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[[caption-width-right:299:No, *I* am your trope picture!.]]

In classic {{Fairy Tale}}s and folklore, the hero must often slay a dragon, or other semi-intelligent monster, before he can confront the intelligent (but weaker) master villain.

TheDragon is the BigBad's top enforcer, and is correspondingly [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority dangerous in combat]]. Some Dragons are ferocious fighters who leave the heavy thinking to the boss. Others are smart, detail-oriented administrators who oversee the day-to-day running of the evil organization. Either way, defeating the BigBad always requires the hero to overcome TheDragon first. A common theme is to have TheDragon pose a physical challenge to the hero, while the BigBad poses a mental or moral challenge.

The Dragon is an integral part of the FiveBadBand dynamic. If there's a QuirkyMinibossSquad, the Dragon is often the unofficial leader.

See also: TheManBehindTheMan, HypercompetentSidekick, PsychoForHire. When The Dragon is not doing their job properly, see DragonTheirFeet. When the Dragon has different goals from the BigBad, see DragonWithAnAgenda. The traitorous [[TheStarscream Starscream]] is often the dragon. In video games, the dragon is often a ClimaxBoss and/or ThatOneBoss. If TheDragon achieves a status equal to the BigBad he works with, the two of them become a BigBadDiumvirate. If TheDragon is actually ''more'' dangerous than the BigBad, then you have yourself a DragonInChief.

For literal dragons and their permutations, see OurDragonsAreDifferent. Not to be confused with DragonLady, who is more like a BigBad than TheDragon. The heroic version of this trope is NumberTwo or TheLancer.

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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''ZeroSevenGhost'', the Dragons have Dragons. (If [[CreepyChild Kuroyuri]] is a Dragon to [[BigBad Ayanami]], and [[BattleButler Haruse]] is a Dragon to Kuroyuri...?)
* In every ''SailorMoon'' season except the last one, the first villain whom the audience believed to be the BigBad was not, and was paving the way for an even more powerful BigBad. And even in the fifth season, although the Dragon (Nehellenia) was shown being manipulated by an even more powerful evil from the start, it was not until she was defeated that the true BigBad (Galaxia) was shown; until then, she appeared as a disembodied voice. Though it may be said that Galaxia was also a Dragon of sorts, as she was possessed by Chaos, the BigBad of the ''universe''.
* Captain Ginyu leader of the QuirkyMinibossSquad, The Ginyu Force is this to Frieza in ''{{Dragonball Z}}''.
** Later, Android #19 serves this role for his creator Dr. Gero, at that point going by Android #20.
* ''SoukouNoStrain'' puts a twist on the situation. At first, it sets Medlock up as Ralph's superior; we're almost certain that he's going to overtake her as TheManBehindTheMan because of Sara's personal motivation, and [[spoiler:he does, but then he holds her hostage; she does a HeelFaceTurn and [[RedemptionEqualsDeath suffers for it]]]].
* Legato Bluesummers in ''{{TriGun}}''. Oddly, his physical strength is in fact below average, and his primary strength is his mind-control ability.
* In ''MonsterRancher'', the evil overlord Moo had General Durahan as his Dragon.
* Debonair/Kiishim in ''TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' serves as The Dragon during one of the first missions [[spoiler:though in a triple subversion of the trope, she is both smarter than her boss, is being made to serve him via mind control, and is in the end the one who gives him what's coming to him.]]
** In a slightly more series-wide capacity, [[spoiler: Kyle Rondart]], who you actually meet very early in the series, turns out to be TheDragon for Fei Wang Reed, the series' BigBad.
* Chloe in ''{{Noir}}'' can be seen as TheDragon to her mother figure/boss Altena, and whether this was in fact part of Altena's plan is hotly debated among fans.
* PsychoForHire Roberto in ''{{Monster}}'' is Johan Liebert's dragon and BattleButler.
* AcePilot Kallen in ''CodeGeass'' is arguably TheDragon to VillainProtagonist Lelouch, perhaps suitably denoted by the oversized [[RedRightHand right hand]] of her personal mecha.
** The BigBad proper, [[TheEmperor Charles zi Brittania]], has Sir Bismark Waldstein, the Knight of One. [[spoiler:And in episode 21 of R2, Suzaku (MeaningfulName as Suzaku means "Vermillion Phoenix" TheFourGods! One wonders why they didn't give him the name Seiryuu instead!) has become [[TheEmperor Emperor Lelouch's]] Knight of Zero aka ''his'' Dragon]].
** In Nightmare Of Nunnally, Rolo [[spoiler:vi Britannia]] is Charles' Dragon, [[spoiler:but he [[DragonWithAnAgenda has an agenda of his own]]; [[TheStarscream planning to become Demon King]] with C.C.'s power]].
* Amshel in ''BloodPlus'' can be seen as TheDragon for the BigBad, Diva. At the same time, he exudes TheManBehindTheMan qualities. Which is fitting, as Diva is not exactly the plotting type.
* Fate Testarossa in the first season of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is TheDragon to her mother, MadScientist Precia. Her status as TheWoobie, LoveMartyr, and MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter didn't stop her from being a formidable threat.
** Following that is Tre who has a dragon of her own aka Sette. Both were totally fanatical to Doctor Scaglietti. Needlessly to say, their loyalty [[DemotedToExtra did not help their popularity very well]]
* [[CompleteMonster Mouri Kouran]] of ''{{Flame of Recca}}'' has two, arranged neatly along the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, with [[CainAndAbel Kurei]] serving for the first two story arcs, until [[spoiler:his HeelFaceTurn to NobleDemon and replacement by PsychopathicManchild [[OppositeSexClone Renge]].]]
* In the Shusuke Amagai Arc of ''{{Bleach}}'', Hanza Nukui serves as Kumoi's Dragon, until he [[spoiler: falls in battle against Ichigo and is replaced by Makoto Kifune]]. Then again [[spoiler: Amagai himself is the real BigBad]].
** In canon, the Espada are pretty much a little organization of Dragons, particularly Ulquiorra and Grimmjow.
** A better ''Bleach'' example would be [[spoiler: Gin Ichimaru and Tõsen Kaname, [[TheDragon Dragons]] to [[BigBad Aizen]].]]
* ''{{Kinnikuman}}'' has several official Dragons and several de-facto ones. The Throne arc upped the ante by having the six teams having their own Dragons in the form of second-in-commands.
** Kinnikuman Team: Initially Terryman, then Robin Mask took his place
** Flight Team: King 100 Ton
** Strength Team: Cannonballer
** Technique Team: Parthenon
** Brutality Team: Buffaloman
** Intelligence Team: Mammothman, demoted by the Omegaman during the finals.
* Younger Toguro is Tarukane's Dragon in the Yukina arc of ''YuYuHakusho''. To some degree, he is a Dragon for Sakyo, but while Sakyo's plan threatens the world, Yusuke and his team are more concerned with Toguro.
* In ''RurouniKenshin'', Aoshi Shinomori is Kanryuu's Dragon.
** Later in the series, [[StepfordSmiler Seta Soujiro]] serves as [[BigBad Shishio's]] Dragon.
* Zabuza is Gato's Dragon in ''{{Naruto}}''. In the third movie, Ishidate is Shabadaba's Dragon.
** As is Kabuto to Orochimaru. He's also a textbook example of a BastardUnderstudy.
** Recently it was revealed that [[spoiler:Pain, the apparent leader of the Akatsuki is actually the Dragon to Madara Uchiha, the series {{Big Bad}}]]
** [[spoiler:And now that Pain/Nagato is dead, Sasuke can probably be considered Madara's Dragon.]]
*** [[spoiler: Nah, Pain was the Dragon; he was by far the most physically powerful character we've seen in the series, or are likely to see. He even killed the hero's mentor/father figure and leveled his town. It doesn't get much more dragony than that. Sasuke's just the [[DarkMagicalGirl Lancer]] who has to be redeemed by Naruto's [[HoYay friendship]].]]
* Nosferatu Zodd of ''{{Berserk}}'' becomes Griffith's Dragon some time after the Eclipse.
* Ali Al-Saachez of ''{{Gundam 00}}'' is the Dragon to BigBad Ribbions Almark.
* The members of [[OnePiece Cipher Pol 9]], especially Rob Lucci, could count as being Dragons to {{Big Bad}} Spandam, who ends up becoming a {{Anticlimax Boss}} in the long run.
* There are plenty of cases in GashBell. For starters, you could consider that every single demon is a human's Dragon, or vice versa, depending on who has the brains of the operation. Other than that, there's a classic example in the huge, hulking monstrosity known as Demoruto as Zophise's Dragon. Brago even states at one point,
@@"If it's just about power, the power I sense over there is greater than Zophise's."@@
** One could also say that Faudo is Riou's Dragon, what with him planning to use its power to win the fight for the Demon King while hiding safe and sound inside his brain.
** And depending on how you look at it, Clear Note and Goomu could be a Dragon to the other; which role suits who is up for question, though.
* Fate Averruncus of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' was once the Dragon of [[EvilSorcerer the Mage of Beginnings]], the BigBad during the time of Ala Rubia. Though with his boss out of the count, he has now taken the role of BigBad [[DragonAscendant to continue his legacy]].
* In ''{{s-CRY-ed}}'' Ryuhou is the Dragon to Commander Jigmar. Slight subversion in that [[spoiler: Jigmar is actually much stronger than Ryuhou, but using his alter power would cause him to age insanely fast and kill him after one battle.]]
* Vanilla Ice serves as Dio's Dragon in Part 3 of ''{{Jojos Bizarre Adventure}}''.
* Mr. Heart serves the role of Shin's Dragon in the ''{{Fist of the North Star}}'' manga. In the anime, this role is filled by {{filler villain}} Joker after Heart is killed early in the story. The closest thing Raoh has to a Dragon in the original manga and anime series is Ryuga of Sirius (in TheMovie, this role is perfectly filled by Uighur the Warden).
* [[SoulEater Crona]] is the Dragon to Medusa. Given his position in relation to Noah, Gopher might end up counting as one. So far he's terribly inefficient.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Board Games]]
* In {{chess}}, the queen is arguably the Dragon of the king.
* In ''Betrayal at House on the Hill'', there were several Dragons, ranging from a literal example to a slasher killer, a witch, and even man eating plants. One of the players could even be the Dragon to the scenario's BigBad... or turn out to be BigBad, and get furnished with a Dragon. The game has "betrayal" in its name for a reason.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* In ''[=~Magic: The Gathering~=]'', Volrath has Greven.
