When it comes to dragons, size is completely subjective to the whims of their origin; whether that be cultural folklore, standard mythology, or the imaginations of the writers and illustrators who bring them to life.
Dragons! And (we) the mere mortals who are insatiably fascinated by these amazing mythical creatures, and perfectly happy to keep on indulging in the tales, games, and movies that shine them in the spotlight.
Having a shared love and curiosity for these scaly wonders, I decided a few years ago to do up my first Dragon Size Comparison Chart. After seeing its popularity with many of you web-wanders and fellow dragon-lovers, and receiving multiple requests for certain dragon sizes, I opted to do a Second Chart.
And the dragon requests kept coming in!
And so, after finishing the draft of my forth novel this year, I set aside some time to research, measure, sketch and silhouette another set of dragons for you to enjoy!
- Just as a disclaimer, the human silhouette I use is a 6′ 3″ man (the average height of the human-like hemlans in my fantasy series).
- Another disclaimer: these dragon size charts are just estimates. I did do research to determine as accurately as possible the sizes of the dragons in comparison to a 6′ 3″ man, but I’m no professional ‘size estimator’, and some dragons were more difficult than others to work out size accuracy (some are never given a specific size by their creator at all).
- Another disclaimer: this is for fun! So I hope you enjoy checking out the new dragon size comparisons. 😀
This time around, I have done up charts for twelve dragons, and how I came about estimating their sizes. AND I have also included right at the end of the post a super large chart containing ALL the dragons from the 3 charts (which also includes Deathwing in both his smaller, and ultimate, sizes).
UPDATE: The latest and greatest dragon news is the addition of my Dragon Size Chart 4! Enjoy!
Now, let’s begin!
Dragon Number One: Spike (TV Series, My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic)
SPIKE
Coming in first, is Twilight Sparkle’s best little bud, Spike. Helpful and playful, even if a bit sarcastic and mean-spirited (on occasion), Spike is a fan favourite in the remake Pony franchise; and why would he not be? He’s just so cute!
Spike was reasonably easy to size because they are plenty of shots with him standing next to his pony friends. For the stickler, the trouble comes in the form of determining the exact size of the Ponies. I checked out a few forums … and couldn’t believe the amount of arguing going back and forth about the exact height of the Ponies. In the end, I went with Twilight averaging in at 3″2′, making Spike roughly 2″0′ (or 2″6′ if you include his head cone).
Dragon Number Two: Elliot (Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, 2016 Remake)
ELLIOT
I don’t know everyone’s opinion on the remake of Pete’s Dragon, but I personally thought it was wonderful. And I loved Elliot! Like a giant, furry, canine-hybrid, Elliot’s new look, as well as his personality (loyal, friendly, fiercely protective, and intelligent) have surely won the hearts of many dragon-lovers the world over. He has certainly won mine. And he was easy to size, too. I used the below reference picture for inspiration (taking into account Pete’s smaller eleven-year-old size).
Dragon Number Three: Dragon (Shrek Movie Series)
DRAGON
Having missed out on a place in the first two charts (by a small margin), I couldn’t deny Dragon a spot in this chart. Both fierce and adoring, Dragon plays a major role in the Shrek series, both as an antagonist, a love interest, a mount, and a supporting character (gosh, Dragon is a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades, isn’t she!). I was surprised by her size when I worked it out (taking into account Shrek is between 7-8 feet tall, compared to my human silhouette of 6″3′). She looks quite large, but I think that has to do more with her rotund ‘fruity’ shape, than actual bulk and bone. Still, you wouldn’t want her to sit on you!
Dragon Number Four: Drogon (TV Series, A Game of Thrones; Season 7)
DROGON
Having done Drogon at his size in Season 4, I received a request to upgrade him to his most current size (as he appears in Season 7). So, I happily obliged! He may not be the biggest dragon in this chart series, but he is one of the fiercest-looking, and quite fearsome all-round if you ask me. An awesome and terrifying creature, indeed. I used the reference screen shot of Drogon’s head next to Jon Snow, to help me work out the dragons’ size. Thanks Jon!
