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Divine light common, but not required.

Dragons are almost universally depicted as beings of great power and majesty, to be revered or reviled depending on the story or culture in question. However, there are dragons in particular that are depicted as servants of the gods or something close to them, if not outright gods themselves. While their exact morality and status can differ, these dragons can range in power from that of a "mere" Physical God, to even that of Powers That Be. The latter depiction is particularly common in the religions of East Asian cultures, which through cultural exchange have often influenced Western portrayals of dragons in fiction. Draconic deities often tend to be associated with the ocean, storms, or both in particular.

This trope is Older Than Dirt as the Chinese have revered dragons for millennia, with the oldest known "true" dragon depiction in the world dating back to the fifth millennium BC, during the time of the Neolithic Yangshao culture. Older proto-dragon depictions called "pig dragons" and "embryo dragons" have been found in the neighboring Hongshan culture which developed from even older dragon-like depictions from its predecessor, the Xinglongwa culture. This makes Chinese mythology the Ur-Example, Trope Maker and Trope Codifier.

A subtrope of both Our Dragons Are Different and Our Gods Are Different. Compare and contrast Dragons Are Demonic, which they can fall under if they and/or the gods they serve are also evil; and Draconic Abomination for particularly eldritch examples. A descendant of a divine dragon and a non-dragon may be a Semi-Divine (or full Divine Parentage) variant of Dragon Ancestry. This trope is commonly associated with Feathered Dragons due to the cultural connotations of feathered wings belonging to angels and the like (unless if the feathered dragon in question is a Feathered Fiend). While they may be Delightful Dragons if they have a friendly temperament, this isn't necessarily always the case. See also Kirin and The Four Gods.

If these dragons can breathe fire, their flames may be considered Sacred Flames due to having holy and/or divine properties such as being able to purify that which it burns.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Cardfight!! Vanguard: The Royal Paladin clan has Soul Saver Dragon, which Aichi explicity calls a god. That said its divine power is never directly shown on-screen, because while all the units in the titular game are real living beings, they also live on planet Cray, and we're only really shown what happens on Earth.
  • Child of Kamiari Month: The Shinto kami Ryūjin, the dragon-god of Lake Suwa in Nagano, tests Kanna's ability and resolve to complete the quest by pitting her and Yasha against each other. Kanna fails the test by stopping to help Yasha, but Ryūjin commiserates with her desire to see her mother again and gives them his offering anyway.
  • Digimon has many godly dragon Digimon:
    • The Four Great Dragons are a group of Ultimate-levelnote  Dragon Digimon based on the Dragon Kings of Chinese mythology comparable to gods, and include Qinglongmon (also a member of the Four Sovereigns and guardian of the eastern Digital World), Godramon, Holydramon, and the wicked Megidramon.
    • Huanglongmon, the leader of the Digimon Sovereigns tasked with defending the Digital World, is a giant golden dragon who normally resides in the Digiworld's center. Like his fellow Sovereigns, unlike the one Digicore held by most Digimon, they have about twelve.
  • Dragon Ball: Collecting the titular items will summon Shenlong, a dragon whose name literally means "Divine Dragon" (rendered "Eternal Dragon" in most English dubs). Shenlong was created by Kami, i.e. God, although it turns out Kami is a title in this setting. This is then subverted in Dragon Ball Z when it turns out Kami is from the planet Namek, and the Dragon Balls are alien in origin and not divine. This is then double subverted in Dragon Ball Super when it turns out the Namekian Dragon Balls in turn were based on the Super Dragon Balls, which were created by the Dragon God Zalama to grant the wishes of the gods.
  • Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest: The Five Dragon Gods are so named because their power is so cataclysmic (capable of wiping out countries with ease and affecting entire continents or even the world) they've been worshiped as gods for it, even if they aren't truly gods.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has Voltaire, a massive black and red humanoid dragon who acts as the benevolent guardian deity of the planet Alzus. Caro (the only known person who can summon him) compares her relationship to him as that of a priestess praying for divine aid.
  • Mashin Hero Wataru Series: Ryujinmaru is of the classic Eastern Dragon type. He's a dragon deity tasked with accompanying The Savior, in this case, Wataru on the quest to save Souzaizan. He's also the dragon that gives Wataru rides in the sky in all opening sequences.
  • Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Lucoa (a.k.a. Quetzalcoatl) used to be a goddess worshiped by the Aztecs but after an incident involving cursed alcohol and her sister, she was stripped of her divinity and demoted to being a dragon.
  • Re:Zero: Volcanica, the Divine Dragon, embodies this trope to a T. Though it is unclear whether the dragon is actually a deity, he certainly has the power to claim such a status. Volcanica is seen as the guardian of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica, the primary setting of the story, and is worshipped by the populace, having forged a covenant with the old royal family to protect the Kingdom from all external threats centuries prior. Volcanica also created three lesser breeds of smaller dragons for humans to use, and was instrumental in sealing the Witch of Envy to prevent her from ending the world four hundred years ago.
  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime:
    • The True Dragons — "Star King Dragon" Veldanava, "White Ice Dragon" Velzard, "Scorch Dragon" Velgrynd, and "Storm Dragon" Veldora Tempest — are immeasurably powerful spiritual beings often worshipped as gods, with Veldanava being the creator of the multiverse itself. Ironically, Veldanava is the only one truly dead by the present day, as part of the consequence of dying after giving up most of his godlike power to naming his daughter Milim Nava, who's one of the most powerful beings on the planet and technically a demigoddess. Note that the "True" is particularly key, as the lesser dragon race are not this. In fact, the dragon race was born from the decaying spiritual dragon body of Veldanava when he abandoned it and became human after siring Milim, and while amongst the most powerful of the mortal races even the strongest Dragon Lords are a pale shadow of the might of their divine forebears.
    • Over the course of the story, Rimuru Tempest ends up becoming a True Dragon himself by properly assimilating Veldora and Velgrynd's magicules into his own body, with him technically being referred to as an Ultimate Slime. Meanwhile, the Earth Dragon Gaia (itself originally a potential vessel for Veldanava to reincarnate into before it died and Came Back Wrong as the Chaos Dragon before being killed again and allowed to properly revive as an infant dragon) achieves apotheosis by consuming the spiritual core of the artificial True Dragon "Berserk Evil Dragon" Zero in order to prevent it from reincarnating and itself becoming True Dragon Velgaia.
  • Yona of the Dawn: The four dragons (blue, white, green, and gold) are essentially gods that descended into human forms to continue serving their master, a red dragon who became a human king. Now they reincarnate continuously except for Zeno into humans, mutating them (turning hands and legs into draconic limbs) until such time as the red dragon's descendant comes looking for them.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
      • Two of the Three Egyptian God monsters are Osiris the Heaven Dragon and Ra the Winged God Dragon. There is also Kaiba's ace monster, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon which has a LIGHT attribute. In the "World of Memories" arc, it is revealed to be the soul of a girl Priest Seto loved and displays its power by being the first monster to damage Zorc Necrophades (in the anime version).
      • The Legendary Dragons from the Doma arc, guardians of Atlantis and the direct opposition to the God of Orichalcos. They're a rare case of this trope being applied to western style dragons, who often fall under Dragons Are Demonic instead.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds has the Crimson Dragon, with the power to protect the world, and is implied late in the series to be the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. There are also the Signer Dragons, each of which has some of Crimson Dragon's power and shares that power with those who are worthy.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL: The Numeron Dragon is the dragon that created the universe.