** ... As Greven has his [[SmugSnake Vhati]] [[TheStarscream il-Dal]].
** And Volrath himself was Dragon to Yawgmoth, until he was replaced by [[FallenHero Crovax]] (and, later still, [[AxeCrazy Tsabo Tavok]]).
*** Technically (at least according to the novels) Tsabo and Crovax were active at the same time, not to mention a Phyrexian-augmented Ertai, running about causing havoc. So it's more like a case of triple Dragons, no? Also, in that same block the 5 Elder Dragons were awakened, each of whom had their own Golem Attendant, that could be considered their own Dragons.
** In ''Conflux'', [[MagnificentBastard Nicol Bolas]] (the BigBad despite being a literal dragon) has [[TheChessmaster Gwafa]], [[TheBrute Malfegor]], and [[DarkActionGirl Rakka Mar]] as minions, but had to go for something extra special to lead them - a BrainwashedAndCrazy planeswalker.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* In ''TheHulk'' comics, the physically mighty Abomination often played the Dragon to the intellectual, and somewhat frail, Leader's Big bad. The Leader also sometimes used Rock and Redeemer as Dragons.
* ''CaptainAmerica'' villain Crossbones would be TheDragon to the Red Skull's BigBad. The merc Crossbones is a deadly physical threat, a skilled fighter and carries out the fisticuffs for the weaker(most of the time) but cunning Skull.
* The ''{{Batman}}'' villain Ra's al Ghul is usually accompanied by an extremely large thug named Ubu. Apparently this is a title, rather than a name; he tends to replace Ubus fairly frequently. Ubu was absent from the film, but [[spoiler:Ken Watanabe's fake Ra's could be said to fulfill this function]].
** In the limited Comicbook/{{Superman}}, Comicbook/{{Batman}} and Comicbook/{{Wonder Woman}} series ''Trinity'' (the three issue Matt Wagner one, not the more recent 52 issue maxiseries)), Ubu is present, but the role of Ra's Dragon falls to Bizarro, and the mysterious Amazon [[spoiler: Artemis of Bana-Mighdall]]
** Harley Quinn also could be seen as The Dragon to The Joker.
* In ''[[UltimateMarvel Ultimate]] Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'', Elektra serves as the Dragon to the Kingpin of Crime. Not that the Kingpin isn't capable of quality violence in his own right...
** In the same universe, the ''Ultimate Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' have to deal with the Weapon X project, led by a human military officer named John Wraith. He isn't particularly tough, but his personal Dragon is the gigantic mutant killing machine Sabretooth.
* In most appearances, [=DeSaad=] is TheDragon to Darkseid. Strangely, Darkseid leaves all torture work to him, as he is not amused by one-sided displays of brutality.
* Colonel Olrik from ''BlakeAndMortimer'' often serves as TheDragon to each adventure's temporary BigBad, despite him being the titular heroes' ArchEnemy.
**In the second adventure ''The Mystery of The Great Pyramid'', Olrik gets his own dragon: Sharkey.
* Sinestro becomes the Anti-Monitor's Dragon in exchange for [[ThePsychoRangers an army]] that can rival the [[GreenLantern Green Lantern Corps]]. Sinestro, in turn, leads the army with the monstrous Arkillo as ''his'' Dragon.
* In ''{{Bone}}'', both Kingdok and The Hooded One have claims to the Dragon position. It could even be argued that Kingdok was the Dragon for the Hooded One.
* In ''StarWarsLegacy'', [[EvilOverlord Darth Krayt]] has many elite minions who act in the enforcer role, but the one who is closest to him and who he relies on completely is [[EvilSorcerer Darth Wyyrlok]]. In addition to being the only being in the galaxy Krayt can be said to really trust, Wyyrlok is also potentially more powerful than his master, as Krayt has been weakened by Yuuzhan Vong parasites. [[spoiler: Ultimately, Wyyrlok subverts this trope in an interesting way- he remains absolutely devoted to Krayt's vision of a galaxy united under [[ReligionOfEvil the Sith]], but kills the Dark Lord anyway because he believes his master has [[VillainousBreakdown gone insane]] and lost track of his true goals.]]
* In ''[[{{Comicbook/TheAvengers}} Avengers Under Siege]]'', Baron Zemo used brainwashing to turn the monstrously powerful (but mentally unstable) Blackout into his loyal Dragon. Blackout is interesting in that he defended Zemo from heroes and villains alike: he disabled the Avengers' most powerful member, Captain Marvel, and also prevented dissent among Zemo's Masters of Evil. Tellingly, Moonstone, in her role as TheStarscream, spent the entire arc trying to win over Blackout rather than trying to kill Zemo.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films]]
* In the animated film ''The Invincible IronMan'', the leader of the four elemental mini-bosses and The Dragon to the mystically powered Mandarin is an actual dragon, the physically dominating Fin Fang Foom, who gives Iron-man his toughest battle, where the magically powered Mandarin is defeated by reaching out to the Mandarin's host and convincing her to cut the Mandarin's power at its source, the magic rings.
* Lothar fits this description in ''TheRocketeer''.
* The ''DieHard'' films make good use of Dragons:
** In the original movie, John [=McClane=] is hunted by Karl, the hulking German, and must defeat him before he can defeat Hans Gruber, the BigBad. Technically [[spoiler:Karl does not die until the end, but [=McClane=] leaves him bloody and beaten before throwing Gruber off the building. Karl then emerges for round two, only to be gunned down by Al.]]
** ''Die Hard 2'' has [[spoiler:a FaceHeelTurn bad guy that gets thrown into a jet engine.]]
**''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' had Targo, whom John manages to beat to almost death before he gets killed by his own boss.
** ''Live Free or Die Hard'' has two Dragons. Mai, the WaifFu-wielding DarkActionGirl [[spoiler:though she is rather conspicuously killed halfway through.]] Rand, the acrobatic French mercenary, is another Dragon.
* JamesBond villains often have a Dragon: Oddjob in ''{{Goldfinger}}'', Jaws in ''TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', etc.
** Interestingly, in the movie ''TomorrowNeverDies'' [[spoiler: the BigBad is killed first and Bond has to prevent TheDragon from killing him afterwards.]]
** Actually, the fact that TheDragon outlives the BigBad is very common in Bond films [[spoiler: i.e. ''{{Goldfinger}}''.]]
*** Actually Oddjob dies before Goldfinger. Jaws always outlives the BigBad and several other TheDragons do as well, including the ambiguously immortal Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die and the Kents in Diamonds are Forever.
** Although Largo in ''{{Thunderball}}'' arguably is Blofeld's Dragon, he's the main villain in the film. Bond battles Blofeld proper in ''YouOnlyLiveTwice''.
*** Vargas is TheDragon to Emilio Largo.
** In ''{{Quantum of Solace}}'', [[spoiler:this is subverted beautifully. The Dragon is positioned to cover his boss, as per usual for the trope, and then he's ''blown up''. Any GenreSavvy viewer was probably laughing.]]
* In ''{{Enter the Dragon}}'', Bolo is TheDragon for Mr. Han, the BigBad. Oddly, killing TheDragon falls to [[TheLancer Roper the con man]], rather than Lee TheHero (who goes straight for Han as soon as Bolo is defeated, and who is ''The Dragon'' but not TheDragon).
** However, Lee did get to take out [[SixthColumn Oharra]] earlier in the film.
* In ''LayerCake'', the evil Serbian warlord has a Dragon hitman named, appropriately enough, Dragan. He makes constant threats to decapitate Daniel Craig's character. However, he does not follow the usual formula in that [[spoiler:he spends the entire film untouchable. Neiter he nor his boss are defeated.]]
* In the ''StarWars'' movies IV-VI, Darth Vader is The Dragon between the heroes and the Emperor. In I-III it's Darth Maul and later General Grievous. Darth Tyrannus doesn't quite fit the mold.
** Tyrannus does, however, have quite a few of his own Dragons: Jango Fett and Grievous (again), and in the Expanded Universe, Durge and Asajj Ventress, along with various other "Dark Acolytes" (yes, this editor is aware how corny that sounds).
** This shows how it is sometimes difficult to identify the BigBad because within the story, the main characters think Dooku is the BigBad, with Sidious just a myth or rumor to worry about. But TheDragon is anyone who is sent in front of a leader, whether or not they turn out to be the true BigBad.
* ''IndianaJones and the Last Crusade'' serves as a nice comparison of the roles TheDragon and the BigBad. TheDragon, Colonel Vogel, fights Indy in a climactic battle atop an Egyptian tank. The main villain, Walter Donovan, goes against our hero in a battle of wits to locate the true Holy Grail.
* In ''MysteryMen'', Tony P winds up playing right-hand-man to Casanova Frankenstein. Tony P, in turn, has a Dragon of his own in Tony C.
* Almost every single Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie has a Dragon, typically played by stuntman Bolo Yeung, defending a swarmy White or Asian criminal mastermind.
* [[LadyOfWar O-Ren Ishii]] of ''Kill Bill'' fame seems to collect them, having ''two'' chief bodyguards (Johnny Mo, leader of the Crazy 88s, and PsychoForHire Gogo Yubari) and a right-hand woman (Sofie Fatale) besides. Elle Driver was a Dragon, since she was the last (and most difficult to defeat) former teammate the Bride had to fight before confronting Bill.
* Parodied and averted in ''TheRunningMan''. Damien's huge bodyguard Sven seems to serve no meaningful role in the movie except as someone for ArnoldSchwarzenegger to have the big climactic fight with. At the climax of the film, it looks like the two are about to fight, but Sven simply walks off (due to Damien's verbal abuse of him), leaving Schwarzenegger to crush the helpless Damien.
* Prince Nuada of ''{{Hellboy}} II: The Golden Army'' has a few dragons: Mr. Wink, [[spoiler:the Elemental, and arguably, the Golden Army, as they are FAR more durable than most MechaMooks]].
* Paul Yau (the assassin with the shades), is Johnny Weng's Dragon from JohnWoo's ''TheKiller''. He gives both heroes of the movie a hell of a fight, especially during the church shootout, before [[spoiler: being taken hostage in an attempt to break the PutDownYourGunAndStepAway situation with Johnny and the Killer's girlfriend and getting one put through his skull by Johnny himself]].
