#welsh dragon

[procrastiel]

Hey, fun fact: Stephen never had a public “coming out” as such, but was still in the closet at the time of filming this movie back in 1996. After filming, he stopped hiding the fact that he was gay and started talking about it more and more openly as the years went on.

So no, I don’t think Michael was entirely joking when he said this.

Sir Stephen Fry names 'greatest living Welshman'

Sir Stephen Fry has hailed "lovely" Michael Sheen as "the greatest living Welshman". He also praised his actor friend for "putting his money where his mouth is" to help those in debt.

Sir Stephen was speaking to BBC Radio Wales in his capacity as president of the Hay Festival as this year's programme was announced. "The greatest living Welshman, perhaps, is going to be there," he said. "I think I can call it that. My friend. I've directed him. I've seen him naked. I've made love to him on screen. Michael Sheen will be there – lovely Michael Sheen. He was in Oscar where I played Oscar Wilde. He described the actor and activist as "an absolute lover of his homeland".

"His greatest ambition at the moment is to make a film about Owain Glyndwr and [he has] a love of Port Talbot but he puts his money where his mouth is, literally helping people who are in trouble," said Sir Stephen. Speaking about the recent programme where Sheen wrote off £1m of consumer debt with his own money Sir Stephen said: "I think up to 900 people who get the benefit of the debt that he's bought – I can promise you as as someone has been lucky enough to know him for almost 30 years he doesn't do it for self-aggrandisement. It's a genuine gut love that he has and and a and a feeling how lucky he's been to get the career he has and to share it, I mean literally share it, by doing the Passion play and involving the people in the actual drama and sharing the good fortune monetarily at the time that the steel plant has closed and the traditional work has disappeared yet again in south Wales and I just think that's fantastic."

Sheen has also voiced concerns about arts cuts in Wales and set up the Welsh National Theatre.

Sir Stephen added: "In the wider sense, theatre, cinema, television, performance in the Welsh language and in English but in Wales, addressing Welsh people in Welsh subjects – these are the ways that ideas get promoted and they become reality. They become politics. They change people's lives.

"I think the Welsh have always punched above their weight when it comes to to understanding the importance of all the arts, whether it's poetry or music, in the great tradition of the Eisteddfod and Bardic tradition, and also making a nuisance of yourselves, which is what artists do. Artists bite the hand that feeds them.

"They don't lie down and shut up. And at a time when political protest seems, if not useless, it seems incoherent and perhaps not led by anybody in particular the voice of artists and actors and performers and singers and songwriters can make a real difference. They can inspire the young to think harder about the world they were born into, and how they would like it to be, and to convey to our political so-called masters when we're not satisfied and when we think things should be better.

"The other thing that art does, like sport actually, is it can give pride where very little else can pride in identity and self and in language and in history and heritage. I think that's really important. At Hay we're always very concerned to make sure that Wales is more than represented but is kind of very much at the centre of the conversations that are had there."

BONUS:

[david-tennant-in-chairs]

There can be no Crowley without Aziraphale, and there can't be an Aziraphale without Crowley...and they wouldn't have come to life in such an ineffably wonderful way without these two

Source: aziracrowdaily on TikTok

[llyfrenfys]

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT Y DDRAIG TRAWS!

Certainly! I'm more than happy to oblige.

First though I'm gonna need to tldr: the history of Y Ddraig Goch before we get onto the (accidentally) canonically trans part.

A brief history of Y Ddraig Goch:

(The modern Welsh flag)

Y Ddraig Goch first appears in the tales of the Mabinogi (Charlotte Guest version) in the tale of Lludd and Llefelys where it is fighting a white dragon. The fight is also described/expanded upon in the c. 829 AD text Historia Brittonum (attributed to Nennius) - where the red dragon represents Wales and the white dragon represents the Anglo-Saxons. In the story the red dragon triumphs over the white. Of course, Geoffrey of Monmouth also covers the story c. 1136 in Historia Regnum Brittaniae in which he introduces the concept of the red dragon heralding the arrival of King Arthur.

Geoffrey of Monmouth claims Arthur used a banner featuring a golden dragon. But we also know the accuracy of Monmouth can be questionable at times. Owain Glyndŵr did use a banner with a golden dragon called Y Ddraig Aur - raised in 1401 at Caernarfon - Glyndŵr chose this banner as a nod to the supposed banner of Arthur and his father.

Later on the Tudor monarchs (being a Welsh family) adopted a red dragon on a white and green background in their heraldry. Eventually Y Ddraig Goch on a white and green background became the official badge of Wales in 1800. The design became the official flag of Wales in 1959.

Y Ddraig Traws:

Now for the thing you're all here for -

So, as outlined, the history of the dragon as a national symbol of Wales goes back a long way. If we're just talking post-1959, there's some interesting implications for Y Ddraig Goch's depiction.

