Does a Sea Serpent count as a dragon?

Ehhhh. Ehhhhhhhhhh.

*Checks Wikipedia*

Okay. Sure. As I comb through our collective oldest mythology with the express purpose of being all judgy and stuff, it's increasingly apparent that the creatures we call "dragons" are many things, depending on the place and time. Maybe down the line we can have a discussion about that. For now, let's just move on and say that sea serpents get to be lumped in with "water dragons." After all, I'm going to start hitting up Asian dragons at some point, and they're all about that kind of thing.

For now, let's look at Jörmungandr, the Nordic World Serpent. And his appellation isn't hyperbole; he's frickin' ginormous! Jörmungandr is so big, he's able to wrap around the world and bite his tail in his mouth, via the ocean surrounding everything in Midgard.

In the beginning, Jörmungandr is one of three children of Loki and the giant Angrboða. Odin wasn't terribly happy with the prophecies surrounding these children, so Fenrir got tied up, Hel was assigned to civil service, and Jörmungandr was hucked into the ocean. Which worked out okay-ish, since Jörmungandr got the chance to grow large enough to do the whole "surrounding the world" thing.

Unfortunately for our wyrm, a truly epic rivalry was about to kick off. First, Jörmungandr gets partially yanked into the hall of the giant king Útgarða-Loki (no relation). Then it gets magically transformed into a still-ginormous cat. Which is actually fairly impressive magic. All of this is so that Útgarða-Loki can trick Thor, the god of thunder, in a bet to see how much Thor can lift. This results in one part of Jörmungandr getting hoisted, but no one asks for its thoughts on the matter.

Later on, Thor decides to go fishing with the giant Hymir. When Hymir proves stingy with the bait, Thor straight up kills one of Hymir's oxen and uses the head for the same purpose. Because anger management issues. Upon spying a tasty ox-head floating around, Jörmungandr bites down and finds himself drawn up to the surface by Thor. The two eye each other down for a bit, Jörmungandr probably recognizing Thor as the same jackass who used him as a barbell earlier. Hymir panics though and cuts the line, promptly de-escalating the situation.

Lastly Jörmungandr shows up during Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods. Deciding that it's time to get some cardio in, Jörmungandr tag-teams with its brother Fenrir to kick-start a mess. Jörmungandr crawls from the ocean and spews poison across half the world while its bro sets the other half on fire. They then make their way to Vigrid for the big fight between giants and Aesir. However, once Jörmungandr locks eyes on Thor, it's a one-on-one cage match, and the two ignore everyone else to settle their differences. Eventually Thor slays Jörmungandr, but gets done in posthumously by our wyrm's poison.

So, we've got an absolutely massive sea dragon, with a badass origin story and a lifelong grudge that ends in the deaths of almost everyone in the world. Awesome! Give this dragon an A, along with whatever you use to sooth getting beaten to death by a thunder god's hammer.

(Jormungandr, Milivoj Ceran 2017. www.mceran-art.com)

Brass Horse Books