Dragon Number Five: Nicol Bolas (Magic, The Gathering)
NICOL BOLAS
The planeswalker Nicol Bolas is the most powerful of the five Elder Dragons to have survived the Dragon War, and is considered one of the most powerful planewalkers of the MTG multiverse; which, of course, MTG fans would already be aware. But I haven’t played MTG, so I had to go to wiki for help with information, and google for reference pictures.
Now, in the MTG worlds, it’s clear that size is no reflection of power. Nicol Bolas is not what you would call a significantly ‘large’ dragon; in fact, his physique is deceptively slender and agile. But obviously, you’d be a fool to underestimate him. He is irrefutably one of the baddest Big Bads in Magic, The Gathering. Adventurers, you have been warned …
Dragon Number Six: Shenron (Dragon Ball Franchise, DB, DBZ, DBGT, DBS)
SHENRON
Ah, good ol’ Dragon Ball. A part of my childhood was spent enthralled with Dragon Ball Z alongside my younger brother; fun times, and good memories. I also saw some of GT, but Z was my favourite. And of course, the creature that plays a pivotal role in the series is the dragon that can grant your wish if you gather all seven Dragon Balls: Shenron the Eternal Dragon.
Shenron was hard to size; the reason being the inconsistency of his size during different summonings (I think the difference lies in the length of his tail; it appears to keep growing out of the Dragon Balls for the duration of his summoning).
In the end, I just had to pick a size that was reasonable as far as being able to fit on the standard dragon size chart compilation. So, while the head and body of my Shenron silhouette is roughly accurate, the tail is not; in reality, it would be several times the given length.
Dragon Number Seven: Igneel (Anime Series, Fairy Tail)
IGNEEL
Igneel, the ‘Fire Dragon King’, and foster father to one of the main protagonists of the series: Natsu Dragneel. Igneel is described as fatherly and protective, but also brash, fiery-tempered and arrogant. I’ve started watching the Fairy Tail series, but haven’t gotten to the episode where Igneel makes an appearance. Nevertheless, I know he is a catalyst for important plot arcs in the series, so I felt he deserved a place in my Dragon Size Chart collection. One of the reference pictures I used was this (taking into account that Natsu in this shot is just a child):
Dragon Number Eight: Tiamat (Dungeons & Dragons)
TIAMAT
Tiamat is a supremely powerful 5-headed dragonic goddess from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game; also named one of the greatest villains in D&D history. Whew! I guess she ranks up there with Nicol Bolas for the gold title of Big Bad. The difference is, Tiamat is much larger in size by comparison!
Tiamat was a bit tricky to estimate in size; though google had plenty of fan and concept art, very few had human-sized figures in good ratio (the Neverwinter Online shots I found were not very useful). The best reference picture I used to help me was this one:
Dragon Number Nine: Naydra (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)
NAYDRA
I could go on and on (and on) about how much I love Breath of the Wild. The same feeling of awe and wonder I got as a child playing LoZ: Ocarina of Time for the first time (a feeling I never thought I’d be able to feel again), returned to me in flood-like proportions during my play-through of this game. So, naturally, I had to add one of the three Spring Guardians to my latest Dragon Chart. I chose Naydra, the guardian of the Spring of Wisdom.
There were plenty of reference pictures for this dragon. Heck, I could just as easily turn the game on in my lounge room and find the dragon myself. But it actually turned out to be quite difficult to estimate. For one, the dragons are really long, and really big … and you can’t get too close to them or you’ll be zapped/ burned/ frozen by their awesomeness. Plus, Link (the protagonist), is actually quite a short, wiry little hylian, so I had to take into account his smaller stature, too.
These are the reference pictures I used (the Wisdom Shrine with Naydra in view, and the Wisdom Shrine with Link in view, and of course a good long-distance shot).
Yeah … these dragons are LOOOOOONG!!!
