Dragons Have Come to Gateway

Greetings Gateway,

As you may have already concluded, I am a dragon fan and as I am one of very few who believes in their existence, they are a fan of me. What you call fantasy, I call reality and what you call mythology, I call history. In fact, mythology is more real and truer than history. History is just journalism and we all know how reliable that is.

Okay, you caught me. So I don’t really believe in the existence of dragons, at least not in the literal sense.
In his famous 1988 interview with Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell said, “The real dragon is in you.” In this quote, Campbell was using the dragon as a metaphor for our own ego and it was the European dragon he was speaking of. So if the European dragon represents our ego, that which is inside of us then the Chinese dragon represents that which is outside such as the great forces of nature and the universe as a whole.

So in this sense, dragons are real but remain in that same sense of awe and wonder as we’ve imagined them in mythology and other works of speculative fiction. They are as real as our imaginations allow them to be.
You may be asking, “Why are you telling me all of this? What does any of this have to do with your introduction?” Well, just look at my name. Dragons are obviously important to me and if you understand my fascination with them then you have taken your first large step in understanding me as a writer and a person.

My love affair with dragons began with the Nordic hero Siegfried and his battle with the mighty dragon, Fafnir. When I first heard the story, I felt a little let down that this nigh-invincible creature was defeated by a mere mortal. Yet I learned the true power of dragons when Siegfried bathed in the dragon’s blood and it made him invulnerable and gave him knowledge otherwise unattainable by mere mortals. It was through this story that I learned that it takes more than strength of arm to defeat a dragon, for surely no mortal could hope to match the physical prowess of such a creature but that one in fact needed cunning.

An anvil-cutting sword and battle tips from Odin are also beneficial.

In to more modern forms of speculative fiction, dragons also drew me in to the world of Krynn. Dragons of Autumn Twilight, by authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman as well as the two books that followed it are to me what The Lord of the Rings is to so many others. Yet it was not the writers who so captured my imagination but rather artist Larry Elmore who so beautifully depicted the dangerous sleekness of the red dragon who lurked behind three of the seven Heroes of the Lance.

I still have that book and despite its tattered cover and yellow pages, it still carries with it the smell of fresh paper, ink, and adventure.

So from the Scandinavian mountains and through the magical world of Krynn, I have been carried here, to RolePlayGateway on the wings of dragons. I am here to enhance my own skills as a writer but mostly I just want to have fun and immerse myself in to the role play scene. While my preferred genre is fantasy, I am also a big fan of horror, dystopian, and science fiction. Regardless of genre, my favorite element of all fiction is the reader’s suspension of disbelief as it shows our mind’s willingness to suspend logic and allow our imagination to take over in order to better enjoy a fantastical story.

In no particular order, some of my favorite writers include Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe, Issac Asimov, Joseph Campbell, Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, Frank Miller, R.A. Salvatore, Stan Lee, and Jared Diamond.

Also in no particular order, some of my favorite artists include Todd McFarlane, Larry Elmore, Mark Waid, Gerald Brom, Todd Lockwood, Bob Ross, Derek Riggs, and Michael Whelan.

In closing, I’ll reveal a few random facts as they pop in my head. I love chess. My favorite piece is the bishop because it reminds me of an archer or assassin. I can’t tell you how man rooks have fallen to the deadly long range of my bishops. Two of my favorite comic book villains are Doomsday because he killed Superman and Thanos because there are very few brave enough to court Death. My favorite song by Deep Purple is Mistreated and my favorite guitarist is Robin Trower.
I hope I haven’t scared off too many of you with my long-winded introduction. I’m going to end this with one of my personal quotes:

Unfortunately, friend...

The Dragons have long roosted here at RPG.

Now hold on there pardner, don't compare history to journalism. Journalism is a nice piece of brainwashing and false facts. No I kid though, I don't really mean to bash journalists. Some are idealists, going after the truth. As for history, I consider it a beautiful thing, for you can not spell history without story. It is, as my English professor might call it, a literature. History is something very rich. I might add that the line where myth ended and history began is a line that never existed.

As writers, we draw inspiration and influence from what came before to create what will be.

I don't have a love affair with dragons, let me say that out now.

However, I do appreciate their existence because without them, the world of the imagination might have lost a small, yet remarkable dimension.

My list of writers/authors/poets/artists/musicians/filmmakers in no particular order include Homer, Mark Twain, Robert Frost, Christopher Nolan, Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, Steven Spielberg, Charles Dickens, Sam Mendes, J.R.R. Tolkien, Henry David Thoreau, Salvador Dali, Hans Zimmer, Two Steps From Hell, OneRepublic, Swedish House Mafia, and Thomas Newman.

I don't believe I have a favorite song, for it changes with the times, but you'll find my selections in the "Which Song Are You Listening?" forum game.

Random fact about me...hmm...I like to play Texas Hold 'Em.


For giving me that quote, I shall give you one too.

"My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status." - Sir Ken Robinson

Ah, well the title was really just me being clever. I would certainly hope that a site dedicated to writing and role playing would already have a few dragons fluttering about before I came around.

I also have nothing against journalism. There are journalists who are in fact idealists who only want to present the truth but even when approached in such a way, a story coming from a single source is always slightly biased. Like any writer should, I am naturally influenced by history. My comment concerning myth, history, and journalism was actually a quote from Joseph Campbell that I paraphrased in order to show my preference for fantasy over real life.

I’ve only read two stories by Hemingway but I love The Old Man and the Sea and view it as the epitome of skillful story telling. The only other work I’ve read by him was The Sun Also Rises and that was just recently but I really enjoyed the colorful characters.

It would seem you appreciate dragons for the same reason I appreciate Tolkien. I’m not necessarily a fan of his work but I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he did for my favorite genre. As far as poets go, Frost is definitely my favorite. I don’t really like any of Poe’s poems but rather I’m more a fan of his short stories. I would have to say the same goes for King; I prefer his short stories over most of his novels.

I’ve noticed the thread you mentioned in the forums. I’ll check it out and thank you for the quote. I’m certain I’ve heard it before but I never had a name to apply it to. I just looked up Sir Ken Robinson and a few of his books look very intriguing; namely Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative and The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. I'm definitely going to check these out now.

If you’re ever interested in a nice bit of history concerning human societies, I suggest Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. It can also be found as a PBS documentary of the same name and is worth watching just to hear Diamond’s own words.

Thanks for the comment, VP and thanks again for the quote.

Oh my gosh, it is another dragon! We should totally go to a dragon RP together some time. We could like burn down villages and everything. *Squeals excitedly.*

Lol, anyways, welcome to RPG. I am quite new here also. :P

Thank you for the welcome, Dragonborn.

I'm not the village-burning, virgin-eating kind of dragon. I'd much rather sit on my riches and snooze the centuries away. The sort of laid back dragon who lets his legend speak for him and chows down on the occasional thief foolish enough to come in to his den. Think Smaug but without the animosity of a dwarf kingdom looking to skin my hide.

Dwarves are too crunchy, anyways.