Beneath The Mountain Fort: The Red Dragon Of Wales And Its Welsh Strength

By Ayato, at http://ayato.deviantart.com/

In Wales, one of four countries that (for now) form the United Kingdom, there is a tiny village called Beddgelert.
This is a town with a legend of its own - the legend of the Hound Gelert (later to become some basis for Disneys The Lady And The Tramp) and the grave there that is said to be where the tragically slain hound was buried. In fact, it is thought more likely to be the grave of a landlord named Dave Prichard, who lived in the area, and gave the gravestone this story rather then his own in order to bring tourism to the area. Which in itself, is a certain kind of fantastic - to love an area so much as to scrub your own name aside for the tale of a legend.

And then, roughly a mile and a half North-East, there is the setting for another story altogether. There under the hill fort of Dinas Emerys, is said to be a pool where two dragons slept for centuries, until King Vortigern, himself shrouded in half facts and legends, tried to build a fort there. Repeatedly the fort known now as Dinas Emerys broke and collapsed under some malevolent influence, until on counsel from his advisors, the king sought out a child with no natural father to sacrifice on the mound.

But not to worry! This child, known in some circles as Merlin, obviously does not die here. He instead rubbishes the advice of his advisors, telling him to dig up the pit - releasing the dragons beneath the mountain, which were still fighting, bringing down the castle with their conflict. So does King Vortigern unearth the creatures - and the dragons, newly reawoken from drinking too much mead (seriously) restart a fight from centuries past. The Red Dragon Of Wales brings an end to the White Saxon dragon there and then, and the troubles with the forts architectural stability were sorted out nice and proper.

This is one of a few stories behind the mighty Red Dragon of Wales - the one that adorns the Welsh flag - and as a symbolic story for the Welsh defying the Saxons it has remained for more then half a millennium to the present day.

Art, along with a very in depth story, from AngelGhidorah
(http://angelghidorah.deviantart.com/)

Dragons in themselves have remained in our fantastical consciousness because of their all powerful nature - a natural yet otherworldy monster, a firebreathing creature to truly sit on a pantheon of fantastical creatures. A creature that can truly challenge kings. Yet this is not really a typical draconic story - most of them involve the dragon being ultimately defeated, destroyed and extinguished. The Red Dragon in this tale however is not - it retreats to another mountain in another place, to sleep away the centuries. And nothing was heard from the Red Dragon Of Wales again.

Of course, as with all myths there can be droplets of truth to them, or maybe more. In 1945, some 1100 years after the story of Vortigern's fort, the area on Dinas Enerys was excavated. And the walls of the ancient fort, all of them, showed signs of being rebuilt repeatedly.

Of course its a fort long collapsed, over a millenia old, occupied during strife and war. There are plenty of reasons that after so long, Dinas Enerys would not exactly be shining from tower to moat.

But equally like with all of these legends you like to believe. After all where does a myth or legend come from without an original source. Call this naive or downright stupid - but why did the name dragon even come to exist? Why does the word exist in various languages? Why even have a word for, as the greeks had it 'large serpent'?  The closest thing the world has to a dragon, let alone winged, is the komodo dragon from Indonesia - a world away from the white cliffs of the United Kingdom, the Saxon lands, and many others.

I'm sure it has been answered on ELI5 (Explain Like I'm Five) on reddit many times. That said I like
the idea of remaining ignorant. Maybe all those years ago the civilisations of the old world discovered dinosaurs, and that's what they called the creatures. Which is an incredible idea to behold - old civilisations finding a long dead creature beyond their understanding and weaving tales from the bones.

For now, we focus on the Red Dragon of Wales - a dragon with legend that not only survived but grew, embedding itself into the Welsh Flag and Welsh culture as a whole. A symbol of Wales as an individual country - not just a part of the United Kingdom. A country and identity that a ferocious, monstrous dragon fought to protect. An identity that was similarly fought for, and won, by the Welsh people, almost a millennia ago.

(Oh by the way, beneath Dinas Ereys five years after the excavation, guess what they also found? )

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Dragon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortigern
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/welsh-dragon-most-important-object-3012086
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article-1356395981973/
http://www.thewelshdragon.co.uk/blog/the-dragon-in-history/origins-of-the-welsh-dragon/
http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artcit/dinas.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelert