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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Played with in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode trilogy [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E4Dragonfire "Dragonfire"]] which has Mel and the Doctor go hunting for a rumored treasure that supposedly is guarded by a dragon below the surface of the ice planet Svartos. The reality turns out somewhat different.
[[/folder]]
* Played with in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode trilogy [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E4Dragonfire "Dragonfire"]] which has Mel and the Doctor go hunting for a rumored treasure that supposedly is guarded by a dragon below the surface of the ice planet Svartos. The reality turns out somewhat different.
[[/folder]]
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* The mockumentary ''DragonsAFantasyMadeReal'' claims that dragons are naturally attracted to shiny objects and may collect hoards of such items, more or less valuable, to allure potential mates.
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* ChineseMythology: A few types of dragon dwell underground, guarding treasures.
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': The dragon is attracted by gold and makes his home on a treasure hidden in a barrow -- because that is how dragons roll.
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': The dragon is attracted by gold and makes his home on a treasure hidden in a barrow -- because that is how dragons roll.
to:
** [[http://www.ciffciaff.org/en/content/book-iv/fox-and-dragon „The Fox and the Dragon“]], a BeastFable by Phaedrus (c. 50 AD), testifies a Roman folk belief that dragons guard buried treasure as a natural instinct.
* ChineseMythology:A few types of dragon dwell The ''fucanglong'' or "hidden treasure dragon" lives underground, guarding treasures.
both man-made treasure as well as natural deposits of precious stone or metal. They are also held responsible for volcanism.
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': The dragon is attracted by gold and makes his home on a treasure hidden in a barrow -- because that is how dragons roll. There is also a reference to another dragon hoard won by the dragonslayer Sigemund [sic] by killing a dragon in a cave.
* ChineseMythology:
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': The dragon is attracted by gold and makes his home on a treasure hidden in a barrow -- because that is how dragons roll. There is also a reference to another dragon hoard won by the dragonslayer Sigemund [sic] by killing a dragon in a cave.
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* In the BeastFable [[http://www.ciffciaff.org/en/content/book-iv/fox-and-dragon „The Fox and the Dragon“]] by Phaedrus (c. 50 AD), a fox discovers a dragon guarding a gold hoard in an underground cavern. When the fox wonders why anyone would waste his life in this way, the dragon admits there is no point to his behavior other than that it is what Jupiter and the Fates have assigned to him. The moral then draws an explicit parallel between human avarice and miserliness and the pointless gold-hoarding of the dragon.
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* ''ReignOfFire'': When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating, the walls are covered by pyrite... or possibly gold. We don't get long enough to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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* ''ReignOfFire'': ''Film/ReignOfFire'': When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating, the walls are covered by pyrite... or possibly gold. We don't get long enough to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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* In ''TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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* In ''TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', ''Literature/TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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Polishing style.
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This trope seems to be especially ingrained in Germanic Mythology -- in fact it is hard to find a dragon in ancient Anglo-Saxon, German or [[NorseMythology Norse legends]] that ''doesn't'' guard gold. Curiously, there is no consensus as to ''why'' dragons do this. [[JustifiedTrope Justifications]] in-story for why a dragon sits on a hoard, including backstories of how hoard and dragon came together, vary considerably.
to:
This trope seems to be is especially ingrained in Germanic Mythology -- in fact it is hard to find a dragon in ancient Anglo-Saxon, German or [[NorseMythology Norse legends]] that ''doesn't'' guard gold. Curiously, there is no consensus as to ''why'' dragons do this. [[JustifiedTrope Justifications]] in-story for why a dragon sits on a hoard, including backstories of how hoard and dragon came together, vary considerably.
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People have also long noticed that dragons have no apparent use for treasure: they cannot spend, wear or process it. Dragons, it was concluded, must be pathologically avaricious and stingy (kinda like a species of compulsive hoarders with a MoneyFetish). In fact, up to the 17th century, dragons were considered the emblematic representation of {{Greed}}.
