Polycephaly, the condition of having more than one head on your shoulder. Mythological creatures which feature this trait are quite common, with multiheaded reptilian creatures featuring prominently in folklore, myths and legends. These creatures are symbols of power and harbingers of death in their regions of origin. They are so powerful that it often requires the intervention of godly figures and champions of justice to put an end to their shenanigans.
The result is a plethora of mythological stories which originate in different regions throughout the world but still have common tropes of good vs. evil. A reader unfamiliar with a particular story will relate to it since there are so many common themes. In spite of this, every dragon/serpent is iconic with unique features which make them memorable.
Throughout history, several mythological and folk heroes have faced a reptilian multi-headed dilemma. Hercules faced the Lernean hydra; Susanoo of Japan faced against the Yamata no Orochi; while the Zmei Gorynych is a major antagonist of several Slavic folklore. Incidentally, several aspects of King Ghidorah from the Godzilla franchise are drawn from these three reptiles. Keeping in line the goal of the Three blog, I discuss more about these three mythological reptiles and what makes each one special in this blog post.
The Lernean Hydra
The Lernean Hydra is the most popular beast on this list… as well as the most docile of them all. The Hydra was a multi-headed snake who really just wanted to chill on its Lake Lerna, have a cocktail, and be surrounded by ladies… you know, general things that people on lakes do. And then the Greek demigod Herakles comes along fights with it and slays it for no fault of its own.
Don’t get me wrong, Hydra would truly have been a scary beast in case it went rogue. Having poisonous blood or possessing the ability to spread a poisonous mist are pretty overpowered by themselves, but its deleteriousness was compounded by its regeneration ability. On having one of its heads cut down, two would grow in its place. Not only was it multi-headed but it was quite a metaphorical immovable object.
A smart being would just stay away from this beast. Heracles, with the belt of victories behind him, was more than capable to outsmart and out-strength any opponent. However Hydra’s regeneration ability more than overwhelmed him, and he had to sign his nephew Iolaus up to aid him in his task. They came up with the idea of cauterizing the wounds after chopping one of Hydra’s heads, preventing the wound from healing. If Hydra was an immovable object, Heracles was an unstoppable force.
Defeating the Hydra was, quite literally, a Herculean Task. Not sure it deserved it though.
Yamata no Orochi
Rice farming is a staple to several Asian culture and losing a season’s harvest is tantamount to starving till the next harvest cycle. It stands to reason that this would be represented in the culture, folklore and mythologies surrounding their main source of livelihood. The Dragon vs Hero story of this section steps out of the usual tropes of the genre and ventures into some heavy-hitting symbolism.
This folklore centers around a girl called Kushinadahime (or quite literally, the princess of rice fields), her parents, and the Japanese storm god called Susanoo no Mikoto. Kushinadahime has been caught in a pinch: she was to be offered as a sacrifice to the Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed serpentine creature which could fill “eight hills and eight valleys,” who also had consumed seven of her older sisters. Luckily, Susanoo happened to pass by and defeated the beast by getting the beast drunk on some rice wine or sake.
This story has its origins in the Izumo region of Japan, which is also the home to the Hii river. Yamata no Orochi’s description of being a “serpentine creature large enough to fill eight hills and eight valleys” could be interpreted as the course of the Hii river as it snakes around the local geological formations. Hii river has been known to be notoriously difficult to tame, with the locals trying in vain to control the recurrent flooding that plagued their rice crops. A “long and winding serpent” eating the “rice field princess” is an intelligent metaphor for the tragedy that the farmers might have gone through, while the arrival of the storm god stands for their attempts to solve this problem.
The best stories draw significant inspiration from the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Mary Catherine Bateson, a prominent American cultural anthropologist quotes beautifully in her quote, “The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.”
Zmei Gorynych
Zmei Gorynych literally means the “snake-of-the-mountain” in Russian, and has an important place in Russian folklore. It did its usual evil dragon things, like wrecking mountainside villages, laying waste to castles, and burning down forests. Among his actions probably also involved eating daughters of old men, stealing gold from dwarves as well as chasing wizards on broomsticks. His tyranny continued until it was stopped by the legendary bogatyr, Dobrynya Nikitich (lets call him Dobby). A bogatyr is Russia’s answer to England’s medieval knights, and good-vs-evil stories involving knights are as common as princesses getting kidnapped in modern video games, and generally sounds very rad.
Which brings us to the antics of this particular dragon.
After an initial bout with Dobby which ended up in a horrible defeat, Zmei was released mercifully by the chivalrous bogatyr. Instead of being inspired, he dug deeper into the rabbit hole and taking a page from Mario actually kidnapped a princess instead. The ensuing battle lasted for three days and three nights, during which process Dobby emerged victorious.
What is different about this particular dragon? For starters, he does not have three heads. Different iterations of the character have differing number of heads. There could be three - the most common and popularized in modern media - but there have also been seven, or even nine. It is quite similar to the Hydra in this case.
Zmei alternately could be a dragon species as opposed to a single dragon. They fill the generic evil character trope in good-vs-evil stories from Slavic folklore and have faced several heroes of which Dobby is the most well-known. Among the three dragons on this list,
they actually fill all the checkboxes that we have come to grow and love in today’s dragons.
Zmeis are indeed quite zmeizing.
In recap
Multiple heads are a common motif in mythology, almost as common as good vs evil stories. Serpents and dragons play a generic evil role in several stories. Serpents and dragons with multiple heads take this further and represent a challenge which needs to be overcome. Often times the only ones who can overcome said creatures are godly figures or mythological heroes with an appropriate skill set. While there are several features common to these stories, they do have things which make them quite unique by themselves.
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