Germanic dragons

thumb|Jörmungandr in the sea during Ragnarök, drawn by the Norwegian illustrator [[Louis Moe in 1898.]] In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (, see Etymology), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent (, "worm of Midgard"), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth (Midgard) and biting his own tail, an example of an ouroboros. As a result of him surrounding Midgard, the beast is referred to as the World Serpent. Jörmungandr releasing his tail is one of the signs of the beginning of Ragnarök.

thumb|right|Níðhǫggr gnaws the roots of Yggdrasill in this illustration from a 17th-century Icelandic manuscript. thumb|Runestone Uppland Runic Inscription 887|U 887 (1070–1100), Skillsta, Sweden, showing a [[runic dragon and a bipedal winged dragon. Winged dragons are rare in Germanic art and myth prior to the 13th century, and Nidhogg is uniquely described as feathered and flying in Völuspá.]]

thumb|A depiction of Sigurð slaying Fáfnir on the right portal plank from Hylestad Stave Church, the so-called "Hylestad I", from the second half of the 12th century In Germanic heroic legend and folklore, Fáfnir was a dwarf or other type of humanoid who had shifted into the hamr of a Germanic dragon (a worm, "serpent", in period nomenclature) in order to protect a treasure, eventually being slain by a member of the Völsung family, typically Sigurð.

mythological creature

thumb|Bergstutz or Stollwurm In the folklore of the Alpine region of south-central Europe, the (), , or is a lizard-like creature, essentially a sort of dragon (see Germanic dragon), often described as having the face of a cat, with a serpent-like body which may be slender or stubby, with four short legs or two forelegs and no hindlegs, the latter a trait shared with many lindworms. Stories of essentially the same creature also exist in the folklore of South Sweden.

The lindworm (worm meaning snake), also spelled lindwyrm or lindwurm, is a mythical creature in Northern, Western and Central European folklore that traditionally has the shape of a giant serpent monster which lives deep in the forest. It can be seen as a sort of dragon.

In Swedish folklore, the Storsjöodjuret (, literally "The Great-Lake Monster") is a lake monster said to live in the lake Storsjön in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden.

Icelandic lake monster cryptid

1988 film by Ken Russell

legend from North East England concerning a knight and a dragon

1911 novel by Bram Stoker

Norwegian lake monster

dragon from the Beowulf poem

creature in Germanic mythology and folklore