The symbolic association of dragons with greed, combined with their preference for gold, makes that dragon hoards coincide with a certain regularity with outbreaks of GoldFever.
Treasure-hoarding dragons, once common, became [[ForgottenTrope increasingly forgotten]] in the age of ChivalricRomance: For a KnightInShiningArmor, fighting for so mundane a reward as treasure was no longer deemed noble enough. Hence gold-hoarding dragons were largely superseded by the princess-stealing ones, until the trope was revived by {{Fantasy}} literature, especially through the influence of ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
The symbolic association of dragons with greed, combined with their preference for gold, makes that dragon hoards coincide with a certain regularity with outbreaks of GoldFever.
Treasure-hoarding dragons, once common, became [[ForgottenTrope increasingly forgotten]] in the age of ChivalricRomance: For a KnightInShiningArmor, fighting for so mundane a reward as treasure was no longer deemed noble enough. Hence gold-hoarding dragons were largely superseded by the princess-stealing ones, until the trope was revived by {{Fantasy}} literature, especially through the influence of ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
to:
People have also long noticed that dragons have no apparent use for treasure: they cannot spend, wear or process it. Dragons, it was concluded, must be pathologically avaricious and stingy (kinda -- kinda like a species of compulsive hoarders with a MoneyFetish).MoneyFetish. In fact, up to the 17th century, dragons were considered the emblematic representation of {{Greed}}.
Thesymbolic association of dragons with greed, combined with their preference for gold, makes that dragon hoards coincide with a certain regularity with outbreaks of GoldFever.
Treasure-hoarding dragons, once common, became [[ForgottenTrope increasingly forgotten]] in the age of ChivalricRomance: For a KnightInShiningArmor, fighting for so mundane a reward as treasure was no longer deemed noble enough. Hence gold-hoarding dragons were largely superseded by the [[DragonsPreferPrincesses princess-stealingones, ones]], until the trope was revived by {{Fantasy}} literature, especially through the influence of ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
The
Treasure-hoarding dragons, once common, became [[ForgottenTrope increasingly forgotten]] in the age of ChivalricRomance: For a KnightInShiningArmor, fighting for so mundane a reward as treasure was no longer deemed noble enough. Hence gold-hoarding dragons were largely superseded by the [[DragonsPreferPrincesses princess-stealing
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* In ''ReignOfFire'' When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating the walls are covered by Pyrite...or possibly gold. We didn't get long to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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* In ''ReignOfFire'' ''ReignOfFire'': When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating hibernating, the walls are covered by Pyrite...pyrite... or possibly gold. We didn't don't get long enough to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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* In ''Literature/TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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* In ''Literature/TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', ''TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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* In the game ''BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.
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* In the game ''BlazingDragons'' ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.
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* In the game ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.
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* In the game ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'' ''BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.person.
* The knight in ''VideoGame/TheCave'' has to fetch the gold from the dragon and give it to the princess in order to get her amulet to give to the king to pull the sword from the stone. Things don't go quite as planned....
* The knight in ''VideoGame/TheCave'' has to fetch the gold from the dragon and give it to the princess in order to get her amulet to give to the king to pull the sword from the stone. Things don't go quite as planned....
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* In JoWalton's ''Tooth and Claw'' (an Creator/AnthonyTrollope pastiche [[InSpace With Dragons!]]), dragons have a natural instinct to sleep on piles of hoarded gold. Unfortunately, one cannot do this and invest one's gold in the stock market at the same time.
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* In JoWalton's Creator/JoWalton's ''Tooth and Claw'' (an Creator/AnthonyTrollope pastiche [[InSpace With Dragons!]]), dragons have a natural instinct to sleep on piles of hoarded gold. Unfortunately, one cannot do this and invest one's gold in the stock market at the same time.
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* In the game ''BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.
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* In the game ''BlazingDragons'' ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.
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* In the game ''BlazingDragons'' all the dragons eat gems which annoys the evil King George no end. However they're not fixated on them living lives just like a normal person.