* Mad Dog was Johnny Wong's Dragon from the JohnWoo movie ''HardBoiled''. Like Paul, he gives Tequila and Alan a hell of a fight when the three clash and during the big hospital shootout, before [[spoiler: he does a HeelFaceTurn and blows the gun out of Johnny's hands to put an end to [[MoralEventHorizon Johnny's psychotic massacre of the patients that Mad Dog had agreed to let pass]]. He gets killed by Johnny soon after]].
* Tatsu is the Shredder's Dragon in the original ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' movies. In the first movie, Casey Jones is the one to take him on, while in the second movie, the Turtles themselves dispatch him with a "Wishbone Crunch" that consists of sandwiching him between all four of their shells simultaneously.
** On a side note -- "Tatsu" is one of the Japanese words for a... yeah, you guessed it. Dragon.
* In ''TheLongKissGoodnight'', the film's main villain Timothy is actually the Dragon: the BigBad is the mostly unseen Daedalus [[spoiler:who is killed halfway through the film, after which Timothy replaces him as the BigBad.]]
* Count Rugen in ''ThePrincessBride''. [[spoiler:Inigo Montoya]] kills him before Westley deals with Prince Humperdinck.
** Fezzik and Inigo both play the Dragon earlier in the movie, with Inigo being the evenly-matched same-style dragon (think of the Mortal Kombat Mirror Match or Dark Link, or the sword fight with Meta-Knight in Kirby for the NES) while Fezzik is more of the giant physical challenge sort of dragon (Like a dragon. As long as I'm making Mortal Kombat comparisons, think of Goro or Motaro.)
* ''{{V for Vendetta}}'': After being a minor character in the original novel, Creedy was upgraded to this status in the film adaptation, then somehow graduated to "main antagonist" before the movie was over.
* Lola is Gianni's Dragon in ''Transporter 2''. She spends most of the movie fighting the hero while Gianni takes a nap. [[spoiler: But she's anticlimactically killed by a [[strike:gag cactus]] spike of wall]]
* The Cow from ''Kung-Pow'' is the Dragon. Well... sort of. He's not stronger than the Big Bad, but he is hilariously fast... and slightly Genre Savvy, when he rapidly kicks the Hero when they freeze in the air.
* In ''OldBoy'', Mr. Han is the Dragon for Lee Woo-Jin -- his entire purpose in the movie is to absorb Oh Dae-Su's UnstoppableRage.
* The Dragon / BigBad relationship is referenced in ''{{Unbreakable}}'': "there's always two kinds; there's the soldier villain -- who fights the hero with his hands; and then there's the real threat -- the brilliant and evil archenemy -- who fights the hero with his mind."
* Victor of ''{{Push}}''. Also serves as EvilCounterpart to Nick.
* [[{{Godzilla}} King Ghidorah]] is often under the command of various evil aliens (and/or people from the distant future...[[RetCon depending on which continuity you're watching]]). Ironic, considering that [[VillainDecay he was the most feared galactic threat in the universe in his VERY film debut]]. It's a case where he's, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin quite literally]], [[TheDragon '''THE''' Dragon]].
* In ''AustinPowers'', Dr. Evil's second-in-command is the appropriately titled Number Two, though he is not that happy with how his boss runs his evil empire.
* The guy who "buys" Kim from ''{{Taken}}'' and appropriately gives Bryan the biggest fight.
* Deadpool, played by Ryan Renolds who suffers from AlliterativeName syndrome, in ''X-Men Origins'': Wolverine is Styker's Dragon. Renolds, who normally plays a wise-cracking smart ass, stretches his acting range in this movie by portraying... a wise-cracking smart ass.
** There are other Dragons in the XMen film series, Mystique is Magneto's dragon for the first two movies and part of the third one, while William Stryker in X-Men 2 had Lady Deathstrike as his Dragon.
* Subverted in ''{{Equilibrium}}''. Dragon Brandt faces off against protagonist Preston in front of the BigBad, but [[spoiler:literally gets his face cut off in a matter of seconds]]. The BigBad ''more'' than makes up for this by [[spoiler:taking Preston on himself and matching him gun-for-gun in the most awesome gunkata duel in the movie]].
* ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Damodar is this to Profion.
* ''TotalRecall'': Richter, to BigBad Cohaagen.
** See you at the party, Richter!
* ''TheAvengers'', Sir August has two: Mrs. Peel's clone and Bailey. Mrs. Peel kills both of them before Sir August dies during a sword fight with Steed.
* In the animated film ''{{The Flight of Dragons}}'', the evil red wizard Ommadon's Dragon is a literal dragon, Bryaugh, who is defeated by the Hero's literal [[TheLancer Lancer]], Sir Orin. [[spoiler:Sir Orin is a knight who allows Bryaugh to engulf him in flames, then casts his fiery sword into Bryaugh's chest. They both die, though Orin gets better.]]
* Rather hard to pin down in ''NothingButTrouble''. At first, [[BigBad Judge Valkenheiser's]] Dragon appears to be corrupt cop Dennis. However, after [[spoiler: Dennis' [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turn,]]]] the role of the Dragon switches rather wildly between Miss Purdah and the Judge's Daughter Eldona.
** Their respective fates are also quite different. [[spoiler: Dennis becomes Fausto's bodyguard and Renalda's lover,]] [[spoiler: Miss Purdah is very clearly killed during the estate collapse,]] and [[spoiler: Eldona's fate is uncertain. She doesn't appear with Alvin in the news report, so she may have died in the estate collapse. Likewise, the fact that Alvin survived also indicates that she may have as well.]]
* Although {{Transformers}} villain Megatron is usually the BigBad, he is presented as the Dragon in [[{{Film/Transformers}} the live-action film series]], specifically RevengeOfTheFallen. In this continuity, Megatron serves The Fallen as a master, and is sent on missions to enforce his master's will. The Fallen himself doesn't fight and actively go on missions himself until the climactic final battle in the second movie. However, [[spoiler:he is killed during this battle, quite possibly setting Megatron up for the BigBad role once again, just like all his other incarnations]].
* In the obscure animated movie ''{{Twice upon a Time}}'', The BigBad Synonomus Botch has a dragon in the form of Ibor, a giant mechanical gorilla with a television for a face.
* In the first ''{{Charlies Angels}}'' film, the Thin Man serves as a Dragon for Eric Knox, the BigBad. However, in the sequel, he's upgraded to anti-hero status.
* In the immortal classic ''{{Road House}}'', the BigBad, Wesley, has a Dragon by the less-than-impressive name of Jimmy, an ex-con who comes closer than anyone else to actually kicking the hero's ass for good. For his pains, he gets the film's most spectacular death.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Although Morgoth's minions in ''TheSilmarillion'' include actual dragons such as Glaurung, Sauron most clearly fulfills this role, particularly in the story of Beren and Lúthien.
** Sauron's own Dragon in the ''{{The Lord of the Rings}}'' saga is none other than the Witch-king of Angmar, though Saruman also plays a Dragon role in the movie (though in the books, he was by no means a servant of him).
* Walter o'Dim in StephenKing's ''TheDarkTower'' series serves the enigmatic Crimson King.
* [[DarkActionGirl Bellatrix Lestrange]] -- the ruthless and devoted lieutenant to [[HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].
** Lucius Malfoy was originally Voldemort's [[TheDragon Dragon]], but after losing the prophecy in ''{{The Order of the Phoenix}}'' the Dark Lord decided he'd failed one too many times. Lucius spends most of ''{{The Deathly Hallows}}'' doing little more than sitting in his chair at Death Eater meetings and quietly wimpering.
* Basta, the knife-wielding henchman to Capricorn in ''TheInkworldTrilogy'', who runs all his errands and does most of his dirty work.
* If [[{{Discworld}} Lord Vetinari]] is a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of the EvilOverlord, then Samuel Vimes would be his subversion of TheDragon. Vimes is often said to be Vetinari's enforcer, often unwittingly or unwillingly, but is the protagonist of all the Watch books.
* In ''The Crystal Shard'', Errtu was Akar Kessel's Dragon, especially since most of Akar's power is derived from the Crystal Shard, while Errtu is a powerful demon in his own right. In the rest of Drizzt's adventures, Artemis Entreri is often TheDragon.
* In ''TheDresdenFiles'', Deirdre is TheDragon to Nicodemus, her [[{{Squick}} father and lover]].
** Also, Lara Raith serves as [[TheDragon Dragon]] and BastardUnderstudy to her father (who used rape to establish control of all of his daughter except the youngest). Also she is now actually in charge of the White Court through control of her father.
** Aurora had a Sidhe Lord and a Centaur as her dragons.
* In ''TheBlackCoats'', Lecoq is [[MagnificentBastard The Colonel's]] dragon.
* In the ''[[TamoraPierce Protector of the Small]]'' series, Stenmun serves in this capacity to Blayce
* In ''[[TheFantasticFlyingJourney The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure]]'', Throttlethumbs is the Dragon to Sir Jasper.
* In ''{{The Wheel of Time}}'', the Forsaken serve as Dragons for the Dark One, who is SealedEvilInACan. Shaidar Haran also fulfils this role for the Dark One, but since Haran is an avatar of the Dark One, that essentially makes him a Dragon of himself. In the Children of the Light organisation, the tough, skilled blademaster Eamon Valda serves as a sort-of reluctant Dragon to the elderly, frail Rhadam Asunawa, due to blackmail. Ironically, Lewis Therin Telamon is called "The Dragon" but is not TheDragon, and nor is his {{Reincarnation}} Rand al'Thor, "The Dragon Reborn".
* In ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'', the physically indomitable Gregor Clegane serves as a Dragon for House Lannister, frequently being given the most dangerous, brutal and intimidating missions possible.
* In ''{{The Malazan Book of the Fallen}}'', the main "villain", the Crippled God, has many Dragons such as Karsa Orlong and Rhulad Sengar. Often these Dragons have no idea who they are serving or even act in apparent defiance of him, only to find their actions have been serving his purpose all along.
* Katla is [[BigBad Tengil's]] [[TheDragon dragon]] (literally) in ''TheBrothersLionheart''. She is as evil as Tengil and his greatest weapon, and the only reason she is under his command is that she obeys whoever in possession the horn that she is afraid of.
