History Main / DragonsVersusKnights

* ''Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime'': While Yugi relies primarily on his spellcasters, Yusei and Jaden use mostly warrior monsters. The main villain Paradox relies on corrupted versions of well known dragon cards. Yusei and Jaden even have a fusion of Elemental Hero Neos and Junk Gardna called Elemental Hero Neos Knight.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': The main protagonist Jaden uses a deck of Warrior-type monsters called the Elemental Heroes while two of his rivals use dragons; Chazz uses the Armed Dragon as one of the archetypes in his deck while Zhane uses Cyber Dragons, Machine-type monsters with dragon appearances. [[Manga/YuGiOhGX In the manga]], Chazz uses a Dragon-type focused deck.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Deconstructed to heck and back as per the norm of the series. Shrek and Donkey are tasked with saving Fiona by Farquad in a deal for the former to get his swamp back from the fairytale creatures Farquad dumped into it. They reach the castle but naturally Shrek doesn't bother going by tradition despite donning a knight helmet, instead going straight for Fiona and just opting to run for it when the dragon catches on. When Fiona protests about doing it the usual way, Shrek points out that others who tried that ended up as scorched hunks of metal and bones. The dragon turns out to [[spoiler:be an asset later on when Donkey finds out she's female and ends up charming her.]]

The image of the brave KnightInShiningArmor standing against the ferocious, ravening dragon is one that's well-established in Western culture. When a village-burning, [[ChainedToARock Princess-eating]] dragon is brought down in a fairytale or fantasy story, it's often slain by a heroic knight; when a knight rides out to slay a monster, this monster is often a dragon.

The image of the KnightInShiningArmor standing against the ferocious, ravening dragon is one that's very well-established in Western culture. When a dragon is brought low in a fairytale or fantasy story, it's often slain by a heroic knight; when a knight rides out to slay a monster, this monster is very often a dragon.

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In the fourth movie, ''Mission Incredible: Adventures on the Dragon's Trail'', the goats and wolves don brightly-colored knight armor as they go on a quest to stop the evil dragons from causing turmoil in the dragon world and, [[SaveBothWorlds by extension]], in the Green Green Grassland.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': The main protagonist Jaden uses a deck of Warrior-type monsters called the Elemental Heroes while two of his rivals use dragons; Chazz uses the Armed Dragon as one of the archetypes in his deck while Zhane uses Cyber Dragons, Machine-type monsters with dragon appearances. [[Manga/YuGiOhGX In the manga]], Chazz uses a Dragon-type focused deck.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': ''[[https://scryfall.com/sets/ddg Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons]]'', one of several premade decks meant to be played by two players and themed around two opposing factions, pits a deck composed primarily of Knights against on centered around Dragons.

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': The rivalry between Samus Aran and Ridley is an unusual sci-fi take on the trope. Samus is a human BountyHunter who was given PoweredArmor by the [[{{Precursors}} Chozo]] to fight evil across the galaxy. Ridley is a draconic leader of the SpacePirates and would-be GalacticConqueror who orphaned Samus when she was a young girl. Samus frequently fights Ridley to keep him and his fellow Pirates from exploiting the [[LifeDrinker Metroids]].

See also DragonsPreferPrincesses, which this trope is often paired with -- the setup of a knight facing a dragon to rescue a kidnapped princess is a fairytale classic. Contrast DragonKnight, when either the knight is themed around dragons or the dragon ''is'' the knight. Also contrast the DragonRider, who rides and may fight alongside a dragon instead of against it. If a knight is successful at defeating his foe, he may become TheDragonslayer.

* ''Literature/GuardsGuards'': Invoked: when the Dragon sees the heroic prince on a white horse brandishing a shiny sword and wearing a shiny armor as expected, the narration points out that the sight causes him to recognize the figure as something akin of a "natural predator".

* ''WebAnimation/ReversalOfTheHeart'' shows the Prince wearing knight's armor and pursuing the dragon he believes has killed his beloved Princess -- [[MistakenForOwnMurderer unaware]] that the dragon ''[[BalefulPolymorph is]]'' the Princess.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', Hercules is more of a hero rather than a knight, but he is of noble birth and wields a sword. In order to kill Hercules, Hades sends the Hydra, depicted here as a giant dragon-like creature. [[spoiler:While the first battle was more of the traditional dragon vs knight, it goes crazy after Hercules cuts the Hydra's heads off to the point of the monster having dozens of heads. Hercules successfully kills the the multi-headed monster after a rockslide.]]

** The ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}'' campaign setting featured this, with heroic knights wielding the titular weapon against evil dragons. Played with, as the proper way to use a Dragonlance was flying on the back of a dragon.
** The 3.5 Edition {{Prestige Class}}es Platinum Knight and Vassal of Bahamut were all about this trope. Both a knights in a [[CrystalDragonJesus religious order]] who's primary duty is tracking down and slaying evil dragons who threaten the helpless.