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* In JoWalton's ''Tooth and Claw'' (an Creator/AnthonyTrollope pastiche [[InSpace With Dragons!]]), dragons have a natural instinct to sleep on piles of hoarded gold. Unfortunately, one cannot do this and invest one's gold in the stock market at the same time.
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* In ''{{VideoGame/RuneScape}}'', many dragon lairs are littered with piles of gold.
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* A quest for a fabled Dragon Hoard provides the main plot in ''Literature/TheDragonHoard'' by Tanith Lee.
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* A quest for a fabled Dragon Hoard (inspired by the Golden Fleece, and likewise a case of the dragon being hired to guard a royal treasure) provides the main plot in ''Literature/TheDragonHoard'' by Tanith Lee.Lee. The trope is also parodied in a story-within-the-story that includes a dragon who can't hoard gold because he's allergic to it.
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* In ''Literature/TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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* In ''TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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* In the French parodic literature series ''Kalon le Barbare'', it is stated that only male dragons build hoards, to attract females. It's only revealed after the "heroes" spent a whole chapter fighting a dragon that turned out to be female, and thus had no hoard of her own, much to their disappointment.
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* In the French parodic literature series ''Kalon le Barbare'', ''Literature/KalonLeBarbare'', it is stated that only male dragons build hoards, to attract females. It's only revealed after the "heroes" spent a whole chapter fighting a dragon that turned out to be female, and thus had no hoard of her own, much to their disappointment.
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* In the ''Literature/JWWellsAndCo'' series, dragons often appear in the vaults of banks, which is why companies like J.W. Wells find it useful to keep a "pest control specialist" in their employ.
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* In the ''Literature/JWWellsAndCo'' series, dragons often appear in the vaults of banks, which is why companies like J.W. Wells find it useful and lucrative to keep a "pest control specialist" in their employ.
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* In the French parodic literatur series ''Kalon le Barbare'', it is stated that only male dragons build hoards, to attract females. It's only revealed after the "heroes" spent a whole chapter fighting a dragon that turned out to be female, and thus had no hoard of her own.
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* In the French parodic literatur literature series ''Kalon le Barbare'', it is stated that only male dragons build hoards, to attract females. It's only revealed after the "heroes" spent a whole chapter fighting a dragon that turned out to be female, and thus had no hoard of her own.own, much to their disappointment.
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* In ''TheMunchkinsGuideToPowerGaming'', one of the suggested methods for dealing with a dragon is pretending you're the IRS come to audit its hoard. "[[IntimidatingRevenueService Even dragons don't mess with the IRS. It's suicide.]]"
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* In the French parodic literatur series ''Kalon le Barbare'', it is stated that only male dragons build hoards, to attract females. It's only revealed after the "heroes" spent a whole chapter fighting a dragon that turned out to be female, and thus had no hoard of her own.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* Wiki/SCPFoundation: [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1779 SCP-1779]] are tiny reptiles which feed only on coins and make their nests out of them. They can grow to really big sizes, though...
[[/folder]]
* Wiki/SCPFoundation: [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1779 SCP-1779]] are tiny reptiles which feed only on coins and make their nests out of them. They can grow to really big sizes, though...
[[/folder]]
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* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a handful of dragons based on this trope, including [[http://magiccards.info/ud/en/80.html Covetous Dragon]], [[http://magiccards.info/m11/en/144.html Hoarding Dragon]], [[http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/tcg/products/gtc/njcdxzejfx_en.jpg Hellkite Tyrant]], and [[http://magiccards.info/som/en/93.html Hoard-Smelter Dragon]].
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* A quest for a fabled Dragon Hoard provides the main plot in ''Literature/TheDragonHoard'' by Tanith Lee.
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* In ''Film/ReignOfFire'' When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating the walls are covered by Pyrite...or possibly gold. We didn't get long to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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* In ''Film/ReignOfFire'' ''ReignOfFire'' When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating the walls are covered by Pyrite...or possibly gold. We didn't get long to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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* In ''Film/ReignOfFire'' When the young Quinn first stumbles into where the dragon is hibernating the walls are covered by Pyrite...or possibly gold. We didn't get long to look at it before all the burning and the death starts.