    Fan Works 
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) fanfiction Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Manda looks like a gigantic, traditional eastern dragon with a snake-like body, and he's a benevolent infant Kaiju. In ancient times when there were many more of Manda's ancestors, they were guardians and protectors who lived in harmony with ancient humans.
  • Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Celestia's Zanpakto, Shinryu Taiyo (Divine Dragons of the Sun), manifest not as a weapon, but as twin dragons of pure fire. Unfortunately, they are very willful and difficult to control even in Shikai, let alone Bankai and can easily slip into Dragons Are Demonic.
  • Hearts of Ice: The Ancient One is a very old and very powerful dragon god.

    Films — Animation 
  • Spirited Away: Haku turns out to be the dragon god of the Kohaku River.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • The Beginning After the End: Dragons are one of the eight races of Asuras, with Kezess Indrath and the Indrath Clan being the leaders of all the Asuras. Case in point, regardless of which form they are in dragons such as Kezess, Myre, Sylvia, and Windsom tend to have pale white hair and skin complete with golden Power Tattoos which reflect their ability to control the aether (Sylvie is an exception in that her dragon form is black in color, though this is because she is the hybrid offspring of Sylvia and the basilisk Agrona Vritra). It turns out that the Indrath Clan are not as benevolent as they seem, being no better than the Vritra Clan, and are responsible for committing several atrocities throughout the story.
  • The Book of Dragons: In "The Exile", dragons are elemental gods who can take on and discard physical shapes at need, and a single dragon is capable of turning an uninhabitable world into a lush paradise with a few years of solitary effort.
  • The Dresden Files has two types of dragons. One are Smaug-tier, relative weaklings to Dragons referenced with the capital "D." Dragons are semi-divine ancient powerhouses not dissimilar from the Chinese myths of Dragons. They used to work in service of God and when the seasons needed changing or continents need to be moved, it was their purview. As humanity's beliefs have changed, they stepped back and allowed others to take their roles. One of the remaining Dragons, Ferrovax, is still incredibly powerful, boasting his true form not the human disguise he wore would break the hero's mind. According to the author, he can take on the respective strongest servant of both Mab, the Fairy Queen of Winter, and Titania, the Fairy Queen of Summer, at the same time as easily as Mike Tyson in his prime taking down a thirteen-year-old girl.
  • Ao Guang and his sons in Fengshen Yanyi are celestial beings and actually hold a divine rank in the Taoist pantheon, though Taiyi Zhenren states that while he is a god, his rank in the divine hierarchy is actually pretty low and unimportant, as he has to rule over the East Sea and regulate the quantity of rain. His third son Ao Bing, who's killed by Nezha, is later allowed to enter the Fengshen List and become a new god after his demise.
  • Kingdom's Disdain: The people of Laskmeer primarily worship a Dragon God, Bal'zomest; while those on Alto-Samar worship Bal'zomest's son, Balsameth. They revere dragons so much that their units of measurement are based on dragon claws.
  • Lone Wolf has Nyxator, not a literal god, but the first living thing on Magnamund and a devoted servant of the sun god, Kai. He also recorded his vast wisdom into the seven lorestones to guide future generations.
  • Tom Holt: Several novels include appearances by one or another of the Dragon Kings of Chinese Mythology, most prominently in Nothing But Blue Skies. In Holt's version, their number includes the Dragon King of the South East, who speaks with an Australian accent and is usually depicted with a jade surfboard in one hand and a can of beer in the other.
  • Trash of the Count's Family: The elves consider dragons divine and worship them as such.
  • A Wind in the Door: The "drive of dragons" Calvin claims to have seen turn out to be cherubim.
  • So I'm a Spider, So What?: The dragons Kumoko fights are hybrids created from dragon and animal DNA and lack any form of divinity. True dragons are born mortal but with incredible magical strength and knowledge. By maturity, their souls have absorbed enough magic to transcend and become a god. Their race controls vast swathes of space, conquering planets and using their inhabitants to generate and gather more strength. Gyurie is the only true dragon seen in-story as the rest of his people left the world after their war with the ancient civilization.