* The Steel Inquisitors -- once-human, virtually unstoppable killing machines -- serve as the collective Dragons to [[EvilOverlord the Lord Ruler]] in BrandonSanderson's ''{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy. [[spoiler: After the first book, [[TheManBehindTheMan the real Big Bad]] [[OmnicidalManiac Ruin]] takes command of the Inquisitors, and one of them, Marsh, becomes his ([[BrainwashedAndCrazy unwilling]])) Dragon.]]
* In the NewJediOrder series, Warmaster Tsavong Lah, leader of the Yuuzhan Vong warrior caste, is TheDragon to Supreme Overlord Shimrra [[spoiler: who is in turn a puppet for Onimi, but the Warmaster doesn't know that]]. Interestingly, he also takes on many aspects of the BigBad in the early part of the series, since he has pretty much total free rein with the invasion until Shimrra finally takes personal command.
* In RomanceToTheThreeKingdoms, Lu Bu is pretty much TheDragon of the early story, as his allegiance clears the way for Dong Zhuo's rise to hegemony. However, he demonstrates a capacity for being manipulated that leads to [[spoiler:Dong Zhuo's]] downfall and eventually his own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Jem'Hadar served as a collective Dragon for that show's collective BigBad, the Founders.
* In ''StarTrekVoyager'', [[spoiler:Seska]] straddled the line between this and BigBad. She acted in Culluh's employ, doing a great deal of his dirty work, but also consistently showed herself to be a far more cunning and dangerous planner.
* On ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'', most of the examples that seem likely Dragons end up generally being rather weaker than [[TheBigBad The Big Bad]], putting them more into the category of [[MiniBoss]], but removing the section here would just have someone recreate it anyway. Here's the potential list anyway:
** In Season 1, Luke was TheDragon for the Master (though [[spoiler:he didn't last very long]]).
*** Darla fits the mold better for The Master's dragon in season one.
** In Season 2, it looked at first as if Spike was going to be TheDragon for the Anointed... but instead, as it turned out, Drusilla was TheDragon for [[spoiler:Angelus]].
** In Season 3, Faith was TheDragon for the Mayor.
*** And before that, Mr Trick.
** Season 4 has a rather odd set of Big Bads and Dragons. Professor Walsh could be considered the BigBad, with Adam as her Dragon, if not for the small detail that Adam skewers her halfway through the season. When Adam is revealed to be the season's BigBad, he is given his own Dragon in the form of Riley's former buddy Forrest.
** In Season 7, Caleb was TheDragon for The First Evil.
*** The other seasons used misdirection rather than actual Dragons to make Buffy think she was facing one threat, only for another, more dangerous to arise later. So in Season 4 we are led to believe that the Initiative and its leader is a dangerous threat, only for the cyborg-demon thing Adama to turn out to be the true threat. In Season 6 we are led to believe that the Evil Trio is the real threat, but it's really Evil Willow. Season 5 is unique in that the actual big bad, Glory, is present as the main threat throughout, though she does get Doc in the last few episodes as a handy henchman.
** Warren Mears prefers to hire Dragons short term, [[GenreSavvy knowing sending them against Buffy will be the end of that particular business relationship]].
* On ''Buffy'''s spin-off ''{{Angel}}'', the series finale featured Adam Baldwin as Hamilton, TheDragon for the series' BigBad "The Senior Partners", who are never faced directly by Angel or his friends. (With one exception).
* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', Meg is the Dragon for her father Azazel in Season 1. Jake is briefly the Dragon in the Season 2 finale.
* 24 provides numerous examples:
** In season 1, Ira Gaines is TheDragon to the Drazens.
** In season 2, Peter Kingsley is TheDragon to Max, Trepkos and several oilmen.
** In season 5, Christopher Henderson is TheDragon to [[spoiler:Charles Logan]].
** In season 7, Ike Dubaku is TheDragon to Benjamin Juma.
* In most versions of the ''RobinHood'' legend, The Sheriff of Nottingham is TheDragon to Prince John.
** In the current BBC Series, The Sheriff is the BigBad, and Sir Guy is his Dragon.
** In the ErrolFlynn [[TheAdventuresOfRobinHood film]], Sir Guy acts as TheDragon to Prince John.
* Lampshaded (kind of) in ''{{Sea Quest DSV}}'' 2032; first episode, 3rd season. The BigBad is Alexander Born, his general uses the callsign "Dragon" when calling in the attack.
* In ''Mighty Morphin' PowerRangers'', Goldar fills this role to a T. The {{Big Bad}}s of later seasons would also usually have a Dragon in their employ, but Goldar is probably the most iconic.
** Part of what made ''PowerRangers in Space'' so popular was the inclusion of the morally ambiguous Ecliptor. It also had some twists concerning the enemies, Astronema was the BigBad in the general sense, while she was more or less TheDragon for the rarely seen Dark Spector.
* ''PowerRangers'' parent series, ''SuperSentai'', generally had one a season. They come in all shapes and sizes, but certain commonalities exist. They tend to be swordsmen, and to have a grudge against one specific Ranger, usually Red. Said Ranger usually destroys The Dragon in single combat during the finale.
** ''HimitsuSentaiGoranger'' had Field Marshal Goldenmask, who was actually the fourth to ascend to the position of second-in-command after the DirtyCoward, TheBrute, and the EvilGenius all fail.
** ''JAKQDengekiTai'' had Iron Claw, the guy we thought was the main villain at first. Despite playing the DiabolicalMastermind quite well, he's a Dragon through and through.
** ''BattleFeverJ'' gave us Commander Hedda, who was really more of a mystic than anything. [[spoiler: He did have a OneWingedAngel form.]]
** ''DenshiSentaiDenziman'' had General Hedorer, essentially your standard yes-man field commander.
** ''TaiyouSentaiSunVulcan'' revives Queen Hedrian, the previous BigBad, into this role.
** ''DaiSentaiGoggleFive'' had General Deathgiller, who was essentially this trope personified. Notably, however, he was actually ranked lower than the EvilGenius.
** ''KagakuSentaiDynaman'' had Prince Megiddo, son of the BigBad, who was eventually kicked out for being useless and replaced with DarkActionGirl General Zenobia.
** ''ChoudenshiBioman'' had a very well-stratified villain hierarchy including a Dragon, Mason.
** ''DengekiSentaiChangeman'' had General Guiluke, who actually supervised most of the day-to-day villainy.
** ''ChoushinseiFlashman'', though, again, the EvilGenius was ranked higher, featured the envious zebra person Ley Wandar in this role.
** ''HikariSentaiMaskman'' ties between Imperial Ninja Oyobur and [[spoiler: Princess]] Igam.
** ''ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'' has Guardnoid Gash, the BigBad's robot bodyguard.
** ''KousokuSentaiTurboranger'' has Zimba, another straight-up field commander.
** ''ChikyuuSentaiFiveman'', Billion and Chevalier tie for the position.
** ''KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' has Grifforther, who became the aforementioned Goldar once the series was adapted.
** ''GoseiSentaiDairanger'' had Emperor Gorma XV bring Colonel Shadam along for the ride.
** ''NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' has Gashadokuro, the son of BigBad Daimaou.
** ''ChourikiSentaiOhranger'' features another father-son BigBad-Dragon relationship with Prince Buldont, who's short and dumpy at first, but gains a much more Dragony body later on.
*** By the time he gets his upgrade his father is gone and he is the new BigBad. Buldont's Dragon consists of a brainwashed Bomber the Great for two episodes and then his wife Multiwa, although Buldont's a hands on kind of guy so he might also technically be his own Dragon.
** ''GekisouSentaiCarranger'' has two. While Zelmodor seems to fulfill this role at first, he later gets co-opted by Ritchhiker.
** ''DenjiSentaiMegaranger'' has Yugande, who became the aforementioned Ecliptor.
** ''SeijuuSentaiGingaman'' follows ''Goranger'' in having four seconds-in-command in quick succession. First Mate Battobas fits best.
** ''RescueSentaiGoGoFive'' has a near-literal example in Prince Salamandes. He is, yet again, son to the BigBad, though she's his ''mom'' this time.
** ''HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' features Duke Org Yabaiba, though he's a bit goofier than most.
** ''NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'' has ''seven'' Dragons, each named [[ThemeNaming for a day of the week]]. Sundar, the last to appear, fits the definition best.
** ''BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' has an odd example in Lije, a small girl who doesn't really fight. She's really only the Dragon be default due to all the other roles being filled.
** ''MahouSentaiMagiranger'' has Victory General Branken, who's actually the boss when the show begins.
** ''GoGoSentaiBoukenger'' features the extremely literal Creator King Ryuuwong.
** ''JukenSentaiGekiranger'', Long plays it well, and it helps that he actually '''is''' a Dragon, [[spoiler: but he's actually a BastardUnderstudy who eventually takes Big Badhood for himself.]]
** ''{{Engine Sentai Go-onger}}'' has Yogostein filling this role to a tee, except he seems to be the BigBad. [[spoiler: But, he's actually reporting to his dad, who has a Dragon of his own]].
** ''SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'' currently has Dayu, but it's early enough in the show for this to change.
* In the series four finale of ''{{Doctor Who}}'', the Supreme Dalek appears to be the Dragon to Davros. However, it is arguable that Davros is himself the Dragon of the insane Dalek Caan. Similarly, Davros' questionable status in this episode could make him a Dragon for the Supreme Dalek itself.
* In the new ''BattlestarGalactica'', it is arguable that the Centurions (hard-to-kill robots with miniguns in their arms) are collectively the Dragons to the humanoid Cylons who, despite possessing superior strength to humans, are otherwise relatively easy to kill.
* ''{{Deadwood}}'' had two. Evil millionaire prospector George Hearst is always accompanied by Captain Turner, an old mountain of a man who serves as his bodyguard and enforcer. He apparently has a long history of killing Hearst's rivals in public streetfights. On the other side, small-time kingpin Al Swearengen has Dan Dority as his strong right hand. Al is an able combatant himself, but will generally send Dan to do the wetwork. In one notable episodes, the two rival Dragons fight a duel as their masters watch from the balconies.
* ''{{Kings}}'' had Thomasina as TheDragon to King Silas, and damned if she wasn't an efficient one.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' makes quite effective use of this trope:
** In Volume 1, Thompson and Candice take turns acting as Linderman's Dragon.
** In Volume 2, [[PsychoElectro Elle Bishop]] can be seen as a Dragon to her father Bob. [[spoiler:Adam/Kensei also served temporarily as Whitebeard's Dragon]], and Peter was an unwitting one to Adam.
** Volume 3 had Tracy and Nathan as co-Dragon's to Arthur, after [[spoiler:Maury is killed off.]]
** When [[spoiler:Nathan]] became the new [[BigBad Big Bad]] in Volume 4, Danko served as his Dragon. After Danko took over as Big Bad, [[BadassNormal Bennet]] became an unwilling Dragon.
** Finally, in the now-running Volume 5, Edgar fills this role for new Big Bad Samuel Sullivan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* In Rhapsody (of Fire)'s musically told-fantasy-epic, the Algalord Saga, [[BigBad Akron the Black King]], prone to [[CompleteMonster ravaging every proverbial puppy in the story]] is served loyally by TheDragon Dargor, a fearless and [[NobleDemon honourable]] half-demon warrior prince, who is apparently so awesome as to warrant an entire song of his own (with two variations!). All of this is a fairly transparent foreshadowing of [[spoiler:Dargor's HeelFaceTurn at the climax of the story.]] And HOW!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''AdventuresInOdyssey'': During the Novacom Saga, Mr. Charles is assumed to be to the BigBad; it's eventually revealed that he's only second-in-command, and the real mastermind is someone [[TheGhost who's often referenced but never appears]] until the finale, "The Chairman."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* This is literally the scenario in the [[spoiler:''Age of Worms'']] campaign where [[spoiler: the BigBad's second in command is a dracolich.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Most ''MortalKombat'' games have a Dragon, although none are as iconic as Goro, who served as the Dragon for Shang Tsung in the very first game. [=MK2=] had Kintaro, a Goro {{Expy}}. [=MK3=] had a centaur named Motaro...
** In addition, after being demoted from BigBad after the first game, Shang Tsung is often the last opponent you'll fight before facing the Dragons, being in essence a combo of TheDragon and TheStarscream to Shao Kahn.
* During the ''[[StreetFighter Street Fighter II]]'' series, Sagat is often portrayed as the dragon for M. Bison. This is toned down more and more during the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series, when his motive turns into a clean rematch with Ryu.
* In the ''{{Metroid}}'' series of games, the fairly dragon-like Ridley often functions as TheDragon for something more sinister, including the Mother Brain, Dark Samus and Metroid Prime itself. It is worthy of note that, with the exception of Mother Brain, Ridley is actually unaffiliated with the {{Big Bad}}s, making the application of this trope a bit unclear. He ''does'' show an uncanny timing for appearing right before the actual final bosses, though.
** In most cases, Ridley's timing is somewhat fortuitous, but can be explained. ''Metroid'' and ''Super Metroid'', and by extension ''Metroid Zero Mission'' are obvious: he's protecting Mother Brain and the Space Pirate operations. In ''Metroid Fusion'', it's just an X parasite clone. In ''Metroid Prime'', well... somehow he decides only to show up for the second time after Samus collects her PlotCoupons. Finally, in ''Metroid Prime 3'' [[spoiler: Ridley is entirely under the control of Phaaze, which probably regards Samus as the biggest threat to its existence, and so simply orders Ridley to hunt her down, first at the beginning when he's dropped into a planet core, and then at the end, when Samus finds him in the Space Pirate Leviathan Seed.]]
*** Alternatively in Prime, Ridley notices the enormous force field going down and starts looking for whoever did it. Or he [[WildMassGuessing may have been staking out that area just in case Samus DID collect all the PlotCoupons.]]
* In ''JadeEmpire'', while initially thought to be the BigBad, Death's Hand is in fact the {{Dragon}} for ''two'' successive [[TheManBehindTheMan Men Behind The Man]]. Oh, and there's also an ''actual'' dragon, but it's not TheDragon.
** The Ravager serves as Kai Lan's dragon, being [[spoiler:the reanimated corpse of Black Whirlwind's brother Raging Ox]] who is forced to do Kai Lan's bidding.
* Tartarus is effectively the {{Dragon}} for the [[BigBad Prophet of Truth]] in ''{{Halo}} 2''. However, Truth evades you for most of the next game until the Arbiter calls him an asshole and silences him.
* In the original ''FatalFury'', the game would have you believe that Billy Kane, Geese Howard's right hand man, is the final fight, but not long after the game starts, it becomes fairly obvious that Billy is only TheDragon, and that Geese Howard, the BigBad, is the true final boss. Subverted later on in ''Fatal Fury 3'', where Billy is defeated in story but not in-game, Geese is apparently TheDragon, with Yamazaki seeming to be the BigBad, until Yamazaki's defeat reveals the Jin Twins, the true {{Big Bad}}s of the game.
** Also in the ''Fatal Fury'' series: Lawrence Blood is Wolfgang Krauser's Dragon, and Grant is Kain R. Heinlein's.
* [[TheGrimReaper Death]] in the ''{{Castlevania}}'' games almost always plays TheDragon for {{Dracula}} himself, and is occasionally referred to as Dracula's most loyal servant.
* ''FinalFantasyVIII'' has a chain of dragons: Raijin and Fujin act as Dragons for Seifer, Seifer is Dragon to Sorceress Edea.
** Arguably, you could say they were all Dragons for Ultimecia in the end too.
* In ''[[{{Fallout}} Fallout 3]]'', Colonel Augustus Autumn is the Dragon for President John Henry Eden, leader of the Enclave. However, Autumn actually turns against Eden towards the end of the game, and as he was the commander of the Enclave's military, his loyal soldiers defect with him. Awesome.
* ''FinalFantasyIV'''s Golbez, who is very much a Darth Vader figure, turns out to be Dragon to [[spoiler: Zemus]].
** [[spoiler: Kain]] is TheDragon to Golbez before [[spoiler: Zemus]] pulls a ManBehindTheMan.
* Jenova of ''FinalFantasyVII'' becomes one of these to Sephiroth, despite probably being more important to the plot (and a great deal creepier). Her fully reconstructed form Jenova Absolute is the last boss you battle before confronting Sephiroth himself.
**In certain interpretations, Sephiroth was actually TheDragon for Jenova - with his body dead, it would have been Jenova's malevolence using him as the ultimate soldier. However, this theory has been disproven by WordOfGod. Sephiroth's appearances before his original body is found in the crater are in fact Sephiroth controlling and using Jenova's body to take his own form.
* ''FinalFantasyXII'' had Gabranth in pretty much the same role, including a nice ShoutOut to the StarWars saga when at one point he starts [[VaderBreath breathing heavily in his black armor]].
** In its sequel ''Revenant Wings'', it's assumed that [[spoiler:the Judge of Wings/Mydia]] is the main {{Big Bad}}, but when [[spoiler:Felthanos]] appears, it's revealed that the former is {{The Dragon}} to the latter.
* ''Okami'' has so many dragons it's not funny. You're led to believe that Orochi is Lord of Evil (Orochi is actually a dragon) but that's wrong. Ninetails claims to be Lord of Darkness, but he was exaggerating. Then it's said that Lechku and Nechku may be the source of all evil. Guess what?
** And that's without including the portion of the fandom who thought Waka was going to turn out to be either TheDragon, or the BigBad.
* The ''TimeCrisis'' series has [[PsychoForHire mercenary terrorist]] Wild Dog. In every single game. [[StayingAlive And yes, you do get to kill him every time.]] Interestingly enough, the first game had you offing the BigBad at the end of the second act, saving Wild Dog for the finale.
** The first two titles in the main series have him forming close relations with each title's BigBad. In the third and fourth games, however, he seems to serve no connection to the Big Bad of either respective game; he's just there to get his revenge on the VSSE.
* Lord Recluse, BigBad of the ''CityOfHeroes'' games, has four Dragons: Scirocco, Ghost Widow, Black Scorpion, and Captain Mako. (It may be more accurate to call them a QuirkyMinibossSquad, but they have far more independence and characterization then a true QMS.) Each of these lower ranking Arachnos members have a Dragon of their own, namely Ice Mistral, Wretch, Silver Mantis, and Barracuda, respectively.
* The Black Knight serves as the Dragon for the ''FireEmblem'' games ''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn''. In the first, he serves the BigBad Ashnard as a member of the [[FourIsDeath Four Riders]]. He does this in conquering Crimea and searching for [[spoiler:Lehran's Medallion]], not to mention [[spoiler:killing the main protagnist Ike's father]]. This eventually leads to a DuelBoss fight between him and Ike. (Although Ike's sister Mist can help with healing Ike).
** In ''Radiant Dawn'', he turns to serve as the Dragon for his true master [[spoiler: Sephiran]] under his true identity of [[spoiler:Zelgius, the noble leader of the Begnion Central Army]]. There he has a true DuelBoss fight with Ike by creating a magical barrier that separates the two of them from their respective forces.
*** Of course [[spoiler:Sephiran]] can be considered a Dragon as well, as he must be fought and defeated so the party can reach [[spoiler:the goddess Ashera]], whom he serves.
** Every game in the series seems to have one of these. Particularly bizarre in the first game where a priest takes this role for a literal Dragon.
** An even more bizarre example happens in ''FireEmblem: The Binding Blade'': [[spoiler: An actual ''dragon'' named Idoun can be the Dragon to BigBad Zephiel, but if you get all the InfinityPlusOneSword-esc weapons, you actually get to have an extended story where the dragon is acually the Dragon to Zephiel... who really is the Dragon to the exact same dragon. To make it even more confusing, said dragon can have another dragon, Yahn, who is ''her'' Dragon.]] Try to wrap your brain around that one.
** In ''Fire Emblem'' Limstella is The Dragon to Big bad Nergal and In ''The Sacred Stones'' Riev is the Dragon to [[spoiler:Prince Lyon]] who is in turn is the Dragon to [[spoiler:the Demon King.]]
* Inuart, after suffering from [[MoreThanMindControl mind-bending torture,]] becomes TheDragon to the BigBad in ''{{Drakengard}}''.
* Barbatos Goetia from ''TalesOfDestiny 2'' exemplifies this trope, being TheDragon of "Holy Woman" Elraine.
* ''SuperRobotWars Original Generation'' has a lot of these.
** In the first OG, we had Ingram Prissken who acts like TheDragon for Levi Tolar (unwillingly, actually)
*** Shu Shirakawa also served as this role, to an extent, to Bian Zoldark in both Original Generation and the original Super Robot Wars 2.