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Moved over from Pooled Funds. The link is dead.
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* The animated ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'' movie shows Smaug sleeping on his treasure as if it were a bed.
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* John Gardner's ''Literature/{{Grendel}}'' features a dragon who hoards gold, and advises Grendel that the only point of life is to "find a pile of gold and sit on it."
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The symbolic association of dragons with avarice, combined with their preference for gold, causes that dragon hoards coincide in a certain number of cases with outbreaks of GoldFever.
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The symbolic association of dragons with avarice, greed, combined with their preference for gold, causes makes that dragon hoards coincide in with a certain number of cases regularity with outbreaks of GoldFever.
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* The ''[[Literature/TheSagaOfHalfdanEysteinsson Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson]]'' tells how the viking Valr and his two sons, fleeing from enemies and carrying two chests of gold, jump down into a CaveBehindTheWaterfall where they [[{{Metamorphosis}} „laid themselves on the gold and became flying-dragons.“]] In ''[[Literature/TheSagaOfGoldThorir The Saga of Gold-Thorir]]'', Gold-Thorir and his companions enter the cave and kill the very same dragons to loot the treasure. When, many years later, Gold-Thorir disappears without a trace, it is suggested that he himself has turned into a dragon to guard his riches in some secret hiding-place.
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** In ''The Pilgrims Regress'', "the Northern dragon is so greedy that his anxiety for his gold hardly lets him sleep".
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** In ''The Pilgrims Regress'', ''[[Literature/ThePilgrimsRegress The Pilgrim's Regress]]'', "the Northern dragon is so greedy that his anxiety for his gold hardly lets him sleep".
* In ''Literature/TheForgottenBeastsOfEld'', the dragon Gyld is old and tired and mostly content to live in Sybel's menagerie, but occasionally longs for his old hoard, which ends up causing some trouble.
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* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', all dragons have hoards, although their content varies from species to species. This is reflected by the rules giving them a much larger amount of loot.
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* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', all dragons have hoards, although their content varies from species to species. This is reflected by the rules giving them a much larger amount of loot. Varied with the sand dragons introduced in the 3E supplement ''Sandstorm'': These dragons keep their hoards buried deep beneath the sand, making them extremely difficult to loot.
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* It's explained in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' that dragons are greedy by nature and will hoard things as an instinctive behavior. They also ''eat'' gems.
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* It's explained in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' that dragons are greedy by nature and will hoard things as an instinctive behavior. They also ''eat'' gems. Specific episodes with dragon hoards:
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[[quoteright:250:[[Theatre/RingOfTheNibelung http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rackham_FafnirsHoard_2411.jpg]]]]
->''[The dragon] is driven to hunt out \\
hoards underground, to guard heathen gold \\
throug age-long vigils, though to little avail.''
-->''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' (v. 2275-77)
[[OurDragonsAreDifferent In some settings]], dragons tend to guard hoards of treasure – typically by lying on top of it.
This trope seems to be especially ingrained in Germanic Mythology -- in fact it is hard to find a dragon in ancient Anglo-Saxon, German or [[NorseMythology Norse legends]] that ''doesn't'' guard gold. Curiously, there is no consensus as to ''why'' dragons do this. [[JustifiedTrope Justifications]] in-story for why a dragon sits on a hoard, including backstories of how hoard and dragon came together, vary considerably.
In some ways, hoard-guarding dragons are no different from other treasure guardians: They make sure it isn't too easy for the hero to [[MacGuffinGuardian get at a desired MacGuffin]], and a heap of treasure in itself provides a [[AMacGuffinFullOfMoney convincing motivation]] for a hero to engage in an exciting monster-fight.
Dragons have a peculiarity, though, in that they are especially attached to UsefulNotes/{{gold}}: dragon-hoards almost always contain at least a substantial share of gold. Whatever the reasons, on average dragons show noticeably less interest in other treasures, like silver or even jewels.