    Myths & Religion 
  • Dragon worship originated in China and is highly complex with a mythology spanning thousands of years. Dragon cults remain some of the most influential Chinese folk religions today despite most Chinese people being irreligious, as they maintain these spiritual practices as cultural customs. Dragons are seen as icons of Han nationalism and symbols for China in general thus it is common for Chinese people to refer to themselves as "descendants of the dragon". Chinese dragons have spread across Asia and are called "dragons" but they are really nothing like European dragons at all.
    • The Four Dragon Kings of Chinese Mythology, who represent each of the four seas of the world. They are capable of attaining a human form and are believed to control all forms of moving water and the weather. Their combined form is the Dragon King or Dragon God.
    • Since the Four Dragon Kings represent the four cardinal directions, the Yellow Dragon represents the center. It is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Yellow Emperor, who is the ancestor to the Huaxia people - a tribal confederation of people along the Yellow River who in turn became the ancestors to the (Han) Chinese people. The Yellow Dragon along with the Dragon King represent the watery and chthonic forces presided over by the Five Forms of the Highest Deity (the fivefold manifestation of the supreme God of Heaven) or their zoomorphic incarnation.
    • There is also the dragon god known as Zhulong (烛龙). Unlike most Asian depictions of dragons, he is said to have the face of a human and a completely serpentine body, he is also the source for day and night whenever he opens and closes his eyes, and the source of the seasonal winds whenever he breathes in and out.
    • Chinese dragons are seen as manifestations of yang or masculine energy while Chinese phoenixes are seen as manifestations of yin or feminine energy so it is customary at Chinese weddings to have some artwork of a dragon and phoenix together. In some Chinese provinces, the bride is given golden dragon and phoenix bangles to wish for a harmonious marriage. If these practices are skipped they might be seen as a bad omen for a future failed marriage.
    • The fifth year of the Eastern Zodiac is the Dragon. How come? Because the Dragon stopped by a drought-stricken village to bring some rain.
  • Two of the Guardian Animal Gods of Chinese myth are dragons. The First is Qinglong (青龙) the guardian of the East who represents the season of Spring and the element of wood. The other is Huanglong (黄龙) the guardian of the center, who represents the changing seasons and the earth element. This myth was adapted into other Asian cultures such as Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. However, in some of the adapted versions, Huanglong is omitted in favor of a native concept. The Prime example is Japan, where Huanglong or Koryu as its known in Japanese, is replaced as the center figure by the concept of the void.
  • Japanese Mythology has the god of storms Ryujin, who is depicted as a great dragon. His daughter Otohime is considered one of the grandmothers of Emperor Jimmu, the mythical first Emperor of Japan.
  • Tiamat, the primordial goddess of the ocean in Mesopotamian Mythology, is often depicted as a dragon.
  • The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was often depicted as a feathered serpent, and more modern depictions describe him as akin to a dragon.
  • Inverted in Christianity, which frequently associates dragons with Satan. However, the seraphim (highest order of angels) are traditionally depicted as dragon-like creatures with four heads and six wings. Slightly related are several legends about dragon-taming saints, which usually end with angry locals killing the now harmless dragon over the saint's protests.
  • Recently rediscovered Philippine Mythology shows a common motif where crocodiles are seen as Asian dragons, filling the roles of powerful water-spirits, if not outright Physical Gods like with East Asian mythology. Of course, being crocodiles, they're naturally more fearsome than most Asian dragons: They were held as minor gods because they protected mortals from the OTHER dangerous water-spirits lurking in the seas and rivers. It was often thought that being eaten by a crocodile sent someone directly to the positive "heaven-type" afterlife, without the arduous sea-journey needed after most other deaths, and some tribes thought that normal crocodiles needed a Human Sacrifice to turn INTO dragons, as they needed to eat a human soul.
  • Even the Europeans got in on it occasionally. Zirnitra, or Zir, Rosvodiz was the pre-Christian Wendish (a Slavic tribe) black Dragon-God of Magic.

