Dragon

A **Dragon** is a giant reptilian-like demon with bat-like wings and were well-known for their raw strength, power, elegant flight, and near-invincibility. They can also shapeshift from their true form to a draconic-anthropoid or even a human guise. Although they were thought to be extinct, Alfonse Günsche claims that his kind still exists, but this has not been proven.

## Characteristics

Dragons have scaly skin, pronged spikes along their spines and tails, horns, course hair, claws, teeth, enormous bat-like wings, and horns. They were known for their intelligence, brutality, fearsome appearance, and their elemental breath and manipulation. For a long time, dragons have (supposedly) been donning as humans to survive, according to Günsche.
Their eye color varies based on their elemental type. According to Günsche, fire dragons like him have red eyes, similar to vampires; earth dragons’ eyes are green, similar to homo magi; water dragons’ are azure, to yōkai; wind dragons’ eyes are white pupils with black sclerae; and lightning dragons have golden amber yellow eyes, similar to werewolves. In all cases, they glow under intense emotions or when using their telepathic-based powers.

## History

### Before *Blackbird*

Dragons have lived for a long time, far longer than humans. According to Lemar Wolfblood, dragons have significantly long lifespans, up to a millennium. He also said that dragons were the most dangerous form of demons, more powerful than vampires and werewolves combined. In Europe and the Middle East, however, mankind triumphed over demon kind thanks to Western religions and the prevalence of homo magi after the the fall of the Roman Empire in the West who managed to nearly wipe dragons off the face of the planet. In Asia, however, dragons were revered and continued to exist without trouble. Because of modernity and the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, however, Chinese dragons and their European counterparts have been driven into hiding due to demon hunters on the rise while others arrived from other parts of the world. According to Lemar, he and other demon hunters believed that dragons were for the most part extinct since the last community of dragons were wiped out in Germany in World War II, with the Blackbird Organization credited for eliminating them once and for all. It would not be, however, until over seventy-five years later that their assumptions were proven wrong.

### *Blackbird*

In *Episode X*, Alfonse Günsche is the only dragon featured in the series, with him being one of two trump cards for the Phoenix Organization, the other being Fu, captain of the Phoenix Undead. He, alongside Capt. Fu, guard Phoenix’s leader Wren Kreisler and he his assistant Neil Edda. Edda had his fledglings Ashley Kline and Anna Gibson personally at his side most of the time, but they would flirt with him constantly when he was in his human guise.
In *Episode XI*, he would battle against Lemar Wolfblood aboard the *Volsunga* alone and would put up a good fight against Blackbird’s own trump card. In the end, however, he gets familiarized by Lemar who accepts him as a new addition to his ‘collection’, knowing he would be invaluable the next time he faced Phoenix in the future.
In *Episode XII*–*XIII*, the familiarized Günsche manifested himself in Lemar’s mind, including Margery, every now and then. They would each help Lemar in his battles the most and retain most of their original personality, the difference being that their allegiance is strictly to Lemar instead of Phoenix.
In *Episode XVI*, he once again manifested himself out of Lemar’s physical being, along with Margery, to protect him from incoming attacks from Wren Kreisler after he drank Valerie Nosferatu’s blood to become a transcendental vampire. Even with Günsche, Cody, and Margery at his disposal, Kreisler was apparently unbeatable, able to destroy the familiarized Margery and Günsche with ease. This, however, gave Lemar the best chance to familiarize Wren and defeated him, thus ending Phoenix forever.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Dragon Physiology**: To have the powers and abilities of dragons, i.e. being one itself. There are three types of dragons: *European**/**Western Dragons* for European folk traditions that are related to the Greek and Middle Eastern counterparts; and the *Chinese**/**East Dragon* and its counterparts throughout Asia, including Japan, Korea, and other East Asian countries; and ‘Lesser’ Drakes that are something of a catch-all category, including lesser dragon-like demons, such as the Wyverns, Lambton Worms**/**Wyrms, Lindworms, etc. that are all extinct.
	+ **Magic and Immunity**: .
		- **Element-Based Breath**: .
	+ **Shapeshifting**: .
		- **Elemental Form**: .
		- **Claw Retraction**: .
		- **Prehensile Tail and Tongue**: .
	+ **Regeneration/Semi-Immortality**: .
	+ **Extrasensory**:
	+ **Super Strength and Speed**: .
		- **Enhanced Jaws**: .
	+ **Unnatural Agility and Reflexes**: .
	+ **Enhanced Resilience/Durability**: .
	+ **Ultimate Stamina and Endurance**: .
	+ **Telepathy**: .
		- **Omnilingualism**: .

## Known Dragons

* Alfonse Günsche (familiarized; deceased)

## Trivia

* Once Phoenix was defeated, Lemar wondered if dragons are now truly extinct or not since Günsche claimed that his kind still exists. According to Blackbird archives, dragons are extinct but because Günsche was clearly a dragon and was alive and well before being familiarized and later killed permenantly by Kreisler as a familiar, Blackbird will have to check if whether or not dragons still exist or not.
* Dragons come in different shapes and sizes, but have one thing in common: they are hatched from eggs and are more or less in tune with nature based on their resepctive species.
* In the East, dragons are regarded on par with deities and the ancient Chinese believed their emperors descended from dragons. In Blackbird, Lemar said that ancient humans were so foolish that they worshipped demons like dragons thinking they would have protection from preternatural forces like him.
* In several flashbacks of World War II, Lemar recounted dragons who died by the sword would turn into their natural element; for example, fire dragons would burst into fire and burn to ashes, and water dragons melted into water after being slain. Wind dragons, according to Lemar, become clouds upon getting slain as he recalled that as a paratrooper he killed a wind dragon who tried to eat him but used *Gladia* to slay it and it became a normal cloud or mist before he touched the ground without using his parachute. When asked about lightning and earth dragons when they die by Hannah Sommers, Lemar told her that lightning dragons just turn into electricity and/or lightning which disappear and earth dragons turn into rocks and plants very quickly.

## Works Cited

* “Dragon Physiology.” *Superpower Wiki*, Fandom, 3 Jan. 2020, https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon\_Physiology. Accessed 5 Jan. 2020.
* Geller, Prof. “Dragon.” *Mythology.net*, 29 Sept. 2018, https://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/dragon/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2020.