Dragon Number Ten: King Ghidorah (Godzilla Franchise/ MonsterVerse)
KING GHIDORAH
Time to step into the big leagues. King Ghidorah is one of the ultimate city-destroying monsters of fiction. His original origin story pinned him as an extraterrestrial, planet-killing dragon (yikes!), and 2019 will see the silver screen shine fire and gold as Ghidorah takes on Godzilla in the next Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse installment: Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I, for one, am really looking forward to it!
This is the reference picture I used to help me, although I also took into account the size of the newest Godzilla design (slightly larger than the Godzilla shown), and estimated Ghidorah as being slighter larger, too.
Dragon Number Eleven: Eminroth (Dragon Calling series)
EMINROTH
Eminroth is one of the four creatures guarding the energy-stabilizing towers called the Beacon Thrones. Though he is not technically a dragon (he is a serpentine drake), I wanted to add him to the chart because of his awesome size … and his general awesomeness. Eminroth makes his entrance in Book 3 of the series, and what an entrance it is! He is caught in a sand hurricane, but his body is so huge it creates its own vortexes; a storm within a storm.
* Reference pic? Don’t need one. This beauty is my own creation. I know exactly how big he is! Can you see the speck next to his front claws? Yep … that’s a person.
Dragon Number Twelve: Ancalagon (The Silmarillion)
ANCALAGON
Also known as Ancalagon the Black … there is no contest, Ancalagon is the biggest dragon in fiction history! He is so large that his creator, J. R. R. Tolkien, never specified his size, other than being so colossal that when he was felled his body destroyed the towers of Thangorodrim (which were described in the book as three smoking peaks of the mountain). So yeah. He destroyed a substantial part of a mountain range.
He is/ was a great dragon of Middle-Earth, a fire-drake, the same as Smaug … but poor ol’ Smaug is a worm by comparison. And since Smaug was already quite large compared to a man … well, you just might be able to spot the human silhouette in the chart if you look really hard. I used the reference picture below to help me establish a size that would qualify as truly ‘colossal’.
Full Chart Part One:
Full Chart Part Two (because they were TOO BIG to fit into the other one, and even then, Ancalagon still doesn’t fit):
Ultimate Chart (charts 1, 2&3 – so everyone can fit, including Ancalagon!):
And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed the next installment of my dragon size project! But to be sure, there are many more dragons out there! Who are some of your favourites? Which dragons would you like to see in future charts?
Whims from Valadae 
What about Toothless’ size for HTTYD 2?
Looking at size comparisons between Hiccup & Toothless in HTTYD 1 vs HTTYD 2, there’s not a whole lot of difference in Toothless’ size. He may have grown a little, but not enough to re-do his size on the charts. 😉
And the Hungarian Horntail?
Hungarian Horntail was on the list of dragons considered; only missed out by a narrow margin. If I do another chart in the future, I’ll have to add it! 🙂
Which chart it was?
The Horntail was one of the candidates for my Second Dragon Size Chart, but it ended up not making the final list. If I end up doing a 4th Chart, the Horntail will likely be on it. 🙂
I want to know how big Temeraire is compared to toothless, Temeraire is part of a book sires i am reading, but he is not on this chart, there are many dragons of different sizes in those books, they are really good reading.
Hi Yuzuki! Thanks for the recommendation. Do you know what the book series is called? That way I can find out more info about Temeraire.
Coming to the game a bit late but am a big fan of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. The first book is His Majesty’s Dragon. I suggest https://www.deviantart.com/dargonxks/art/Temeraire-Size-Chart-WIP-318816494 for a good reference. Temeraire himself is the black dragon second from the left.
Hmm there’s a second chart that is also good. https://www.deviantart.com/shadowind/art/Dragon-Breeds-Size-Refrence-151176824
The series is alternate history — basically the Napoleonic wars plus dragons. The largest would carry 20-40 troops into battle, with swords, rifles, and bombs. They also could ferry cannons and larger numbers of troops, using harness or belly netting. After a shipwreck, Temeraire carried 200 men in his belly netting across the ocean for 2-3 days trying to find land.