    Tabletop Games 
  • The Dark Eye: The Twelve Gods share the Alveran, the paradise, with the six High Dragons. It can be argued who is allowing whom to stay.
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • The dragons have their own pantheon of draconic deities. Two of them, Bahamut and Tiamat, are also worshiped by humans in the Forgotten Realms. Tiamat is the goddess of greed and Always Chaotic Evil chromatic dragons, while her brother Bahamut is god of Always Lawful Good metallic dragons, justice, and strength. In Dragonlance, they are known as Paladine and Takhisis, and are the rulers of the good and evil gods, respectively.
    • And then there is Io, the Ninefold Dragon and creator of all dragonkind, including Bahamut and Tiamat. Depending on which edition and setting, it can range in power from Greater Deity to Overdeity, and credited with creating the multiverse and the source of magic.
    • D&D Rules Cyclopedia. In the BECMI (Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortals) D&D system, the dragons of each alignment (Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic) have their own ruler (Diamond, Opal, and Pearl, respectively), with the Great One (Ruler of All Dragonkind) ruling over them. Each of these ruling dragons is an Immortal (the BECMI equivalent of a deity).
    • Dark Sun: As the setting lacks true deities, the Sorcerer King of Tyr, who is draconic, qualifies, as he is the closest thing the setting has to a god.
    • Eberron: The setting's Creation Story holds that the three Progenitor Dragons created the enigmatic Draconic Prophecy, destroyed the world in their fight to control it, and used their bodies to rebuild the planet: Siberys became the planetery ring, Eberron became the planet's surface to restore life to the world, and Khyber became the monster-infested realm Beneath the Earth.
  • Exalted: Multiple dragons exist in the setting and all but one are either gods or powerful elementals (which are only really culturally different to gods). The one that isn't is the Ebon Dragon but he counts too, as he is a Yozi, one of the overthrown and mutilated creators of the world, once set above the gods and now imprisoned in the hell realm of Malfeas. Don't feel sorry him, he had it coming.
  • GURPS: GURPS Dragons discusses a wide range of ways to use dragons in games, including the idea of making them more or less divine, and provides brief setting outlines based on this.
  • Magic: The Gathering: On Kamigawa, the most powerful of all the kami have the form of limbless Japanese dragons.
    • O-Kagachi, the Great Old Serpent, is the highest and greatest of the kami, and was their undisputed ruler before his death. He took the form of an immeasurably vast, eight-headed serpent with eyes that blazed like stars.
    • The Dragon Spirits are five immensely powerful kami, one for each color of mana, who serve as protectors of the magic of Kamigawa and of its peoples. They are Yosei, the Morning Star, guardian of the plains and White mana; Keiga, the Tide Star, guardian of the riverlands and Blue mana; Jugan, the Rising Star, guardian of the forests and Green mana; Ryusei, the Falling Star, guardian of the mountains and Red mana; and Kokusho, the Evening Star, guardian of the swamps and Black mana.
  • Palladium Fantasy includes the Dragonwright faith, which worships the God Dragons as supreme over all other gods. They have a point, as said God Dragons are to other deities as mortal dragons are to mere men.
  • Pathfinder:
    • A specific set of draconic deities exists — Apsu, the Lawful Good ruler of metallic dragons, and Dahak, the Lawful Evil god of destruction that even the chromatics despise.
    • Shizuru, the Tian goddess of the sun, valor, and nobility, is often represented as a radiant gold-scaled Eastern dragon and is almost universally worshipped or at least respected by imperial dragons.
    • Several types of dragons native to the Upper Planes fit the bill in their own right, such as the Lawful Good paradise dragons, who seek to create havens where other mortals may be sheltered from the evil and chaos of the wider world; the Chaotic Good butterfly-winged havoc dragons, who seek to create carefree wonderlands of whimsy and delight for the benefit of all; and the Neutral Good, feathered-winged and golden-scaled sirrushes, servants of the sun goddess Sarenrae who seek to bring peace and redemption to all beings.
  • Warhammer 40,000: Mag'ladroth the Void Dragon, one of the C'tan, is theorized to be the Machine God that the Mechanicus worship.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: In addition to Slifer and Ra, there are several other dragon monsters that are depicted as holy or godlike. For example, Judgment Dragon, Ancient Sacred Wyvern, and Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King.

