[HoneyBadger]

Well, individual dragons-and individual authors-notwithstanding, Dragons-as in their role in the collective subconscious-have really been wussified, even when it's clear that this wasn't the intention. I think people have become so enamored of dragons as representatives of magic and fairy tales, that they simply refuse to view them as anything other than diplomats from wonderland. Sure, some of them retain their power, intelligence, etc. but very little of the sheer cataclysmic horror that a dragon should invoke. I mean, these were the Cloverfields of their time. They wreaked towns, ate virgins, poisoned wells, battled the gods, consorted with-and often were-the Devil, and sooner or later, they were going to destroy the Earth ala Revelations.