Eli Stone and the Dragon
April 14th, 2008I was over a friends house and the television show “Eli Stone” happened to be on. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed much of it but I am familiar with the theme that Eli has some kind of a brain disorder and he often hallucinates in ways that are very real. Anyway, I was immediately drawn to the show when, as Eli was walking down a normal street, a dragon appeared out of nowhere and swooped down on him. This was quickly followed by a knight in armor who challenged the dragon and chased it away.
And it made me wonder why the archetypes of the dragon and the knight are so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche? Well, I kind of answered the question by saying “archetype”. and it is interesting how this struggle between knight and dragon has come to represent so much to us. And it is ironic how so much of epic fantasy writing has forgotten that very point!
The archetypical struggle between the knight and the dragon has come to signify the mighty struggles that we as human beings undergo. It represents Eli’s struggle with his brain tumor and with the ethics of his profession. It also represents the struggle we all as human beings face every single day - the struggle with the mystery of living. It is truly a very big dragon. … It’s a shame we don’t get any insights about it in modern fantasy anymore. They have lots of dragons but never point out what the dragon really means. I wonder what the writer of Beowulf would say about this.
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