Dragons have been a part of the human imagination for a very long time. They have appeared in all forms of story-telling and media from folktales to comic books to the big screen. Of course, dragons are common in video games. After all, many video games are inspired by fairytales, mythology, and high fantasy.
In the world of video games, there have been dragons of every shape and size. There is the spunky protagonist Spyro, the diverse Dragon-type Pokémon, and the heavy hitting bosses like the dragons of Skyrim.
However, the most popular type of dragon to be found in video games are the dangerous ones. After all, fangs, claws, and elemental breath are tools of destruction. Any gamer has defeated their fair share of dragons, but some are more memorable as dangerous foes than others.
10 Singe From Dragon's Lair
While it looks far less gritty, Dragon's Lair is known to be even more difficult than Dark Souls. It has a charming fairytale story of a knight seeking to save a princess from a dragon. The colors are bright and the animation gives one a feeling of nostalgia. However, the arcade game is one that feels near impossible to beat.
The final boss is the dragon, Singe. Like the rest of the game, he is very easy to die at. While he cannot fly, he still can breath fire and run pretty fast. When up close, his tail and claws are quite dangerous.
9 The Hellkite Wyvern From Dark Souls
Dark Souls is a game famous for its difficultly. Any player going in should be prepared to die a lot and just be patient in learning the mechanics of the various monsters they meet. Some of the most difficult monsters can actually be found at the beginning of the game, as that is when the player is a lower level and still learning the ropes.
The Hellkite wyvern is one of the first drakes the player meets. The wwyvern does not outright attack the player and perches on a chapel they need to get to. It breaths deadly fire at the player if they try to cross the bridge. Players either have to go under the bridge, which also poses a danger.
8 Gore Magala From Monster Hunter 4
There are plenty of dragons and subspecies of them in the Monster Hunter franchise. Few to no other creatures have the ability to infect other monsters like the Gore Mangala though. It's an elder dragon, which is one of the most dangerous types of monster.
The Gore Mangala also has both ranged and melee attacks. On top of all that, it can inflict a debuff on you that reduces your health. It's also dangerous because it sheds a pathogen that causes other monsters to go berserk.
7 Ridley From Metroid
Some dragons are just strong loners while others are both strong on their own as well as a commander of an army of space pirates. That is the case for Ridley from the Metroid series.
He has a wide range of dangerous abilities from plasma breath to a tail sharp enough to impale others. The abilities can vary depending on the game. He is also quite infamous for cheating out of death many times throughout the franchise. Ridley just can't die. He is horrifyingly adaptable, able to eat people and heal himself by incorporating their cells with his own.
6 Gabriel from Drakengard 3
All Intoners have a magical companion. The protagonist, Zero, and the antagonist, One, have a dragon, which is one of the most powerful creatures in existence. One turned her dragon, Gabriel, into a demon, and kills Zero and her dragon the first time around. Second time around they kill Gabriel, but at the cost of Mikael sacrificing his life. In Drakengard 3, dragon's get a wish when they die and most use that wish to reincarnate but instead Zero's dragon uses the wish second time around to kill Gabriel. Gabriel was so dangerous that he could only be killed may a magical wish.
5 Grigori From Dragon's Dogma
This action RPG by Capcom has this fearsome red dragon as its final boss and is a favorite video game dragon of many. In comparison to many other video game dragons out there, Grigori is massive. Besides his size, his voice actor, David Lodge, does a fantastic job at inspiring awe in how the creature speaks.
The opening of the game is Grigori destroying the protagonists' village, which they are powerless to stop. Not only that, he also rips out your character's heart, making them the Arisen. Part of why he's so dangerous is that he is tied by fate to The Arisen.
4 Bahamut From Final Fantasy
Bahamut takes many forms throughout the Final Fantasy series. He is one of the most iconic summons from the popular JRPG franchise. In any of the games, a fight with Bahamut tends to be a challenge.
In the original MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, Bahamut was used as a plot tool to literally rewrite the game. He came out of the moon and wrecked the continent of Eorzea as a story for when the servers shut down. That is just one of many reasons he is known as The Dragon King of Final Fantasy.
3 Deathwing From World Of Warcraft
Deathwing has many names such as The Dark One, The Black Scourge, Death Incarnate, Neltharion the Betrayer, and Blackwing Greatfather. So many scary names come from a long history of destruction. According to the lore, Deathwing was once benevolent and is now completely evil. He seeks to kill all mortal races.
Despite his insanity, the dragon is also smart. Despite his hatred of mortals, he will happily use them as a means to an end and dispose of them later.
2 Alduin From The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim is all about dragons and the player ends up fighting a ton of them. It is not unusual to run into one just when trying to get from point A to point B. However, none are as feared as much as Alduin. He is so dangerous that he has gained the title "World Eater."
Alduin is the antagonist of the game and is different from the other dragons in a number of ways. While every dragon in the game has its own elemental breath, Alduin is the only one that can breath both frost and fire. Nordic myth also believes that Alduin destroyed the old world in order for the present one to be made.
1 The Archdemon From Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age gets its name from the resurgence of dragons in Thedas. With the progression of each title, more dragons appear. However, none were quite like the Archdemon from Origins. Not only was it a dragon, but its a corrupted Old God. It commands an army of Darkspawn and can only be defeated by a Grey Warden (and that Grey Warden has to sacrifice their own life to do so).
What makes Archdemon's so dangerous is not only their claws and flight, but their intelligence. The rest of the Blight is a hive-mind, but the dragon itself is the leader.