People have also long noticed that dragons have no apparent use for treasure: they cannot spend, wear or process it. Dragons, it was concluded, must be pathologically avaricious and stingy (kinda like a species of compulsive hoarders with a MoneyFetish). In fact, up to the 17th century, dragons were considered the emblematic representation of {{Greed}}.
The symbolic association of dragons with avarice, combined with their preference for gold, causes that dragon hoards coincide in a certain number of cases with outbreaks of GoldFever.
Treasure-hoarding dragons, once common, became [[ForgottenTrope increasingly forgotten]] in the age of ChivalricRomance: For a KnightInShiningArmor, fighting for so mundane a reward as treasure was no longer deemed noble enough. Hence gold-hoarding dragons were largely superseded by the princess-stealing ones, until the trope was revived by {{Fantasy}} literature, especially through the influence of ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
In more realistic settings where dragons don't exist, [[{{Demythtification}} large reptiles]] may sometimes be encountered guarding treasures.
May involve a TreasureRoom.
----
!! Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Film]]
* Dragon from ''Film/{{Shrek}}'' sleeps on-top of a mountain of treasure. She doesn't seem that bothered by the collection of treasure in the sequels, though.
* ''Film/TheJungleBook'' (1994): When the ruthless Captain Boone tries to loot the treasure chamber of a lost city, he is eaten by a giant python.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/SagaOfTheJomsvikings'' speculates that a sea-serpent seen at the Norwegian coast is the ghost of the Jomsviking captain Bui, guarding two chests of gold he took with him to his watery grave.
* In the chapter "The King's Ankus" from ''Literature/SecondJungleBook'' by Creator/RudyardKipling, a maharajah's forgotten treasure vault in a lost city is guarded by an unusually large cobra.
* In the works of Creator/JRRTolkien:
** Smaug of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' destroyed the Kingdoms of Lonely Mountain and Dale to rob the kings' treasures. He heaped them up in a vault where he spends most of his time just sleeping on it. This habit also has the advantage that the coins and gems grow into his sticky, glowing hot skin, thus providing him with additional armor.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'': After Glaurung has destroyed the city of Nargothrond, he sweeps all the gold together into a heap and lies down on it to rest for a while.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Éowyn mentions that her ancestor Fram killed "Scatha the Worm" and thus won a hoard which the dragon had robbed from dwarves.
** ''Literature/FarmerGilesOfHam'' has the dragon Chrysophylax Dives ("Gold-watcher the Rich"), whose cave contains fantastical riches of all sorts. How the got all that stuff is never explained, nor does anyone ever ask.
* In the works of Creator/CSLewis:
** In ''The Pilgrims Regress'', "the Northern dragon is so greedy that his anxiety for his gold hardly lets him sleep".
** In ''VoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Eustace stumbles upon a dragon's hoard while the dragon is absent. He gets greedy, falls asleep on top of it, and is transformed into a dragon himself.
* In the ''Literature/EarthseaTrilogy'', the dragons are obsessed with hoarding jewelry ... at least at first.
* In Creator/BarbaraHambly's ''Dragonsbane'' series, dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonology}}'' explains that dragons hoard treasure to use as armor for their soft underbelly.
* In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', the dragon that takes over the palace of Ankh-Morpork demands all the gold for its hoard. Since Ankh-Morpork is a VestigialEmpire of gilded treasures and heavily diluted coinage, there's a lot of ugliness before the dragon is satisfied.
* In the ''Literature/JWWellsAndCo'' series, dragons often appear in the vaults of banks, which is why companies like J.W. Wells find it useful to keep a "pest control specialist" in their employ.
* In the ''Literature/MythAdventures'' novels, Gleep explains that dragons hoard gold because it's so soft and corrosion-proof that it's ideal for baby dragons to teethe on. Dragons with offspring collect it for their young, and grown-up dragons keep it as a sentimental reminder of childhood.