** In the second OG, we have lots of them:
*** Axel Almer acts like TheDragon for Vindel Mauser.
*** Alfimi is like TheDragon for (Stern) Neue Regisseur.
*** Strange that both [[TheDragon The Dragons]] [[spoiler:end up joining you in OG Gaiden]].
*** Oh, and Mekibos is actually TheDragon for Wendolo, as he seemed to lead the rest of the QuirkyMinibossSquad the Inspectors. [[spoiler:And he joins you too, temporarily before he's offed. He may be back, though, if the SRW 4 story is to get implemented to the Original Generation.]]
** In ''OG Gaiden'', Duminuss is TheDragon for Dark Brain. It's also arguable that Wilhelm von Juergen is unknowingly playing TheDragon part for Duminuss.
* The ''WingCommander'' series has an interesting variation of this trope - TheDragon is an ace pilot you must dogfight with before destroying the ''real'' bad guy (whose death is in a {{Cutscene}}, not directly killed by the player). Prince Thrakhath plays TheDragon to the ''WingCommander III'' BigBad, the Kilrathi emperor; Seether plays TheDragon to WC 4's BigBad [[spoiler:Tolwyn]].
** For extra value, Seether flies a fighter commonly called the Dragon, in the final flight mission.
* Ramirez from ''SkiesOfArcadia'' is TheDragon of Galcian. [[spoiler:He's also the last boss because the heroes, in adherence to the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, destroy the weaker Galcian first. Ramirez does ''not'' [[KillAllHumans take that well]].]]
* In ''[[WorldOfDarkness Vampire: The Masquerade]] -- Bloodlines'', Prince [=LaCroix=] of Los Angeles has a gigantic, mute Nagloper vampire as his right-hand henchman and Sheriff (basically the one responsible for enforcing Camarilla law in the prince's territory). [[spoiler:The Sheriff is, in all but one ending, the game's final boss -- [=LaCroix=] himself does not put up much of a fight.]]
* In ''KingdomHearts II'', who the {{Dragon}} is in Organization XIII (or if there even is one) has had some mild debate, even on this wiki. The general consensus seems to be between [[EyepatchOfPower Xigbar]], who actually is Number II, has a bit of a backstory, [[ThatOneBoss and arguably has the most battle prowess]] (Still debatable - Some may find other members to be harder), and [[GoodScarsEvilScars Saix]], who acts in a possition of authority, gets more screentime, and is actually the boss fight before the final boss. If one were to nitpick, Saix as number VII is in the middle of XIII, and half of XIV. ''358/2 Days'' points even furter towards Saix, as he's the one who actually assigns missions to the other members.
** Well as far as CoM goes, the Orgy members pretty much have QuirkyMinibossSquad covered, while Axel is visually TheDragon for Marluxia till you realise he's a DoubleAgent. (Meaning ''Larxene'' is more of TheDragon for Marluxia) It's a fair call to say Saix takes up the mantle in KHII.
** Let's not forget Maleficent, the Dragon to [[spoiler: [[TheManBehindTheMan Ansem]], although she herself was unaware of it.]] Ironic that when he did reveal himself, he literally turned her into a Dragon.
*** Whether or not ''Birth By Sleep'' will keep this trend is debatable...Because Maleficent may once again be TheDragon, or TheDragon may be [[spoiler: Master Xehanort, or his apprentice, Vanitas.]]
* Each of the three [[BigBad Big Bads]] in ''Seiken Densetsu 3'' has their own pair of Dragons: the [[BlackKnight Darkshine Knight]] and [[EvilChancellor Koren, the Wizard of the Red Lotus]]; [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Jagan]] and [[LoveMakesYouEvil Bigieu]]; [[MonsterClown Deathjester]] and [[{{Brainwashed}} Heath]].
* In ''{{Ratchet and Clank}}'', [[spoiler:Captain Qwark]] is TheDragon for BigBad [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Chairman Drek]]. "Deadlocked" has another example, with Ace Hardlight serving as Dragon for Gleeman Vox.
* ''SonicTheHedgehog'''s Metal Sonic, in all his myriad versions, names and incarnations, has often wound up playing this role to Robotnik.
** Except in ''Sonic Heroes'', of course, where he TookALevelInBadass, locked up Eggman, and masqueraded as him in order to actually see to the end of Sonic by his own hands as that game's BigBad. He failed, of course, and Eggman had to wipe his mind clean as a result.
** ''Sonic and the Black Knight'' features a literal dragon to be slayed before the final boss.
* Axel Gear, the EvilCounterpart from the ''RocketKnightAdventures'' series, serves as the Dragon in all three games. Despite the fact that each of them involves an entirely different invading empire, of a different ''species'' to boot, Axle Gear is the Dragon to each successive EvilOverlord. It seems that repeatedly losing to the hero has not damaged his resume.
* In ''ChronoTrigger'', [[spoiler:Queen Zeal]] takes this role next to Lavos. What's interesting is that the game seems to suggest that [[spoiler:Lavos doesn't seem to really care one way or another about her.]]
** On a smaller scale, many of the local main antagonists of individual eras have a distinct Dragon of their own. Azala had the hulking brute Nizbel for a bodyguard, never mind that his pet Black Tyrano was practically a literal dragon. Dalton plays this role for Queen Zeal [[spoiler:and takes a crack at becoming the new king after she leaves for bigger and better things]]. Ozzie is an odd variation in that while he is indisputably Magus' right-hand man and field general, he is also a coward who flees and hides behind his goons whenever there is real danger.
* Several ''QuestForGlory'' villains have one Dragon or another on their side, using both the "intelligent sidekick" variety and dumb, physically powerful monsters.
** In the first game, ''So You Want to Be a Hero'', the Brigand Leader is guarded by the Brigand Warlock. As it later turns out, though, there's a funny twist to the setup...
** ''Trial By Fire'' gives us Khaveen, captain of the guard in the decaying city of Raseir and right hand to the maniacal Ad Avis. Come the endgame, while the Fighter faces him in a straight-up duel and the Magic User doesn't interact with him much at all, the Thief engages in a more creative "showdown" with the corrupt captain by breaking into his house.
** In a twisty kind of twist in the third installment has the BigBad being a SealedEvilInACan so you only face TheDragon in the final battle.
** The fourth, Shadows of Darkness, has made TheDragon TheStarscream to [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dark Master]], in their quest to unleash an EldritchAbomination.
** Ironically enough, the villain of ''Dragon Fire'' is actually trying to [[SealedEvilInACan summon a dragon]]. In the meantime, he has to settle for The Assassin. His identity is a mystery for much of the game, and ultimately turns out to be a throwback to the series' first installment.
* The ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' game ''DemonStone'' is worth a mention here, as the game's Dragon is an ''actual'' dragon... and it's frickin' huge to boot.
* Mr. Big posed as the BigBad in the first ''{{Art of Fighting}}'', but took his rightful place in the second game when Geese Howard came back to Southtown. In ''Art of Fighting 3'', Sinclair was Wyler's dragon.
* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' is ''filled'' with these, mostly serving as pawns for Ganon/Ganondorf. Most of the time, the plots end up HijackedByGanon.
** Agahnim in ''A Link to the Past'', although he actually [[spoiler: turns out to be Ganon's alter-ego.]]
** BrainwashedAndCrazy Nabooru to Twinrova in ''Ocarina of Time''.
** Onox in ''Oracle of Seasons'' and Veran in ''Oracle of Ages.'' are TheDragon to Twinrova, who are TheDragon to Ganon this time.
*** ....Isn't Onox's second form an ''actual Dragon'', as well?
** Vaati in ''Four Swords Adventures''.
** Zant in ''Twilight Princess''.
** The [[DemonicPossession demonically possessed]] Skull Kid, to the titular mask in ''Majora's Mask''.
* ''[[TouhouProject Imperishable Night]]'' particularly has this subverted with a touch in gameplay. Kaguya Houraisan is a powerful Lunarian and has a powerful BattleButler Eirin Yagokoro. Canon-wise, Kaguya is definitely more powerful (she is immortal after all), but gameplay-wise Eirin is more difficult to defeat than her boss. Thus Eirin is somehow Kaguya's Dragon and this leads to a StupidStatementDanceMix: '''"HELP ME, EIRIIIIN!!!!"'''
** Kaguya being more powerful than Eirin is actually a debated topic. Some argue Eirin, others argue Kaguya. The reasoning being that Eirin herself may also be immortal (she implies this, while Yuyuko implies otherwise, but neither Eirin nor ZUN have ever outright confirmed or denied it). Regardless, Eirin is definitely Kaguya's Dragon.
* Subverted in ''FinalFantasyVI'', where Kefka, who had appeared as The Dragon up to that point, pulls a [[TheStarscream Starscream]] halfway through the game and becomes the BigBad himself.
** Heck, if you wanna get technical, Kefka also has a Dragon. [[spoiler: 10 of them. 8 Elemental Dragons, Phunbaba- a boogieman who destroys the towns he visits -, and Doomgaze, who is essentially a flying laser of death.]]
*** Actually, none of those are Kefka's dragons. They're just released from their imprisonment when he demolishes the world.
** The three-tier boss fight you face before him - Visage and its arms, Machine, Magic, Tiger and Power, Lady and Rest - could be considered his Dragon.
*** You could also argue that the Warring Triad unwillingly become his Dragons after he becomes the BigBad.
* In ''SaintsRow'' and it's sequel each rival gang has a Dragon.
** In ''SaintsRow 1'':
*** The Dragon to Benjamin King; Leader of the Vice kings is Anthony "Big Tony" Green.
*** The Dragon to Hector Lopez of Los Carnales [[spoiler: and once he dies his younger brother Angelo]] is Victor Rodriquez.
*** The Dragon to William Sharp, the secret leader of the Westside Rollerz is his Nephew Joseph Price.
*** [[spoiler: The Dragon to Alderman Hughs, the corrupt politician is Corrupt Police Chief Monroe.]]
** In ''SaintsRow 2'':
*** Mr.Sunshine is The Dragon to The General.
*** Jyunichi is The Dragon to Shogo Akuji and later to Shogo's father Kazuo once he comes to Stilwater
*** The closest thing Maero has to a Dragon is Matt, his best friend and right hand. But since Maero is a 7-foot tall musclebound thug he never actually uses Matt to do anything except tatoo him.
* [[CaveStory Misery]] serves is a Dragon to [[BigBad The Doctor]], although she doesn't have any real loyalty towards the man; she and [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Balrog]] [[spoiler: are bound to serve the wearer of the Demon Crown, and she sends Balrog to save Quote and Curly from certain death after they destroy the source of the Crown's power.]]