    Video Games 
  • In Arknights, there are Physical God beings referred to a "Feranmuts" who are the Patron Gods of different regions of the world. Draconic and serpentine motifs are present in most, though not all, of these characters. They include:
    • Kaschey, who is also referred to as "the Deathless Black Snake", and has serpentine elements to his body. He also inhabits the body of Talulah, who herself is a Draco and thus possesses draconic elements to her body.
    • Kjera, who is an aspect of Kjeragandr, the god of the land of Kjerang, and who has subtle Asian dragon elements, particularly her tail and the ice crystal serpents she summons when using her skills.
    • Nian, Dusk, Ling, Chong Yue, and the Second Brother all sport aspects of Asian-style dragons, particularly large tails, horns, and forearms with swirling color patterns. They are all referred to as "Sui", which is the name of the ancient dragon god they were split from when he was destroyed long ago.
  • Bayonetta: Some angels such as Inspired, Glamor, and Fortitudo resemble dragons, mostly on the serpentine side of things. However they're not good by any conventional standards.
  • Breath of Fire IV: Dragons are beings from another dimension that are summoned into the world by mortals, and are considered so powerful that the words "dragon" and "god" are used interchangeably with each other. One character metaphorically observes that if the world is a sailing ship, dragons are the wind that steers it.
  • The Archdragons of Dark Souls and it's sequels are closer to primordial deities than they are to traditional dragons. They ruled over the universe in a time before change, warp their bodies according to their environment (or vice versa, like with Seath) and were effectively immortal until lightning magic was specifically created to kill them. Praying to them or meditating on their existence has real, tangible physical effects on the faithful who begin to turn draconic themselves, especailly when prayer or meditation is agumented with their cast off scales.
  • Diablo: Necromancers revere a deity called Trag'oul, who represents the Balance Between Good and Evil and treats both the philosophies of angels and demons as dangerous extremes. He is described as a dragon whose body is formed from star-light, carrying the world of Sanctuary upon his spine.
  • Dragalia Lost: Dragons are treated as sacred by the Ilian Church, with the more powerful ones being treated as Physical Gods by the local populace. Even Com Mons like Imps and Drakes are revered enough that poaching them or their eggs can be an executable offense under the Ilian Church's doctrine.
  • Dragon Age: Zig-Zagged. Regular dragons are mindless beasts hunted to near extinction in modern times. However, at the height of the Tevinter Imperium, most humans worshiped seven draconic Old Gods (and there are still holdouts of the dragon cult to this day), who had been fully sentient and actively communicated with their priesthood. The ancient elves also associated dragons with Mythal, the queen of their pantheon.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • Dragon Quest III has Xenlon (who is a clear Expy of Shenron) in the rereleases of the game. She is an Optional Boss who has to be defeated under a certain amount of turns in order to have your wish granted each time.
    • Dragon Quest IV has the Zenithian Dragon (who later appears in Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VI), who is a rather forceful authority figure who strictly prohibits his Zenithian followers from ever making contact with humanity below. He undergoes a massive amount of Character Development in-between IV and V, however, and is much more willing to interact with humans in V.
    • Dragon Quest XI: The end of the game reveals that Yggdrasil was created by the spirit of Yggdragon, who fought with Calasmos eons ago and fell to the earths in Erdea.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Akatosh, the chief deity and God of Time in the Imperial "Nine Divines" religion, takes the form of a dragon. The First Cyrodiilic Empire was founded when he (and the other Aedra who would become the Divines) lent their aid to the races of Men under St. Alessia (the "Slave Queen") against their Ayleid (Wild Elf) masters (who were primarily Daedra worshipers to boot). Upon their victory, Akatosh made a pact with mankind, sealed by joining his blood with Alessia and placing her soul within the Amulet of Kings, that the Divines would give mankind their patronage in exchange for their worship. Since that day, all legitimate Cyrodiilic Emperors have been "Dragonborn," in the sense that they are (metaphysically) descended from Akatosh and Alessia and help to seal the barrier between Mundus (the mortal plane) and Oblivion (the realm of the Daedra). During the darkest hour of the Oblivion Crisis, Mehrunes Dagon (the Daedric Price of Destruction) successfully took form in Mundus, threatening to destroy all creation. Martin Septim, the last in the line of these Dragonborn Emperors, shattered the Amulet of Kings and summoned Akatosh to Mundus, where he, in the form of a massive dragon, would banish Dagon.
    • The dragons of the ES universe (most famous for their appearance in Skyrim), are the "children" of Akatosh. They are lesser Aedra, making them a form of divinity loosely akin to angelic beings.) They have been worshiped by cultures throughout Nirn, from the ancient Atmorans (ancestors of the modern Nords), to the ancient Nords, and to the Ka Po' Tun "Tiger Folk" of Akavir. The first two groups created the "Dragon Cults," in which the Dragon Priests held as much power as kings, ruling in the stead of the aloof dragons they worshiped. In Atmora, the priests demanded tribute and set down laws and codes of living that kept peace between dragons and men. This carried over to Skyrim, but they became much more aggressive and authoritarian in their leadership. (Eventually, the ancient Nords rebelled and, combined with a later Akaviri invasion, nearly drove the dragons to extinction.) The dragons practice a Language of Magic, the "Thu'um" which allows for some small scale Reality Warping by "shouting" elements into existence. The dragons themselves are The Ageless, and while they can be slain by any capable individual, they possess Resurrective Immortality and can be brought back to life by another dragon unless their soul is absorbed by another dragon (or Dragonborn). Despite their divine origins, dragons are creatures of aggression and domination, and it's in their blood to be cruel and contemptuous. However, they can fight against their baser nature, as best exemplified by Paarthurnax.
    • The most (in)famous dragon is Alduin the "World Eater", the "first born" of Akatosh who has the duty of "eating" the world at the end of every cycle of time. While he has performed this duty to end past cycles (known as "kalpas"), Alduin prefers "ruling" the world to "ending" it, leading to trouble. During the ancient war between the Nords and the dragons, three Nord heroes used an Elder Scroll to banish him into the stream of time. He emerges during the events of Skyrim, resurrecting his fallen brethren with plans to take over the world once more.