* In ''Literature/HeirApparent'', the protagonist needs to sneak into a dragon's lair to steal its treasure.
* In ''Literature/AgeOfFire'', dragons hoard because they need metal to make scales.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology]]
* ClassicalMythology:
** The dragon Ladon was set by Hera to guard the Golden Apples that grow in the Garden of the Hesperides.
** King Aeëtes of Colchis employed a large serpentine dragon to guard the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts.
* ChineseMythology: A few types of dragon dwell underground, guarding treasures.
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': The dragon is attracted by gold and makes his home on a treasure hidden in a barrow -- because that is how dragons roll.
* The dragon in ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' guards a dwarfs' hoard on behalf of the dwarf kings -- it's essentially a watchdog.
* NorseMythology:
** The dragon Fafnir (''Literature/PoeticEdda'', ''Literature/ProseEdda'', ''Literature/SagaOfTheVolsungs'') was originally a humanoid (the race varies) who killed his father for a heap of gold, then permanently shapeshifted into a dragon to guard it.
** In ''Literature/RagnarLodbrokAndHisSons'', a princess raises a tiny little baby dragon by letting it breed on a gold coin. The dragon grows to enormous proportions, in the process ''hatching'' a massive pile of gold.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', all dragons have hoards, although their content varies from species to species. This is reflected by the rules giving them a much larger amount of loot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theater]]
* In Wagner's ''Theatre/RingOfTheNibelung'' tetralogy (as adapted, with liberties, from NorseMythology), the giant Fafner kills his hitherto-bro Fasolt for a hoard of gold (''The Rhine-Gold'') and is later found transformed into a dragon lying on the gold (''The Valkyrie''), until he is killed by Siegfried (''Siegfried'').
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' has a dragon living in a volcano, sitting on a heap of gold.
* In ''[[FunOrb Dungeon Assault]]'', you play as a dragon who has to create a labyrinth of guards and traps to protect your hoard while sending out raiders to steal treasure from other players.
* In ''[[VideoGame/ChoiceOfGames Choice of the Dragon]]'', you play as a dragon and one of your objectives is to acquire and protect a pile of treasure.
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', if you manage to kill the red dragon Tholapsyx you get to loot her hoard.
* In the aptly-named ''VideoGame/{{Hoard}}'', you play as a dragon and get points for collecting treasure.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'', dragons nest on top of gold because they find it comfortable to sleep on.
* It's explained in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' that dragons are greedy by nature and will hoard things as an instinctive behavior. They also ''eat'' gems.
**In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E7Dragonshy "Dragonshy"]], the mane six are sent on a diplomatic mission to a dragon who's taken up residence near Ponyville. Rarity speaks to the dragon and appeals his ego, a strategy that appears to work--until the dragon realizes she's helping herself to his treasure hoard, and he kicks her out.
**[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E24OwlsWellThatEndsWell "Owl's Well That Ends Well"]] features another full-grown dragon who gets angry and attacks Spike for stealing from said dragon's hoard of gold and gems.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess "Secret of My Excess"]], it's shown that hoarding behavior can cause dragons to undergo rapid growth--which can lead to a nasty feedback loop, as this growth also decreases their mental faculties and makes them hoard ''more''.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest "Dragon Quest"]], adolescent dragons are shown playing "King of the Hoard", a game which requires dragons to fight one another over a pile of treasure.
[[/folder]]
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->''[The dragon] is driven to hunt out \\
hoards underground, to guard heathen gold \\
throug age-long vigils, though to little avail.''
-->''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' (v. 2275-77)
[[OurDragonsAreDifferent In some settings]], dragons tend to guard hoards of treasure – typically by lying on top of it.
This trope seems to be especially ingrained in Germanic Mythology -- in fact it is hard to find a dragon in ancient Anglo-Saxon, German or [[NorseMythology Norse legends]] that ''doesn't'' guard gold. Curiously, there is no consensus as to ''why'' dragons do this. [[JustifiedTrope Justifications]] in-story for why a dragon sits on a hoard, including backstories of how hoard and dragon came together, vary considerably.
