History Main / Dracolich

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': One short involves the heroes being attacked by a skeletal dragon called the Boneknapper. However, it's revealed at the end of the short that the Boneknapper is actually friendly and that it just wanted its collarbone (which allows it to roar) back. The Boneknapper isn't really skeletal, however. It just wears bones that it finds along the ground as armor.

** The 5th edition adventure ''TabletopGame/DragonlanceShadowOfTheDragonQueen'' has death dragons, long-dead dragons reanimated by "Cataclysmic fire". They can breathe this same fire, turning slain humanoids into fiery zombies under their command.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[spoiler:While Emperor Belos started his life as a human, by the time the show proper takes place he's turned himself into an undead HumanoidAbomination made of liquefied, necrotic flesh in his efforts to live long past his natural lifespan. After getting smashed against a wall by [[GooGooGodlike the Collector]] and forced to regenerate [[FromASingleCell from a single drop of goo]], he gains the ability to infect other creatures, growing inside them and [[DemonicPossession taking over their bodies]]. When he does this with the heart of the Titan (the GiantCorpseWorld the story takes place on), he transforms into a necrotic-looking dragon, covered in eyes and bigger than his entire ''castle''. In this form, he's practically invincible, even to someone as powerful as the Collector, and able to shoot [[BreathWeapon beams of corruption from his mouth]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[spoiler:While Emperor Belos started his life as a human, by the time the show proper takes place he's turned himself into an undead HumanoidAbomination made of liquefied, necrotic flesh in his attempts to stay alive, and is shown to be able to infect other creatures in Season 3, growing inside them and taking over their bodies. When he does this with the heart of the Titan (the GiantCorpseWorld the story takes place on), he transforms into a necrotic-looking dragon, covered in eyes and bigger than his entire ''castle''. In this form, he's practically invincible, even to someone as powerful as [[PhysicalGod the Collector]], and able to shoot [[BreathWeapon beams of corruption from his mouth]].]]

** The 5th edition adventure ''Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen'' has death dragons, long-dead dragons reanimated by "Cataclysmic fire". They can breathe this same fire, turning slain humanoids into fiery zombies under their command.

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'': [[{{Necromancer}} Khajit]] summons two Skeletal Dragons against Narberal Gamma. Skeletal dragons are immune to magic... below seventh tier, that is.

[[folder: Mythology and Religion]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
** The frost wyrms of the Scourge in ''Warcraft 3'' and ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' are the animated skeletons of blue dragons, and exhale giant blasts of cold. Sindragosa deserves special mention, having appeared on the latter's login screen for the duration of ''Wrath of the Lich King'' and ''really'' annoying players with her loud roar. Other, less-seen skeletal dragons used by the Scourge include magmawyrms, created from black dragons, and emberwyrms, raised from the remains of red dragons. Fel dragons are an even rarer variant created from dragon skeletons infected with demonic magic.
** Another one worth mentioning is Sapphiron, a blue dragon slain and raised by Arthas. He too is a raid boss in ''World of Warcraft'' in the necropolis of Naxxramas.
** The progenitor of all dragons, Galakrond, deserves a mention. One of the projects of the Lich King was to exhume the skeletal remains of this IMMENSE (probably the size of a small mountain; just his head, early spine, and right foreleg were excavated, and those alone took up a large chunk of the map) dragon and reanimate it as a frost wyrm. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, since the boss battle with that thing could have been epic) players crash this project before it can be achieved. According to the novel ''Dawn of the Aspects'' and the official lore compendium ''Chronicles'', he was essentially already this in life. After eating everything else in his hunting grounds he began to cannibalize other proto-dragons. This twisted and corrupted his very being to the point that eventually the proto-dragons he consumed returned as undead horrors, thereby making him the progenitor and embodiment of necromancy on Azeroth.

** The Queen of Blackmarch in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' is a ghost dragon. She is the baddest BonusBoss in the expansion.

* ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'': The BonusBoss is an undead dragon known as the Ur-Dragon.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'': A dracolich features as a BonusBoss in ''Hordes of the Underdark''.

* ''TabletopGame/ResArcana'': The Bone Dragon resembles an undead skeleton dragon.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'':
** Undead dragons are very strong, non-respawning enemy. One perches off a ledge, seemingly dead until someone picks up items placed nearby. What is more unsettling is that a certain area is populated by nothing except the lower halves (read: only the leg part, no head, no torso, nothing) of said undead dragons. Whatever happened to the upper parts? Nobody knows.
** There's another undead dragon in the Painted World, split into two halves. The upper half protects a bridge and vomits poison if you try to cross.
** [[spoiler:Seath the Scaleless is referred to by Big Hat Logan as a "true undead", thanks to the power of the [[SoulJar Primordial Crystal]] he stole after the war on the Everlasting Dragons.]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'': [[{{Necromancer}} Khajit]] summons two Skeletal Dragons against Narberal Gamma. Skeletal dragons are immune to magic... below seventh tier, that is.
* ''LightNovel/The8thSonAreYouKiddingMe'': Wendelin's rise to fame and power starts with him defeating an undead dragon that attacks the airship he is traveling on in episode 4.

