Wyvern
Wyvern · Type of Dragon — Legendary two-legged, winged reptilian creature
The wyvern is the two-legged, bat-winged dragon of medieval European heraldry and folklore, named from Old English 'wivere' (viper) — itself from Latin 'vipera' — and distinguished from the four-legged Western dragon by the absence of forelegs (the wings serve as arms) and by a long barbed tail terminating in an arrow-shaped venomous sting. The heraldic form was codified in late twelfth-century Anglo-Norman heraldry under Henry II, and Juliana Berners's 'Boke of Saint Albans' (1486) is the first English manual to set the wyvern apart from the four-footed dragon as a distinct heraldic beast. The Welsh red dragon Y Ddraig Goch became an official badge of the Tudor dynasty after the battle of Bosworth in 1485, and nineteenth-century English heralds harmonised it with the four-legged form as a 'four-footed wyvern'. The same silhouette has been adopted in J.R.R. Tolkien's Fell Beasts in 'The Lord of the Rings' (1954-55), the wyverns of FromSoftware's 'Dark Souls' (2011), the Rathalos line of Capcom's 'Monster Hunter' series (2004- ), the dragons of 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' (2011), and the dragons of HBO's 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019).
Origin
The direct origin lies in late twelfth-century Anglo-Norman heraldry. The Bayeux Tapestry (late eleventh century, Bayeux, Normandy) shows Norman dragon standards of the proto-wyvern type. The most authoritative texts are Juliana Berners's 'Boke of Saint Albans' (1486, British Library IB.55712) and John Guillim's 'A Display of Heraldrie' (1610), the latter fixing the definition 'two legs, two wings, serpent tail'. Etymologically 'wyvern' descends from Old English 'wivere' (eleventh century) through Middle English 'wyvere' to the sixteenth-century form 'wyvern', sharing a root with Latin 'vipera'. The heraldic image spread widely across English county and family arms — Wessex, Mercia, the lords of Leicestershire — and survives in modern badges including the Leicestershire county flag.
Features
- Two legs and a single pair of bat-like wings; no forelegs
- Long barbed tail ending in an arrow-shaped venomous sting
- Name from Old English 'wivere' (viper), Latin 'vipera'
- Distinguished from the four-footed dragon in Juliana Berners's 'Boke of Saint Albans' (1486)
- Breathes either venom or fire, depending on the heraldic tincture
- Continuous silhouette from twelfth-century Anglo-Norman heraldry to modern fantasy gaming
Stories
Used throughout medieval European heraldry as a family, regional and knightly emblem, with the Welsh flag, the Mercian wyvern and the Wessex wyvern as its enduring landmarks. In modern fantasy — Tolkien, D&D, 'Monster Hunter', 'Dark Souls', 'Skyrim', 'Game of Thrones' — the wyvern silhouette has eclipsed the four-legged dragon as the standard flying monster.
Weakness
With only two legs the wyvern is poorly balanced on the ground and less agile than the four-legged dragon, and twelfth-century bestiaries describe it as less intelligent than the canonical dragon. It depends on flight, and so suffers under anti-aviation magic and disciplined archery.
Cultural Significance
The wyvern is a product of Celtic-Norman fusion: the Welsh red dragon Y Ddraig Goch, the green wyvern of Wessex and the golden wyvern of Mercia are all expressions of regional identity, and the form became central to English royal heraldry from Henry VII onwards.
In Popular Culture
Bayeux Tapestry (late eleventh century), Anglo-Norman heraldry (twelfth century), Juliana Berners's 'Boke of Saint Albans' (1486), the Tudor Bosworth banner of Henry VII (1485), John Guillim's 'A Display of Heraldrie' (1610), the Fell Beasts of Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' (1954-55), D&D 'Monster Manual' (1977; fifth edition 2014), 'Monster Hunter' (Capcom, 2004- ), 'Dark Souls' (FromSoftware, 2011), 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' (Bethesda, 2011) and HBO's 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019).