In some ways, hoard-guarding dragons are no different from other treasure guardians: They make sure it isn't too easy for the hero to [[MacGuffinGuardian get at a desired MacGuffin]], and a heap of treasure in itself provides a [[AMacGuffinFullOfMoney convincing motivation]] for a hero to engage in an exciting monster-fight.
Dragons have a peculiarity, though, in that they are especially attached to UsefulNotes/{{gold}}: dragon-hoards almost always contain at least a substantial share of gold. Whatever the reasons, on average dragons show noticeably less interest in other treasures, like silver or even jewels.
People have also long noticed that dragons have no apparent use for treasure: they cannot spend, wear or process it. Dragons, it was concluded, must be pathologically avaricious and stingy (kinda like a species of compulsive hoarders with a MoneyFetish). In fact, up to the 17th century, dragons were considered the emblematic representation of {{Greed}}.
The symbolic association of dragons with avarice, combined with their preference for gold, causes that dragon hoards coincide in a certain number of cases with outbreaks of GoldFever.
Treasure-hoarding dragons, once common, became [[ForgottenTrope increasingly forgotten]] in the age of ChivalricRomance: For a KnightInShiningArmor, fighting for so mundane a reward as treasure was no longer deemed noble enough. Hence gold-hoarding dragons were largely superseded by the princess-stealing ones, until the trope was revived by {{Fantasy}} literature, especially through the influence of ''Literature/TheHobbit''.
In more realistic settings where dragons don't exist, [[{{Demythtification}} large reptiles]] may sometimes be encountered guarding treasures.
May involve a TreasureRoom.
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!! Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Film]]
* Dragon from ''Film/{{Shrek}}'' sleeps on-top of a mountain of treasure. She doesn't seem that bothered by the collection of treasure in the sequels, though.
* ''Film/TheJungleBook'' (1994): When the ruthless Captain Boone tries to loot the treasure chamber of a lost city, he is eaten by a giant python.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/SagaOfTheJomsvikings'' speculates that a sea-serpent seen at the Norwegian coast is the ghost of the Jomsviking captain Bui, guarding two chests of gold he took with him to his watery grave.
* In the chapter "The King's Ankus" from ''Literature/SecondJungleBook'' by Creator/RudyardKipling, a maharajah's forgotten treasure vault in a lost city is guarded by an unusually large cobra.
* In the works of Creator/JRRTolkien:
** Smaug of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' destroyed the Kingdoms of Lonely Mountain and Dale to rob the kings' treasures. He heaped them up in a vault where he spends most of his time just sleeping on it. This habit also has the advantage that the coins and gems grow into his sticky, glowing hot skin, thus providing him with additional armor.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'': After Glaurung has destroyed the city of Nargothrond, he sweeps all the gold together into a heap and lies down on it to rest for a while.
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Éowyn mentions that her ancestor Fram killed "Scatha the Worm" and thus won a hoard which the dragon had robbed from dwarves.
** ''Literature/FarmerGilesOfHam'' has the dragon Chrysophylax Dives ("Gold-watcher the Rich"), whose cave contains fantastical riches of all sorts. How the got all that stuff is never explained, nor does anyone ever ask.
* In the works of Creator/CSLewis:
** In ''The Pilgrims Regress'', "the Northern dragon is so greedy that his anxiety for his gold hardly lets him sleep".
** In ''VoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Eustace stumbles upon a dragon's hoard while the dragon is absent. He gets greedy, falls asleep on top of it, and is transformed into a dragon himself.
* In the ''Literature/EarthseaTrilogy'', the dragons are obsessed with hoarding jewelry ... at least at first.
* In Creator/BarbaraHambly's ''Dragonsbane'' series, dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonology}}'' explains that dragons hoard treasure to use as armor for their soft underbelly.