    • As noted above, there also exist those known as "Dragonborn". These are rare mortals blessed by Akatosh with the Aedric souls of dragons; Demigods, basically. They are intended to be the natural predators of dragons, slaying them and absorbing their souls in order to maintain a balance. They have an innate understanding of the Thu'um, allowing them to use it without the years of practice it typically takes mortals to learn. The Player Character in Skyrim is a famous example, being the so-called "Last Dragonborn".
  • Final Fantasy: Bahamut, a recurring summon, is always one of the most powerful summons and is considered king of dragonkind, if not outright a god.
  • Fire Emblem: Dragons are often revered and compared to deities in numerous games:
    • Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light: Naga, the leader of the Divine Dragons, is worshipped as a male god, but without the dragon traits. In truth, Naga is a female dragon who leads the Divine Dragons, while immensely powerful, and having power based in holy magic, Naga is not a god, and there are many things she cannot do. Tiki, Naga's daughter, and one of the last remaining Divine Dragons, is also mistaken for a goddess during the time when she was brainwashed by Gharnef.
    • Fire Emblem Gaiden: The god of Power, Duma, seemingly an actual god, resembles a decaying cyclopean dragon. Both he and Mila, his counterpart, are revealed in Shadows of Valentia to be exiled members of the Divine Dragon yribe.
    • Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War: The beings that gave the Crusaders their power were dragons who gave their blood to counter the Loptrian Empire, in particular dragons of the Divine Dragon tribe, including Naga and Forseti, the latter being worshipped as the Wind God of Silesse. On the opposite side, Loptous himself was revered as a deity by the Loptrian Empire, usually as a figure dedicated to vengeance against Grannevale, however the Maira Loptrians worshipped Loptyr as benevolent figure.
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Naga is worshiped by Ylisse opposing Grima, the Fell Dragon worshipped by the Grimleal of Plegia, though neither are truly gods because they lack the power of creation among other things. Naga's daughter, Tiki, now over 3000 years old, is revered as a sort of prophet, the Voice of the Divine Dragon. One boss fought in Valm reveals that Mila is still worshiped two thousand years after Gaiden/Shadows of Valentia as the Earth Mother.
    • Fire Emblem Fates: Anankos is one of the First Dragons, and a deity with control over light and darkness, water, and fate. Among his other powers are the ability to raise the bodies of the dead as his undead servants, the ability to grant eternal life and the eternal survival of one's bloodline, the ability to easily travel between worlds, and the ability to grant the power to use Dragon Veins using his blood. However, by the time of the game, he has devolved into madness like so many other First Dragons, and in Revelation, Corrin and company are forced to put him down.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Sothis is not only the Goddess worshipped by the Church of Seiros in Fodlan, but also mothered multiple children called the Children of the Goddess who are in fact various breeds of dragons such as Rhea/Seiros the Sky Dragon. Unlike Naga, however, there are many indications that Sothis really is a true out-and-out deity, possessing power over time itself and enough raw power to wipe out the advanced civilization of Agartha when they turned against her, and from lines from both the Church and "those who slither in the dark", may have in fact come from another world entirely.
    • Fire Emblem Engage: All four realms in Elyos worship dragons as their gods. Firene, Brodia, and Solm worship Divine Dragons, and revere the Divine Dragon Queen Lumera, who rules over the land of Lythos, as a higher authority. Elusia, meanwhile, worships the evil Fell Dragon Sombron, believing him to be a benevolent figure, and aiding him in his resurrection. The player character is Lumera's child, who is likewise revered and highly respected by almost everyone else. This worship is exemplified by the main character's Canon Identifier - "Divine One".
    • Fire Emblem Heroes: Besides the playable divine dragons from previous games, Askr, Embla, Nifl, and Múspell are known dragons and are worshiped by the royalty of their respective self-named kingdoms.
  • Harukanaru Toki no Naka de has the White Dragon pictured above, a god representing purity and virtue that likes to live in rivers while in the form of a giant fish, and directly serves Shangdi, the Jade Emperor. Their more malevolent (but not completely evil) counterpart, the Black Dragon, represents endings and death, and both are required to be in harmony for Serenity to reign in their combined form of Yinlong. Both are so powerful that they have two pairs of Light and Dark Kirins respectively that are second only to them in terms of power.
  • Heroes of Might and Magic: Dragons are a major part of the religion of Ashan, setting of some of the games. The dragon Asha is worshipped as the Goddess of Order and creator of the world, while her brother, Urgash the dragon of Chaos, is despised as a Satanic Archetype. When the two fought one another during the Mythic Age, Asha was seriously wounded, so she spawned six more dragons (representing the six elements: fire, water, earth, air, light, and darkness) to protect the world if Urgash should reappear, and now slumbers within one of the planet's moons, regaining her strength.
  • Jade Empire: The Water Dragon is a major goddess in the Celestial Bureaucracy, being responsible for equal distribution of rainfall across the world, and the safe passage of dead souls to the afterlife.
  • Landia from Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Despite being the one watching over the hellish planet Halcandra and fighting Kirby and his friends, it turns out that he's the planet's guardian and that only fought them to keep the Master Crown from falling into Magolor's hands and allowing him to conquer the universe. As such, after Magolor reveals that he was Evil All Along, Landia acts fast and lifts Kirby and his friends onto his backs to chase Magolor through Another Dimension.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has Valoo, the Sky Spirit and the patron deity of the Rito tribe, and the source of their ability to fly through his scales.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has the three dragons Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru, who were directly tasked with protecting the surface world by the Goddess Hylia, and grant Link portions of the Song of the Hero needed to fully power up the Master Sword.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
      • Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh are three spirits in the shape of dragons who serve the Goddess Hylia by guarding the Divine Springs of Power, Wisdom, and Courage.
      • The Zonai tribe is believed to have worshipped a giant water dragon as the symbol of courage, though whether this dragon was actually Farosh or another dragon remains unknown.
