Dragon

**Dragons** (龍 *Ryū*) are immensely large and powerful beings made up from enormous amounts of mana. Distinct from them are lesser **dragons** (竜 *ryū*), which are made up of three different subtypes. Despite being separate creatures, both true Dragons and lesser dragons are connected to one another.

## Information

In the days of the Witches, Dragons freely roamed the world in numbers. They lived in flocks everywhere around the world, and formed smaller communities or factions, which were led by their chosen Dragon representatives, who were renowned around the world. They acted very similarly to Spirits and Evil Spirits, however, unlike them, Dragons freely expanded their territory rather often. During the era of the first-generation Sword Saint Reid Astrea, however, most of them were slain by him, pushing their species to the brink of extinction. They were capable of speech and were rather intelligent beings. There are even instances of individual Dragons forming pacts and vows with humans, in order to create a world where both Dragon and men could coexist. According to the author, the models for Re:Zero's Dragons were taken from European dragons, though they do sport some pretty apparent differences. Just like the European dragons, they have large lizard-like bodies and sport a pair of wings, though there were instances of Dragons with two pairs of wings, such as Volcanica. Additionally, some Dragons hunted and killed people for various reasons, oftentimes to secure new territory. In turn, humans came up with a title, referring to them as **Blight Dragons** (邪龍 *Jyaryū*). It is mentioned by Beatrice that this term is nothing more than a viewpoint of humans wronged by dragons, rather than a designated species name. According to legend, Blight Dragons were all but exterminated by the first Sword Saint, Reid Astrea, four centuries ago.

## Types of Dragons

**Dragon** (龍 *Ryū*): The original type of dragons. They contain great power and are made up of enormous masses of mana.

**Earth Dragon**: (地竜, *Chiryū*): Dragons created by Volcanica. Much like horses on earth, these wingless, land-based dragons are often domesticated to be used in menial labor such as transport or in warfare. They have varied body types and colors to suit different terrains, environmental conditions and jobs which makes them excellent to work with. All earth dragons are born with Wind Evasion, a species-based Divine Protection. Specific species types known include the Flanna species (フランナ種), the most numerous versatile species, the Eliq species (エイリーク種) or the Aires species (アイレス種), an earth dragon species living in cold environments, the Agaress species (アガレス種) or the Gyrus species (ガイラス種), an earth dragon species living in desert environments, and the Diana species (ダイアナ種), a prideful and relatively rare species. The Diana species is the original species from which all other earth dragons descend from.

**Water Dragon**: (水竜, *Suiryū*): A lesser species of dragon, like earth dragons. Water Dragons are aquatic creatures, with long serpentine bodies, with short stubby limbs. They have blue, slippery skin and have a head that resembles a dragon's. Their mouths are crowded by sharp fangs, and catfish-like whiskers extend from its snout. They are harder to domesticate than earth dragons, as one must be trained from the very day they hatch from their eggs in order to recognise someone as their master. All Water Dragons are born with a Divine Protection which protects them from the effects of the water.

**Flying Dragon**: (飛竜, *Hiryū*): A lesser species of dragon, like earth dragons. They are nearly impossible to domesticate, though some people in the Vollachia Empire have found a means to do it. These dragons have been shown capable of surpassing the speed of sound. It is unknown if they are born with a Divine Protection.

## Known Dragons

### Dragons

* Volcanica
* Mezoreia
* Valgren
* Amangam
* Fargall

### Earth Dragons

* Patrasche
* Shaknar
* Frufoo
* Joseph
* Romy
* Peter
* Rascal

### Flying Dragons

* Carillon
* Gaius
* Feyron

## Trivia

* In Japanese, the difference between the original Dragons (龍) and the lesser dragons (竜) is conveyed through the usage of two separate Kanji which both mean "dragon".
* With her Authority of Lust, Capella Emerada Lugunica can transform herself into a black dragon form that does not appear to fall under any of the three lesser dragon breeds.
* Although not Dragons themselves, there was a rare race known as the dragonkin, which possessed the ability to make emotional connections with the three kinds of lesser dragons until they mostly went extinct. The dragonkin differed from other races related to humans at a basic level, meaning that they were not demi-humans. After driving ten other races to extinction, they were nearly led to extinction as a result of their extreme pride. The race's only known survivor is Madelyn Eschart.

## References

1. ↑ *“In other words, Dragons being regarded as Blight Dragons is solely a matter of humans' point of view, in fact.”* Re:Zero Prequel: Loving the Days Gone By, Chapter 1, Section 6.
2. ↑ *“Explaining the origins of dragons to the people of this day and age would be a bit of a pain to do, in fact. To make a long story short, you can think of dragons as living beings that are like enormous masses of mana, I suppose.”* The Dragon Nation / Missing Child Search Chronicle 2, Section 2.
3. ↑ *“At the very least, that is true according to the person in question… they are a race that has already perished, but I have heard that the dragonkin were able to establish bonds with earth dragons, water dragons, and flying dragons.”* Re:Zero Tanpenshuu Volume 7, Sword Identity, Section 12.
4. ↑ *Dragonkin were not demi-humans. They differed from those species related to the human race at a basic level.* Re:Zero Light Novel Volume 30, Chapter 5, Section 7.
5. ↑ *The prideful dragonkin would never tolerate any scorn or disdain towards herself. She would put washing away any disgrace over her own life. It was precisely because of that way of being that led to the downfall of their kind. In the time before the dragonkin themselves had perished, they had driven over ten other races to extinction. Though, since Madelyn had existed, it should probably be said that the dragonkin had not actually perished.* Re:Zero Tanpenshuu Volume 7, Sword Identity, Section 12.