L is for Ladon #AtoZChallenge

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I have chosen the theme of dragons as characters. Whether they appear in film, TV, cartoons or literature, these dragons may be the star of the show or just a supporting character.

**I was busy last week and skipped K and L so posting them today.

L is for Ladon, the serpent-like dragon who guards the golden apples in Greek Mythology. In one version of the story, he is killed by an arrow shot from Hercules’ bow. In another, Hercules couldn’t defeat him but tricked the titan Atlas into retrieving the apples for him.

Ladon was also known as the Hesperian dragon because he guarded the Garden of Hesperides where the famous Golden Apples could be found. He is steadfast, determined and never sleeps. The image of a serpent dragon wrapped around a tree is often drawn on Greek vases. Upon his death, it is said that Hera placed his likeness among the stars and he became the constellation Draco.

Ladon is also sometimes depicted as a multi-headed beast. In the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, Ladon is a massive dragon with one hundred heads. According to Percy (in The Titan’s Curse), Ladon’s breath smells like acid. His stench is like a dead rat, but a “hundred times stronger.”  

If you missed previous entries:

A is for Aura

B is for Blazey

C is for Canth

D is for Draco

E is for Elliott

F is for Fafnir

G is for Gwythaints

H is for Haku

I is for the Ice Dragon

J is for Jabberwocky

K is for Kalessin