  • Lunar: The Four Dragons were created by the Goddess Althena as guardians of Lunar and humans hold them in awe. The Four Dragons form a sort of magical bulwark around the Goddess, and they judge the worthiness of humans who aspire to be the Goddess' hero, the Dragonmaster.
  • Luxaren Allure has the people of Parvian worship dragons, or as they call them, the Ageless.
  • Monster Hunter: While not exactly gods, many Elder Dragons have a majestic, deific appearance to them:
    • Monster Hunter (2004): The standard and Crimson Fatalis may sit firmly on the demonic end of the spectrum, but Old/White Fatalis has more typically godly traits, with a beard-like mane, shimmering white scales, and command over lightning rather than flame. That said, it is no less of a Misanthrope Supreme than its younger kin.
    • Monster Hunter Portable 3rd: Amatsu is a majestic-looking Elder Dragon that has control over wind and water, and can create downpours and tornadoes with it. While not inherently aggressive, the resulting instability of the weather makes it a threat to the Zinogre population, causing them to migrate to the lower parts of Yukumo's mountain. Thus, at the end of the game's high rank, Amatsu has to be slain to stop the Zinogre exodus and restore equlibrium to the local ecology.
    • Monster Hunter 4: While Shagaru Magala is a gold-and-white based Elder Dragon that looks almost angelic, it's ironically mostly known for being an extremely dangerous bringer of disease.
    • Monster Hunter: World: Kulve Taroth is a majestic Elder Dragon that lives in the Caves of El Dorado, has goat-like horns and a golden 'robe' that it carries around, a robe literally made of gold. She's even nicknamed the Mother Goddess of Gold. Interestingly, even among Elder Dragons, she's unique, as there's no others of her kind, and you can't even technically kill her. Every fight with her inevitably end with the hunters breaking her horns, which then results in her running away, and said horns growing back.
    • Monster Hunter: Rise: Wind Serpent Ibushi and Thunder Serpent Narwa are a pair of powerful and intelligent Elder Dragons whose designs are based on the Japanese gods Fujin and Raijin, and are referred to as the Serpent God of Wind and the Serpent Goddess of Thunder. They even seem to buy into this perception themselves, describing themselves (through Hinoa and Minoto) as "divine beasts".
  • Nexus War: The Nexus Clash backstory has three Great Dragons that occasionally intervened at pivotal points to shake up the wars between the Powers That Be. One of these was briefly in the game as That One Boss, but they're mostly left to be deliberately mysterious.
  • Ninja Gaiden has the 13 Divine Dragons who in the series lore banished and defeated Vigoor, the progenitor of the Fiend race. However, the youngest of the Dragons was corrupted by Vigoor who played on his feelings of weakness compared to his brothers. He became known as the Dark Dragon.
  • Ōkami:
    • Yomigami, the dragon god of rejuvenation who grants Ammy (And later Chibiterasu via his seahorse children in Ōkamiden), the Rejuvenation brushstroke.
    • Orochi, Amaterasu's Arch-Enemy, has as his goal becoming the god of the underworld through the maidens sacrificed to him every year prior to his sealing by Nagi, and his true form especially gives off the appearance of a divine being by being covered in golden armor.
  • Pokémon: The series generally reserves the dragon typing for more `mystical` dragon-like pokemon (compare Dragonite, Flygon and Altaria to Charizard and Gyarados, which take cues from dragons). In addition, many games' signature legendaries are worshiped as deities.
    • Rayquaza and the creation trio (Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina) are Dragon-types, and the creation trio in particular are considered the embodiment of the physical universe.
    • Generation 7 introduces Necrozma, a Pokémon that initially brought light to the alternate world of Ultra Megalopolis, where it was revered as a deity, and took the form of a large dragon made of light with golden armor referred to as "Ultra Necrozma" or The Blinding One. The ancient citizens of Ultra Megalopolis caused it to revert to the black form it's commonly seen in after managing to break off pieces of its prism body, which became the Z-Crystals and Sparkling Stones used to create Z-Rings. As Ultra Necrozma, it's also one of the most powerful Pokemon in the game with stats that surpass Arceus (The creator of the universe) and is one of the most frustratingly difficult boss fights in the series if you're unprepared.
  • Shin Megami Tensei: The main franchise and its numerous spinoffs count many draconic deities among its number, including Otohime and Huang Long.
  • Tales of Berseria: The Empyrean Innominat is represented as an eight-headed dragon, though this is mostly used symbolically, as for almost all of the game, he takes on a humanoid, child-like form.
  • Volgon from Temtem resembles an Asian dragon. It's said to roam the heavens, and its egg is obtained from a Japanese-style shrine.
  • Touhou Project: The most powerful god in Gensokyo is the unnamed dragon god, who is worshiped by both humans and youkai alike as a creator god found in the ocean, sky, and rain. It also serves as a protector deity. Akyuu describes it as so large that it's thicker than a 1000-year-old tree, and so long that it could blot out the sky. In terms of power, she mentions that its cry is said to part the sky and create thunderstorms and that just by moving it can create earthquakes. It can also easily move between Gensokyo, hell, heaven, and the Netherworld without being stopped by the Great Hakurei Barrier. Its last appearance was when the Barrier was first erected in 1885, where the youkai sages managed to placate the dragon god by staking their very existences swearing eternal peace towards it.
  • Warcraft:
    • Dragons were uplifted by the Titans and tasked with being the immortal guardians of Azeroth, with each dragon subspecies representing one aspect of the world. Red dragons represent Life, Green dragons represent Nature and Dreams, Blue dragons represent Magic, Bronze dragons represent Time, and Black dragons represent the Earth. While normal dragons are pretty powerful, the five leaders of the Dragonflights, the Dragon Aspects, are Gods in all but name. Despite their divine origins, Neltharion the Earth Warder (AKA Deathwing the Destroyer) and the Black Dragonflight are much closer to another trope by the time the series actually takes place. This is because their connection to the earth made them easy to corrupt by the subterranean Old Gods, who drove Deathwing and his kin insane and turned them into pawns for The Old Gods.
    • Yu'lon the Jade Serpent is one of the four August Celestials, Wild Gods that watch over Pandaria. She takes the form of a celestial cloud serpent, which is Warcraft's version of an Eastern dragon.
  • Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana: Theos-De-Endogram is implied to be the avatar of the Great Tree of Origin or the titular Lacrimosa. It looks like a gigantic, divine-looking dragon with several pieces from other living beings, such as insect legs and vines.