This is what the Welsh flag (and Y Ddraig Goch) looked like in 1959 when it was officially adopted as the flag of Wales. It looks broadly the same as the first flag and has some common features - such as not having a penis (or, as in the correct heraldic terminology - a pizzle). Meanwhile, in the arms of the Tudors (specifically Henry VII)

(Tudor dragon with pizzle) vs (dragon on the flag of Cardiff - pizzleless)

the penis is almost always included. So much to the point that the present royal family still includes the penis. While pretty much 0 depictions of the dragon in Wales include a penis. So you could interpret this as the dragon is seen as male only by the British royal family and as female everywhere else (which kinda implies that at some point the Tudor dragon had an mtf transition in Wales and she keeps getting misgendered by the royal family every time she is depicted in (mostly) England).

So much to the point that in 1995 this pound coin was made by the Royal Mint featuring the pizzle on the dragon with all four feet touching the ground as opposed to standing up (passant rather than rampant).

But in Wales you'd be hard pressed to see a pizzled dragon anywhere. Ergo, we can only conclude Y Ddraig Goch is trans and she transitioned in Wales and keeps getting misgendered in England.

[note: This is mostly tongue in cheek - but I do think it's fun to extrapolate that the Welsh dragon is trans because of the differences in depiction between Wales and England. Like many things Welsh, it is misrepresented by England and the idea of the Welsh dragon being misgendered only in England is, I think, a good metaphor for a whole lot of English treatment of Wales.]

Unrelatedly, there is a gay Welsh flag held at the National Museum of Wales which has a very wonky dragon which I find very endearing.

(cleaned up version I made)

So much so I made it an emoji in my Welsh bilingual LGBTQIA+ Discord (requirements for joining are - be 16+, either speak or are learning Welsh and identify as LGBTQIA+ in some way. Dm for link!).

(triaist ti 'you tried' emoji)

~ Completely unrelatedly ~ never forget the time someone was trying to homophobic to me by suggesting that I was disrespecting all the soldiers who died 'for the Welsh flag' by making it rainbow colours and not red - arguing that any change of colour of the dragon was disrespectful. Reader, my bus pass at the time for Mid Wales Travel had a purple dragon on it.

[velvetyssweetcafe]

for some reason, the results actually turned out pretty well, or maybe better than the sketch ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

[procrastiel]

just woke up and guess what I’m thinking about

[delyth-thomas-art]

BOOP?

[rowynnellis]

This project has been in the works for quite some time with the marvellous team at Eye of Newt Books and is launching very very soon!

[tashthefirst]

Absolutely losing my mind! Michael replied! He cannot know how much things like this mean to fans.

[dragons-daily]

Flag of Wales in the style of the Qing dynasty flag. The flag of the Welsh dynasty if you will.

[pixelplushies]

Taking a break from cows.. it's TY dragon time!

Here we have Y Ddraig Goch beanie baby and beanie buddy, Legend and Dwynwen!

The two Ddraig Goch were picked up on eBay after visiting Wales only to find the new Y Ddraig Goch beanie babies stocked in the gift shops there are very poor quality material now.

Legend is one of my childhood beanies who has stuck with me!

Dwynwen was a new eBay purchase this year (2024)!

[draconesmundi]

Happy Dracones Monday! Ddraig Goch!

Happy Dracones Monday! today's dragon is Ddraig Goch, the red dragon of Wales! This is a small firedrake species, very closely related to the common firedrakes found throughout western Europe, but slightly smaller and far brighter red in colour.

For a new Dracones Mundi dragon every monday, follow @draconesmundi! :3

[david-tennant-in-chairs]

Aww, Jon doesn't want to be left out of the fun. Room for one more, fellas?

Source: aziracrowdaily on TikTok

[spinowolfie]

Cambria! Wales old name!

But for this au or something like that! I want make Cambria to be Wales's father. Because I like that idea and I think it makes much more sense!

Cambria in this au. Is a strong and powerful king, caring about his sons and allies like Caledonia (Scotland old name) and Hibernia (Ireland old name) he cares for them very much and willingly to protect them from the Anglo-Saxon.

type of flag I use for Cambria since there isn't really a flag for him so I use one that fit him. the Welsh Dragon Black Flag Brief History

Legend has it they had it on a piece of cloth attached to a pole. When the wind blew it would make a hissing noise. Which it be cool if he hisses a lot when he angry or grumpy!

He barely shows his face, he hides it under it with a dragon skull to both hide his face and protect his self. The only time he actually show his face was to his sons, Wales and Gwynedd.

Anyways I really happy with this artwork and I might do other two! I already done Anglo-Saxon! And I made Cambria to more dragon like since I want kinda base more on the red/Welsh Dragon!

[toppyflygon]

Yup it that time it the year again! Appreciate a Dragon Day/Dragon appreciate day >:D!

I'm traditional fashion I draw Willis and the y ddraig goch (Welsh Dragon) + bonus sketch based off the art you can find in this post

[procrastiel]

David gets the trophy, Michael gets the kiss

I think we all won.

[delyth-thomas-art]

Smaugust 2024 - Cursed

Do you have some chicken??? And with that here ends smaugust 2024… flop