the world. The dragon becomes an unattainable element of reality and the suffering and oppression he inflicts on the populace becomes perceived as evil necessary to maintain a life of stability if not prosperity, a shallow and poor life that without that necessary evil can metastasise into something far worse than it already is. Therefore any dragon's action is justified.
At one point, archetypically or dialectically, there appears a hero, a heretic, a rebel, a knight, a prince from the faraway land who impugns the dragon’s regime and validity of his power and aims to overthrow the creature and free the townspeople to lead them to the better, brighter future, where there’s no dragon, no racket, no sacrificed virgins and everything is tiptop splendorous. The heretic-hero sees the dragon as the main and the only problem and by his logic, when the dragon is gone, the problem is gone. But is it really enough to kill the dragon? What is that precisely which is going to be killed?
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