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 
  • Overly Sarcastic Productions: In Trope Talk: Dragons, while talking about portrayals of dragons in folklore and modern fiction, Red describes both several divine dragons from real-life myths, such as Chinese and Japanese dragons and the Rainbow Serpent of some Australian myths, as well as their successors in modern fiction. These tend to be based on the Chinese kind, and range from powerful and benevolent creatures to literal gods. They are usually mentors, distant protectors or similar figures, and rarely central characters. Some are more malevolent instead, and likelier to feature as powerful foes in the backstory or in a story's grand finale.

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Dragons were the original Firebenders. Because of that, they were respected and revered by the Sun Warriors and their later incarnation, the Fire Nation. However, Fire Lord Sozin created dragon hunting and they were driven to extinction. Thankfully, two were saved by Iroh and were being protected by the Sun Warriors. These two help Aang and Zuko learn the true way of Firebending.
  • Dragons: Riders of Berk: In Season 3 of Dragons: Race to the Edge, it is revealed that there is a ninja-like tribe called the Defenders of the Wing. Like Berk, they do not see Dragons as mindless animals, but they take it a step further and practically worship them. They do so out of respect for the Great Protector, an Eruptodon that eats the lava from their local volcano, keeping their village safe. Because of this, they tend to hold a strong animosity to anyone they would perceive as any kind of threat to dragons, especially Hiccup and the riders, seeing dragon-riding as a form of "enslavement".
  • Winx Club:
    • The Great Dragon is the creator deity of the Magical Dimension's origin: in the beginning there was nothing, then there was the Great Dragon, and his Flame created the universe.
    • There are also physical dragons in the Magical Dimension, such as the ones kept at Red Fountain. These do not appear to have any connection to the Great Dragon and behave in an animalistic way, thus averting the trope.


 
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Alternative Title(s): Dragon God, Angelic Dragon, Divine Dragon

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Shussebora

Gaijin Goomba (both the real person and his cartoon goomba counterpart) explain to the viewers just what the Shussebora is.

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