* In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', the dragon that takes over the palace of Ankh-Morpork demands all the gold for its hoard. Since Ankh-Morpork is a VestigialEmpire of gilded treasures and heavily diluted coinage, there's a lot of ugliness before the dragon is satisfied.
* In the ''Literature/JWWellsAndCo'' series, dragons often appear in the vaults of banks, which is why companies like J.W. Wells find it useful to keep a "pest control specialist" in their employ.
* In the ''Literature/MythAdventures'' novels, Gleep explains that dragons hoard gold because it's so soft and corrosion-proof that it's ideal for baby dragons to teethe on. Dragons with offspring collect it for their young, and grown-up dragons keep it as a sentimental reminder of childhood.
* In ''Literature/HeirApparent'', the protagonist needs to sneak into a dragon's lair to steal its treasure.
* In ''Literature/AgeOfFire'', dragons hoard because they need metal to make scales.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology]]
* ClassicalMythology:
** The dragon Ladon was set by Hera to guard the Golden Apples that grow in the Garden of the Hesperides.
** King Aeëtes of Colchis employed a large serpentine dragon to guard the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts.
* ChineseMythology: A few types of dragon dwell underground, guarding treasures.
* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': The dragon is attracted by gold and makes his home on a treasure hidden in a barrow -- because that is how dragons roll.
* The dragon in ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' guards a dwarfs' hoard on behalf of the dwarf kings -- it's essentially a watchdog.
* NorseMythology:
** The dragon Fafnir (''Literature/PoeticEdda'', ''Literature/ProseEdda'', ''Literature/SagaOfTheVolsungs'') was originally a humanoid (the race varies) who killed his father for a heap of gold, then permanently shapeshifted into a dragon to guard it.
** In ''Literature/RagnarLodbrokAndHisSons'', a princess raises a tiny little baby dragon by letting it breed on a gold coin. The dragon grows to enormous proportions, in the process ''hatching'' a massive pile of gold.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', all dragons have hoards, although their content varies from species to species. This is reflected by the rules giving them a much larger amount of loot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theater]]
* In Wagner's ''Theatre/RingOfTheNibelung'' tetralogy (as adapted, with liberties, from NorseMythology), the giant Fafner kills his hitherto-bro Fasolt for a hoard of gold (''The Rhine-Gold'') and is later found transformed into a dragon lying on the gold (''The Valkyrie''), until he is killed by Siegfried (''Siegfried'').
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' has a dragon living in a volcano, sitting on a heap of gold.
* In ''[[FunOrb Dungeon Assault]]'', you play as a dragon who has to create a labyrinth of guards and traps to protect your hoard while sending out raiders to steal treasure from other players.
* In ''[[VideoGame/ChoiceOfGames Choice of the Dragon]]'', you play as a dragon and one of your objectives is to acquire and protect a pile of treasure.
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', if you manage to kill the red dragon Tholapsyx you get to loot her hoard.
* In the aptly-named ''VideoGame/{{Hoard}}'', you play as a dragon and get points for collecting treasure.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'', dragons nest on top of gold because they find it comfortable to sleep on.
* It's explained in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' that dragons are greedy by nature and will hoard things as an instinctive behavior. They also ''eat'' gems.
**In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E7Dragonshy "Dragonshy"]], the mane six are sent on a diplomatic mission to a dragon who's taken up residence near Ponyville. Rarity speaks to the dragon and appeals his ego, a strategy that appears to work--until the dragon realizes she's helping herself to his treasure hoard, and he kicks her out.
**[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E24OwlsWellThatEndsWell "Owl's Well That Ends Well"]] features another full-grown dragon who gets angry and attacks Spike for stealing from said dragon's hoard of gold and gems.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess "Secret of My Excess"]], it's shown that hoarding behavior can cause dragons to undergo rapid growth--which can lead to a nasty feedback loop, as this growth also decreases their mental faculties and makes them hoard ''more''.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest "Dragon Quest"]], adolescent dragons are shown playing "King of the Hoard", a game which requires dragons to fight one another over a pile of treasure.
[[/folder]]
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