* In ''Kingdom of Loathing'', there appear to be a number of dragons to the final boss [[spoiler: the Naughty Sorceress]]. The most obvious would be the fight with your shadow. Although, the Sorceress' tower could be seen as a dragon in and of itself. Then there are a number of required minibosses, such as the Goblin King, the Boss Bat, and either the Man, the Big Wisniewski, or both.
* In ''{{The Witcher}}'', Azar Javed is a Dragon to the big bad [[spoiler:[[TheManBehindTheMan Jaques de Aldersberg]], head of the Order of the Burning Rose]].
** And, in turn, The Professor is the Dragon to Azar Javed.
* At the end of ''{{Overlord}}'' you discover that the VillainProtagonist PlayerCharacter [[spoiler: is the unwitting dragon to the real BigBad]].
* Abaddon of ''GuildWars Nightfall'' has two Dragons, [[spoiler:The Lich and Shiro, the two [[BigBad Big Bads]] of the previous campaigns]]. Also, Varesh.
* In ''Silent Scope'', Monica (a heavily armored fighter) is the terrorist leader's Dragon.
* In ''HalfLife'', The Gonarch is the Nihilanth's Dragon.
* Typically, in ''MetalGear'', the titular Metal Gears serve as this; the players apparent ultimate challenge before they can have a climactic showdown with a final boss.
* Subverted in Strong Bad's Game, ''8-Bit is Enough'', where Robo-KingOfTown is the penultimate boss and bodyguard of Trogdor the dragon.
* In ''{{Iji}}'', Annihilator Iosa the Invincible could be considered the Dragon to General Tor, though the latter IS more powerful when you face him, [[spoiler:Especially on Maximum Charge]].
* In ''Pokémon Diamond'' and ''Pearl'', this is slightly changed around when [[spoiler:you face the big bad BEFORE facing Dialga or Palkia (or Giratina in the upcoming ''Platinum'' game).]] But there is still the Elite Four to think about, so it still counts.
** ''Pokémon [=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'' are a bit better at this, since previous-game Rival Green (Or Blue if you're not Japanese) is the last real boss before the last boss, previous-game playable character Red (who is not Ash)
* In the ''{{Streets of Rage}}'' series, Shiva usually takes the role of TheDragon, most notably in the final showdown with Mr. X in the first game and again in Streets of Rage III [[spoiler:in one of the Bad Endings of the game]].
** Shiva also fits the brawn role. But only because Mr. X is one of the few people smart enough [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim to use a gun]].
* In ''MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', Fawful was The Dragon to Cackletta.
** And in ''Bowser's Inside Story'', Fawful's Dragon is Midbus.
*** Does that mean that the hypothetical ''Mario and Luigi RPG 5'' will have Midbus as the [[BigBad Big Bad]]?
* Kammy Koopa, Lord Crump and Nastasia in the ''PaperMario'' games.
* In ''DevilMayCry 3'', Arkham appears, at first, to be Vergil's dragon. [[spoiler: It turns out that Arkham's been manipulating pretty much everyone the whole time, as part of his plans to become a god.]]
* ''ResidentEvil 5'': [[spoiler:a brainwashed Jill is Wesker's dragon. Excella ''thinks'' she is, but that lasts until Wesker decides [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she's not that useful anymore]].]]
* Subverted in ''RumbleRoses'', as you meet the actual evil mastermind before fighting her cyborg(unless you're playing as her). Though in some stories, you fight the girl she brainwashed before her, so kinda counts.
* ''Sensory Overload'': The Mastermind, a female cyborg who you fight shortly after offing BigBad Dr. Craven. Somewhat of an AnticlimaxBoss, with only slightly more HP than the higher EliteMooks and the same attack as the cyborg {{mook}}s, albeit a bit faster.
* Bodhi to Irenicus in ''BaldursGate II: Shadows of Amn''. Once you've got past her and get to follow Irenicus to the almost-final area, he also pulls out a literal dragon in his service you have to deal with before getting to him.
** In the sequel ''BaldursGate II: Throne of Bhaal'', Draconis is Abazigal's dragon (again, literally). Odd in that, as Draconis is also Abazigal's son, Abazigal is himself a dragon. (And it may be argued that all five of the mini bosses of the expansion are dragons to the expansion's BigBad, [[spoiler:Amelisan]].
* Subverted slightly in ''Tales of Symphonia'': the battle -- which looks like a boss battle -- just before going to attack and kill the final boss actually is a real dragon. It also turns out to be one of the easiest fights in the game -- not even on the level of some normal, random fights.
** Played more straight though, in several instances in the game. Botta to Yuan, and Pronyma to Yggdrasil.
* Reflux in ''[[{{Rayman}} Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc]]'', to BigBad André.
* Dr. N. Gin, from the ''CrashBandicoot'' series serves as one in ''Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back'' and, arguably, ''Crash Bandicoot: Warped''. In both games, you have to fight him when he's in a giant robot suit and you require projectiles to hurt him. In addition, he also has a lot more health than any other boss you fight in either of those games.
** Also, in both games he's the last boss you fight before Dr. Cortex himself.
** In Crash 1, it's N. Brio who's TheDragon, who's got more health, and is also smarter than Cortex too. He just doesn't have enough of a spine to become the big bad, and then has a FaceHeelTurn in the sequal.
* AxCrazy Omega, FinalBoss of ''MegaManZero 3'', serves as TheDragon to series BigBad, Dr. Weil, who is TheUnfought in said installment. ''Zero 4'' has Weil employ a new [[TheDragon Dragon]] in Craft, who [[spoiler:is a BastardUnderstudy, with a side helping of LoveMakesYouCrazy[=/=][[LoveMakesYouEvil Evil]]]]. This time however, Weil is also fought as the standard FinalBoss of the series GrandFinale.
* In the ''DynastyWarriors'' series; Lu Bu is Dong Zhuo's dragon...until Lu Bu turns on him and puts a pike through his head.
** Zhuge Liang could be seen as Liu Bei's dragon, as he orchestrates a lot of Liu Bei's victories...plus his nickname is "The Sleeping Dragon."
* ''VikingBattleForAsgard'': You serve as Freya's dragon while Rakan is Hel's dragon.
* In ''MegaManZX Advent'', Albert plays the role of the big bad, and when you fight him as the final boss takes on the form a three headed mechanical dragon, seemingly taking this trope rather literally.
** On the subject of ''Game/MegaMan'', [[EvilCounterpart Bass]] usually serves as the Dragon for his creator [[MadScientist Dr. Wily]]. Many adaptions of the story, in a form of AdaptationDecay, instead have Protoman, Mega Man's brother, in this role instead. Granted, Protoman did fight Mega Man in his first appearence but...
* Azel, the evil equivalent of protagonist Gene in ''God Hand'', is seen as a Dragon to Belze, leader of the Four Devas, but [[spoiler:he leaves the group before Belze is killed.]]
* In BraveFencerMusashi, Colonel Cappriciola is TheDragon to [[EvilOverlord Fuhrer Flatski]], ruler of the Thirstquencher Empire. However, near the very end of the game, you find out that [[spoiler: Cappriciola is actually your buddy Jon, who's been helping you during the game, and HE is secretly the son of the Emperor & Empress of the Thirstquencher Empire, whose deaths Flatski arranged in some unspecified manner that was meant to look like an accident (Jon, who was a child at the time, was meant to die with them). Unfortunately, he is shot in the back by Flatski's son Rootrick before he can take his revenge on Flatski, and then later stepped on by Dark Lumina.]]
* Interestingly, in {{ADOM}}, the normal FinalBoss is arguably the Dragon. To close the Chaos Gate, you first have to defeat a random immensely powerful demon called Fistanarius, the Greater Balor. If you actually went through the gate, which has quite difficult prerequisites and isn't required for the normal ending, you would face [[BigBad Andor Drakon]], the [[GodOfEvil ElDeR cHaOs GoD]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''BrokenSaints'', [[spoiler: Gabriel, son of the BigBad Lear Dunham]] generally seems to fill this role in the grand scheme.
* In the ''MadnessCombat'' series of Flash animations, Jebus/Joe/the one with the halo was originally The Dragon for The Sheriff, but he has since taken over as Hank's arch-nemesis.
* Parodied in ''[[HomestarRunner Dangeresque]]'' with Perducci's "secret weapon", Killingyouguy!.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''{{Erfworld}}'', the [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience color-coded]] EvilOverlord's second-in-command is a powerful Croakamancer and far smarter than her boss. However, he has a [[MacGuffin divine artifact]], indulges her [[WhipItGood hobbies]] -- and she knows how to "arrange it so that he thinks it was his idea."
* In ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'', Redcloak is TheDragon and right-hand man (right-hand goblin?) to Xykon. The [[TheFaceless Monster in the Darkness]] and, more recently, Tsukiko could be considered yet other Dragons for Xykon, but they're more TheBrute and TheDarkChick, respectively.
** The prequel book ''Start of Darkness'' shows that Xykon was, at one point, the dragon to Redcloak before becoming more powerful and carrying out a rather nasty gambit which involved [[spoiler: making Redcloak kill his brother and then ordering him to turn the corpse into a zombie.]]
*** ''Start of Darkness'' almost serves as a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of TheDragon, in that it shows what can really happen when the more powerful and evil villain (Xykon) starts out as a tool for the more intelligent but weaker EvilOverlord (Redcloak).
* Ysengrin counts as Coyote's dragon in ''GunnerkriggCourt'', though only so far as the comic's WhiteAndGrayMorality allows.
* In ''[[http://eou.comicgenesis.com Evil Overlords United]]'', the second in command is ''literally'' a dragon. He's also not overly bright and seems to have a thing for human females.
* ''{{Goblins}}'' has had two major Dragons so far -- one for each major plot arc. Saral Caine was [[spoiler:("was" being the operative word)]] Dragon for Dellyn Goblinslayer in the Brassmoon Arc. Grem [[spoiler:(until his HeelFaceTurn)]] and Riss were Dragons to Duv in Well of Darkness Arc. Not that Duv really needs a Dragon. She's more than {{Badass}} enough on her own...
* ''SluggyFreelance'' has had several Dragons in its long run. Most of them (Killum, Aylee, Kusari) have worked for the Hereti Corporation's [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Omniscient Council of Vagueness]]. Other notables include Lord Grater (Dragon to Zorgon Gala in the Punyverse arc) and Nash Straw (Dragon to Dastard Dickly in the "Phoenix Rising" arc) and Lord Horribus (Dragon to the Demon King in the Dimension of Pain stories).