Sad you left out the Divinity:Dragon Commander dragons again 😛
Still, always cool to see another one of these.
Sorry the Divinity Dragons missed out again. It’s hard when there are so many dragons, and only a limited number to stick to in order for a chart to work (and not be too crowded). Hopefully I remember to put them as a priority, if I get around to doing a 4th chart in the future. 🙂
How about the Super Shenron?
What about Super Shenron and Jörmungandr (Midgard Serpent)?
And is that Grayish-tannish Deathwing his ultimate size compared to the smaller Dark magenta version below him?
Some great suggestions! I’ll happily put them on the table of possibilities for if/ when I do another Dragon Chart. 🙂
Would you also possibly add the Ruined Dragon (from Super Mario Odyssey) too?
Oh, that’s a great recommendation! Thank you! RD was such a cool addition to the Mario universe (actually everything about Odyssey was amazing).
Might want to avoid Super Shenron, he’s somewhere between 100 million and 10 billion light years long. I don’t think a comparison you could see in relation exists
How about Shooting Star, one of the ancient dragons in Record of Lodoss War? He’s a massive puppy, one that dad would never allow me to bring home.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve actually never heard of Record of Lodoss War until now. I’m very curious!
What about Balerion?
I’m pretty sure perspective is throwing off your size comparison for Nicol Bolas. Check http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=430702 for what I think is the only time we’ve ever seen Nicol Bolas and a humanoid touching each other in MtG artwork. His nail’s easily a couple feet long.
Thanks for sharing the info, and the link! Again, the card image is skewed by an interesting perspective (favouring Nicol Bolas), so its hard to truly gauge his size; though looking at the card it’s more than likely he is a little bigger than what my chart indicates.
Thanks again for finding this; it’s great to know!
I love these size charts. As someone who enjoys designing dragons, these are some good references for just how big some can be. And man, the Bewilderbeast looks TINY compared to a lot of these dragons!
Thank you, King Myth! That’s one of things I love about dragons; they are so diverse! And yeah, the Bewilderbeast is already enormous … and then you dig into other stories and universes and discover even BIGGER dragons!
The charts are such low quality images that you can’t read anything when you make them bigger… please upload a proper quality version
Hi Evan, Just letting you know that all the charts from my dragon charts are already uploaded to high quality. WordPress compresses the images, because of their large size, which is why (if you are trying to zoom in on them via the blog page) they seem so small and blurry. If you want a better look, just google ‘dragon size chart’ images, and my charts will be among the top choices, AND in their original sizes. 🙂 Hope that helps.
Small Deathwing is actually much larger. Blizzard states that he has a 1200ft/365m wingspan in the cinematic. https://twitter.com/warcraft/status/823540193433186305?lang=en. Cinematic version is before he increased in size again. Using an in game model size is usually not accurate for WoW because everything is scaled down size wise in game. Since King Ghidorah is 460 ft tall, Deathwing’s main body should be of similar size(his wings are very very long compared to his main body). That would make him very similar in size to his larger size, which then is also probably too small.
Thanks for the insight, Ryan! It’s been many years since I played WoW, and I never really delved deeply into the lore of it all. If I get spare time, I will re-size Deathwing. 🙂
Great comparison!
But I have to say that Shenlong definitively has to be bigger. He looks like he has the same size as Drogon, but Shenlong is clearly a “godlike” creature. Moreover, you could add “Super Shenlong”, which is kinda a Shenlong for gods. His size is bigger than many galaxies, so it would be fun.
Another Idea is to add “Kaido” from the best selled manga One Piece.
The Neverending Story has a dog-like dragon called Falkor. It is small but a childhood memory. You can also sit on him when you are in Munich.
Hi Joel, thanks for checking out my dragon charts!
Shenron was tricky, as he changes sizes during his different summonings; especially his tail.