* Naofumi deals with one of those in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''. After Ren, the Sword Hero, [[TheDragonslayer slays a dragon]] but fails to properly dispose of the creature's remains, its carcass begins rotting and causes an epidemic in a nearby village. Naofumi decides to help after ensuring the village [[PunchClockHero pays for both the earlier treatment and disposing of the dragon's corpse]], but soon finds out that the situation has gone FromBadToWorse when the corpse stands up and attacks his party. Even after accessing his SuperpoweredEvilSide upon witnessing the creature devouring one of his companions, Naofumi is still unable to defeat the abomination, [[spoiler:luckily Filo [[GettingEatenIsHarmless survives being eaten]] and finds the monster's [[AttackItsWeakPoint magical core]], [[KillItThroughItsStomach ripping it out of the zombie dragon on her way out]] and killing it instantly.]]
* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': These exist, and are the result of a dragon becoming an undead. While they lose access to whatever elemental attribute they possessed in life, in exchange they often become {{Monster Lord}}s over lesser undead due to their sheer power. Over a thousand years before the main events of the series, a Zombie Dragon amassed an army of undead near the border of the Great Forest of Jura, but was stopped by the cleric Adalman and his closest companions at the cost of their own lives ([[UriahGambit all according to plan by Adalman's superiors]]). Through a series of events however, Adalman and his companions revived as undead as well and all of them were [[{{Curse}} bound by a curse from a Demon Lord]]. The Zombie Dragon eventually befriended Adalman and evolved into a Death Dragon, becoming a 20 meter-long undead dragon with a corrosive Breath Weapon, high strength and speed, and can regenerate from any injury as long as Adalman is alright since he ended up becoming its SoulJar, as proven when it fights Souei and it starts PullingThemselvesTogether after being reduced to LudicrousGibs. After they're all freed from the curse thanks to Shuna, the dragon joins Adalman in becoming a member of Tempest and stays with him as a boss in the Labyrinth. [[spoiler:When Adalman evolves into a True Demon Lord during the war with the Eastern Empire, the Death Dragon receives a power boost and combined with being named "Wenti" by Rimuru allows it to evolve into a Death Dragon King, [[BishonenLine upon which it gains a human form]] and [[SamusIsAGirl transforms into]] a ghostly-looking CuteMonsterGirl with a scythe.]]

** ''Videogame/AdventureQuest3D'': [[spoiler:Towards the end of the Dragon Graveyard story, Zakaru summons one of these in order to transport you to Skalazar, the villian of the quest chain.]]

* ''Videogame/DragonsDogma'': The BonusBoss is an undead dragon known as the Ur-Dragon.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':

* ''Videogame/PuzzleAndDragons'' has the Zombie Dragon and Corpse Wyrm, as well as their evolved formes.

* In ''Videogame/SuikodenI'', Tir has to defeat one to gain control of his castle.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has Revenant dragons, which are the cursed ghosts of dragons slain in the [[ForeverWar God Wars]]. Skeletal wyverns, however, are explicitly ''not'' undead. They are reanimated piles of bones, and anti-undead spells don't work against them.

** Spectral/Bone Dragons. Despite looking cool, these dragons are arguably the ''weakest'' creatures of their level in any game they have appeared, as they have much lower HP, attack and defense values than average. They make up for it with sheer numbers, though, as V has a building upgrade that increases the number of dragons produced. Spectral Dragons in ''Heroes 3'' do have a redeeming factor in their unique chance to cast a spell upon attack which causes the victims to [[RapidAging age rapidly]] - instantly halving the health points of every unit in the attacked stack, thus making all survivors of the dragons' attack much squishier. Additionally, their sight is so terrifying to behold on the battlefield they reduce the enemy's morale just by being there, something even live dragons usually don't do.

** Gogmazios in ''Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate'' looks like a corpse that crawled out of a tar pit.
** Nakarkos from ''Monster Hunter Generations'' looks like a skeletal, two-headed hydra. [[spoiler:It's actually a giant cephalopod that excretes an adhesive substance to [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset coat itself in its victims' bones.]] Its two "heads" are its front tentacles topped with dragon skulls. Its actual head, as well as the majority of its body, are usually kept hidden until significantly enraged.]]

A specific type of NonHumanUndead and UndeadAbomination. May overlap with UndeadFossils in cases of DinosaursAreDragons.

* Naofumi deals with one of those in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''. After Ren, the Sword Hero, [[TheDragonslayer slays a dragon]] but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome fails to properly dispose of the creature's remains]], its carcass begins rotting and causes an epidemic in a nearby village. Naofumi decides to help after ensuring the village [[PunchClockHero pays for both the earlier treatment and disposing of the dragon's corpse]], but soon finds out that the situation has gone FromBadToWorse when the corpse stands up and attacks his party. Even after accessing his SuperpoweredEvilSide upon witnessing the creature devouring one of his companions, Naofumi is still unable to defeat the abomination, [[spoiler:luckily Filo [[GettingEatenIsHarmless survives being eaten]] and finds the monster's [[AttackItsWeakPoint magical core]], [[KillItThroughItsStomach ripping it out of the zombie dragon on her way out]] and killing it instantly.]]

** The Queen of Blackmarch in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' is not a zombie dragon but a ghost dragon. She is the baddest BonusBoss in the expansion.