* ''[[http://dozerfleetprod.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ciem1 Ciem: The Human Centipede]]'' features Musaran, TheDragon of Duke Arfaas' Hebbleskin Gang. Also, Chief of Police Merle Hourvitz. However, AiIsACrapshoot, so a damaged Musaran very nearly becomes TheStarscream. By ''Ciem 3'', An AI-{{brainwashed}} Botan the Plant-Man becomes a dragon for Candi's new archnemesis [[{{EvilCounterpart}} Kimiyato/Milp]].
* Karnak from ''DominicDeegan'' seems to have acquired a Dragon himself, in the form of [[spoiler:Siegfried]]. He doesn't seem to be particularly loyal to Karnak, though, as Karnak appears to have some kind of hold over him, and even then has to smack him around a bit to make him do his bidding.
** Also, Helixa seemed to be TheDragon to the leaders of The Chosen, first serving Raf [=MaLiksh=], then to Caylin Bren (though it might've been the other way around for the latter, considering Helixa was pretty much second-in-command to [=MaLiksh=] himself before his death). She could also be viewed as TheDragon to Celesto Morgan after he joined the organization as well.
* The Feline Emperor from ''{{Blade of Toshubi}}'' has his advisor, Toh, who himself has his own dragon in Lamika.
* Much like each season having its own BigBad, half of the seasons have its own Dragon in AnsemRetort:
** Season 1: Ansem to the FOX president. He's later a DragonAscendant.
** Season 3: Vexen to Ansem.
** Season 4: a turncoat Larxene to Xemnas
** Season 6: a turncoat Red XIII to Xemnas, Sho to Belle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* On the ''{{Neopets}}'' website, Doctor Sloth's Dragon is Commander Garoo, although he hasn't enjoyed much screen time.
* In ''{{Survival of the Fittest}}'', the main Dragon to [[BigBad Danya]] (although he has a number of prominent henchmen) is Steve Wilson, whom his boss relied on to effectively orchestrate a whole slew of the kidnappings which comprised Version 2 of SOTF. However, the three other members of the so-called [[FourIsDeath "Big Four"]]; Jim Greynolds, Melvin Carter and Sonia Nguyen could each be considered a dragon in their own right -- it's up to interpretation who is the official right hand man.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* On ''TransformersAnimated'', the RagtagBunchOfMisfits manage barely against [[TheBrute the two Brutes]] because of [[PsychoForHire Blitzwing's uncontrollable temper]] and Lugnut being just the sort of [[GiantMook big, tactless idiot]] that would be named "Lugnut". But TheDragon, Starscream, is an intelligence and focused force that '''towers''' over all the Autobots, save Optimus himself. He even takes out Optimus' commander in one shot. Scarier still is how this foreshadows Megatron, who is bigger than both Starscream and Optimus ''and'' Starscream [[TheWorfEffect can't put a dent in Megatron to literally save his life]]. Who knows what horrors await in Season 3 now that [[spoiler:Starscream has cloned himself 4 times.]]
*** [[spoiler:The Starscream clones haven't done much, but Megatron did show why he's the BigBad and Starscream's TheDragon. In the two-part season finale, Megatron gets hit by an explosion with a 100-mile radius in a small DuesExMachina ball of HeroicSacrifice. And all that does is damage him enough so that Optimus Prime can take him down with what is essentially the Autobot version of {{Marvel}} Thor's hammer.]]
** Another show, ''TransformersRobotsInDisguise'', has two dragons: Sky-Byte starts out in this role, but then is later upstaged by Scourge.
** On ''BeastWars'', TheDragon role for Megatron is a little more sketchy, as it seems Dinobot fulfilled that role before his HeelFaceTurn in the pilot episode. Later characters shifted in and out of the role, but it wasn't until Megatron put a RestrainingBolt on the psychotic Rampage that we had a solid Dragon. Dinobot II filled the role better later on because he was more loyal to Megatron.
* On ''KimPossible'', Shego is the Dragon for Doctor Drakken. She is a good deal more practical, clever, competent and, well, basically better at everything else than he, even if she [[strike:can't build]] doesn't care about building doomsday devices. In the BadFuture Movie, she becomes [[EvilOverlord The Supreme One]] over the entire world, upstaging all the other bad guys.... and transforming Drakken into ''her'' own personal Dragon.
* Princess Azula to her father, Fire Lord Ozai, in ''{{Avatar the Last Airbender}}''. As Ozai had never left his imperial castle for the entire series, while Azula fought the heroes constantly and ''won'', it was even entertained by fans that Azula was the real BigBad of the show who would upstage her dad, but [[DaddysGirl no]].
* From ''{{Jem}}'' episodes: "The Beginning" to "Hot Time In Hawaii", Zipper is the Dragon for Eric Raymond. Zipper is arrested by the Holograms. In the same cartoon, Techrat "The Stingers" could be considered Dragons to Eric.
* In ''TeenTitans'', Terra is The Dragon for the BigBad, Slade. Slade himself becomes The Dragon to Trigon later on. Both involve The Dragon turning on their master, to varying degrees of effectiveness. In the fifth season, a new BigBad was introduced in the form of The Brain; he had a Dragon (part of his QuirkyMinibossSquad) in the form of an intelligent gorilla named Monsieur Mallah.
* In ''SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Darkseid's son, Kalibak, functions as his Dragon. Then Superman learns that, on top of everything else, Darkseid himself is even stronger.
** Mercy Graves probably counts as Lex Luthor's Dragon as a NinjaMaid type, but outside of her memorable CatFight with Harley Quinn in the "World's Finest" crossover, she never got to do much Dragon-ing. (After all, when your main adversary is ''{{Superman}}''...)
* The premiere of ''BatmanBeyond'' has Mr. Fixx as Derek Powers' bodyguard, hit man, and all-around Dragon. He is killed off by the time it's over, but that's okay -- a little dose of ILoveNuclearPower, and Mr. Powers is set for the season.
* In ''{{The Spectacular Spider-Man}}'', Hammerhead is the Dragon for Tombstone.
** Most of the major villain factions in the series have Dragons. Electro acts this role for Doctor Octopus, and Silver Sable for Silvermane.
** During the Gang War arc, the Vulture takes over as Doc Ock's Dragon while Electro is in the asylum.
* Cedric for Prince Phobos in ''WITCH''. In the original comics he managed to pull this off while maintaining a personality of his own. In the TV show, [[CharacterDerailment his position ''is'' his personality.]]
* ''CodeLyoko'' features Season 2 newcomer William Dunbar as the unwilling Dragon for an immaterial BigBad in Season 4. Ironically, while William is "resurrected" numerous times after the heroes "destroy" him, his appearances are never treated only as annoyances, but instead are considered a real threat every time, thus keeping him from entering Mook territory.
** Before this, in Seasons 2 and 3, a unique monster called "Scyphozoa" was fulfilling this role, directly enabling XANA's scheme (unlike the ordinary {{mecha-mooks}}). To note that after William's conversion, the Scyphozoa was never again seen at the same time in Season 4.
* In many adaptations of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' Shredder switches between being the BigBad and TheDragon, though he is the most consistent archenemy of the Turtles'.
** It could be said that in the original series, Shredder and Krang are better described as a BigBadDiumvirate.
** In the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]], the role of the Shredder's dragon is initially filled by Hun, the {{lightning bruiser}} leader of the Purple Dragons gang. Eventually, he comes to share the role with female ninja Karai. Later on still, the role is taken by Master Khan, a Foot member trying [[spoiler: to bring the organization back together after its apparent dissolution]].
* ''Gobots'': Crasher is Cy-Kill's giggling, psychotic henchwoman and is genuinely more powerful, more threatening and above all else, scarier then he is.
* Fright Knight from ''DannyPhantom'' acted as one to both Pariah Dark and [[spoiler: Dark Danny]]. It seems he would have played the same for Vlad, but their alliance is left ambiguous due to the original writer leaving.
** And occasionally, Skulker plays this role to Vlad.
* Allan in ''{{Tintin}}'' is the closest the series has to a Dragon. First he's an associate of Omar Ben Salaad, then ultimate Big Bad Rastapopoulos. A bullying, volatile, aggressive creep, the only person he kowtows to is his boss of the time, although he doesn't always respect him. His longstanding relationship with the Captain means he's good at mental cruelty too.
* ''JonnyQuest'' had Dr. Zin's Robot Spy, a giant spider like robot that is incredibly tough to stop when it wants to go somewhere.
* In ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', Skeletor was demoted to Dragon for the BigBad Flogg. Of course, in the action figures' mini-comics, the roles were reversed.
* Rhesus-2, a [[{{KillerSpaceMonkey}} cyborg monkey]] with a penchant for brain puns, is the Dragon for [[{{BigBad}} Lord Nebula]] in ''Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys''.
* In ''TheFairlyOddparents'', the Lead Eliminator pretty much took on this role for [[BigBad The Darkness]] in the "Wishology" trilogy.
* In ''XMenEvolution'', Mystique starts out as the Dragon to Magneto, before striking out on her own in the second season. Sabertooth then seems to take over the Dragon role. Later on, Mesmero serves as the Dragon to Apocalypse.
* ''TheSecretSaturdays'' BigBad V.V. Argost has Munya, a silent zombie like butler who can transform into a giant half man/half spider.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Sea Captains often have their first mate as TheDragon. This would include nearly all Pirate Captains, though many of their names have been lost to antiquity.
* During the Russian revolution Trotsky could be considered Lenin's dragon, as though Lenin was the public speaker and the ultimate leader, Trotsky ran the military element. Similarly, when Stalin came to power, Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the NKVD (secret police and the predecessor of the KGB) was the Dragon. This was mainly so because Beria survived the purges that killed many who had political clout in the Soviet Union.
* Henrich Himmler, being the most likely successor to AdolfHitler, was TheDragon to Hitler's BigBad.
** Also, quite possibly TheStarscream.
*** Funny; Hitler always thought of Himmler as "loyal Heinrich..."
**** According to ''The World At War'' series, which contains interviews with several of those who had been in the bunker with Hitler in Berlin, when Hitler learned Heinrich was negotiating peace he knew the war was over. A few days later he and Eva Braunn killed themselves.
[[/folder]]

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