Haha, Super Shenron would be INSANE!!! Basically just borrow a pic NASA has taken of some galexies, and stick Shenron across them all, lol.
Kaido is an interesting suggestion; his dragon form is awesome!
As for Falcor, I’ve already charted him here: https://dragoncalling.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/dragon-size-chart/
No problem. It seems that madness Deathwing would be of similar size to Ancalagon on the chart. Ancalagon though seems a bit small for having destroyed 3 peaks of a mountain upon death. Some other helpful references: Smaug was designed to be 130m/426 ft long dragon which seems a bit large, but he just has a really long neck and a really long tail https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/behind-the-scenes-of-weta-digitals-smaug/. Also Drogon is said to be the size of a Boeing 747 in season 8 https://ew.com/tv/2017/03/16/game-of-thrones-season-7-dragons/.
How did you get the size for Nicol Bolas?
Also, where would deathwing from World of Warcraft fit in this chart?
Hi Shirhytop,
Nicol Bolas was hard to size. There is a lot of artwork of him on the internet, but not much in the way of his size compared to humanoid beings. The closest image was the one I put up on the blog as an example. But there is also a MtG card called Gideon’s Defeat, that has Nicol Bolas’ claw touching a man; that’s one of the only images found that could be used to help reference his size. I updated his size, based on the MtG card, but in the end all my charts are just estimates. I don’t think I can ever get truly accurate with all the dragons I size. 🙂
As for Deathwing, I did his smaller In-game size on my previous chart: Dragon Size Chart 2 (https://dragoncalling.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/dragon-size-chart-2/). But I also added his larger size onto the Ultimate Chart I added at the bottom of the Dragon Size Chart 3 post. Again, he was another difficult-to-size dragon, due to the fact that he changes sizes.
liked it! i also would recommend Aldron from Fairy Tail: 100 years quest. i knew Igneel was in the comparison, but i assume you’re looking for the dragonic figure of significance, and then the biggest dragon. Aldron is quite new; he’s just introduced, but i believe his size changes everyone’s perspective about dragons in the series.
maybe also Yazmat, the boss with the most HP in Final Fantasy XII. his figure is really imposing, and his powers are mighty it might take some people hours to beat him.
Thanks so much for your suggestions, Lou! I love hearing about new and interesting dragons. I played FF XII a few years back, but never encountered Yazmat; and probably never would have even TRIED to beat him; I would have been too scared, lol.
How about Dragon King Derous from Toriko? 4000 meters tall and god knows how long, it can tower over a mountain range.
Hi, I know I’m late, but would you update this chart based on this (the Monsterverse Ghidorah is still 521 feet (~159 (158.8) m tall, but now we have an accurate silhouette of it): https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/49761324e909f7c54925c6677fb0e58b/5E45EEAF/t51.2885-15/e35/70811295_151041639433190_6505371878851175289_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=102
Hi Moldovan,
Thanks for checking out my dragon charts! But I reckon there’s is no need to update Ghidorah, as my silhouette of him is actually a blend of the older style and the new monsterverse look. I draw all the silhouettes myself, see, which takes a surprising amount of time to do, so I’m not keen to re-drawn anything unless I’ve made a major error. Re-sizing, though I am happy to do, if recommendations of more accurate findings are brought my way. But his size (thankfully) has remained relatively the same in both the old AND new versions. That’s a pretty cool silhouette of the new Ghidorah, though! 🙂
I don’t know, while I agree that it’s similar overall, there are still some changes that I consider major enough (wing shape, comparatively smaller head size, longer neck, and a lenaer body that is smaller compared to the wings than in the older versions).
Speaking of Ghidorah, can you PLEEEEASE do a detailed drawing/artwork of your silhouette? from what I can see, your design looks AWESOME and I would LOVE to see what he actually looks like!
Hi Noah,
Thanks for the compliment! Doing a fully detailed design of the dragons would be so cool! If I ever get the time to work on something like that, I might just take up your suggestion. 🙂
I can’t believe I did not add another dragon that I just found out as seen in Warcraft, more recently in Hearthstone, an ancient dragon at is also just as large, but couldn’t tell its size, it’s Galakrond.
I forgot again, I remember there also Dragon Lord Torch, a big dragon as seen in My Little Pony, Spike is tiny compare to Torch, Ember, his daughter is still a small dragon though a bit taller than Spike.
More great suggestions; thanks heaps, Arrowghost! 🙂
Eliott, the original 1977 one.
Ludmilla, Bartok the Magnificent
Cynder.
Anyone from Dragon Tales
And I think Spike is easy enough, as there are several versions of him, and they don’t change much. I think we can presume 1984 and 2010 are virtually the same.
This is amazing! Good work!
Would it be possible to add Balerion the Black Dread from Game of Thrones!
Comparing the greatest dragon of Ice and Fire to the monster that is Ancalagon would be amazing
Thank you, Spartanr981!
If I ever decide to do a 4th dragon chart, Balerion would make an awesome addition. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂
Hi again, will you make a size comparison of Red Death (from HTTYD 1) sometime? Also, here’s a full silhouette of the Monsterverse/Legendary Ghidorah just in case (the second picture in the link): https://www.instagram.com/p/B7OvgFTguYH/
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the suggestion, and the link! I have no plans to do another chart anytime soon, but if I (eventually) do another chart, Red Death is a great option to add! 🙂
How about the dragons from Wings of Fire?
Hi Queen Scarlet,
Oh, yes! The dragonets and some of the other characters would go great on a cross-over dragon chart! If I ever compile another chart in the future, I’ll definitely consider adding some of them!
This is awesome! By chance, do you have each dragon’s sizes in feet or meters? or… miles? haha.
Hi Noltron000! Thanks for the compliment. Sadly I don’t have the sizes of the dragons in any sort of numbered measurement. My charts are only estimates, although I did work hard to get them as close to their original sizes as I could. Some people are pretty pedantic about ‘exactness’ when it comes to the sizes. I only did the charts for fun, so avoided added feet/ metre measurements in order to avoid arguments. 🙂
Although … I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say you could measure Ancalagon in miles! 😉
There’s a huge dragon in fiction that’s often overlooked in these charts, one that even dwarfs Ancalagon. That dragon is the ‘Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon’ from the 1968 book ‘The Iron Man’ (which the movie The Iron Giant is based on). This space dragon is so big that when it lands on Earth it covers the entirety of Australia.
You can read about it here https://irongiant.fandom.com/wiki/The_Iron_Man.
Anyway, great work on the chart!
There’s a huge dragon in fiction that’s often overlooked in these charts, one that even dwarfs Ancalagon. That dragon is the ‘Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon’ from the 1968 book ‘The Iron Man’ (which the movie The Iron Giant is based on). This space dragon is so big that when it lands on Earth it covers the entirety of Australia.
You can read about it here https://irongiant.fandom.com/wiki/The_Iron_Man.
Anyway, great work on the chart!
Hi Dharleth,
Thanks for taking the time to comment and showcasing another cool dragon. I really enjoy finding out about different dragons, and Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon sounds truly frightening! haha, imagine trying to fit him on a dragon chart!
p.s. I love The Iron Giant movie!!!
p.s.s Thanks for sharing the link!
In case you are still working on the 4th installment, here’s a new dragon which I only notice when I began playing Legends of Runeterra since its launch, and League of Legends for many. Have you heard of Aurelion Sol? And I thought Ancalagon the Black is the largest dragon in fiction history, but it pales to compare against Aurelion Sol’s 26.4 million km long body, he’s not made of flesh, but a Celestial Dragon, his size is already as large as the star, Aldebaran at 30.701 million km
Could you do Balerion from Game of Thrones, or the Hungarian Horntail from Harry Potter.
Hi MJ,
Thanks for sending through your suggestions! I don’t plan on doing another chart (at least for a long while), so Balerion misses out; BUT I have done the Hungarian Horntail over on my Dragon Size Chart 4. 🙂