Your thoughts on humanoid beings that have aerokinetic abilities

[PeacefulMyst]

And dragons, I guess. Those pretentious lizards with delusions of grandeur...

delusion is putting it nicely

 

[Jemini]

As far as I know Tiamat being a dragon is more of a popculture thing than mythological. They're not exactly Dragons but beings that fit the same niche "Dragons" just seem to make better boss monsters than a giant whale or turtle, just because they're easier to make meanacing.

Actually, her portrayal as a Dragon is a fault of Christianity. They first started calling her the Leviathan, and then they started alternatively swapping the use of "Leviathan" and "Dragon" in references to her during the book of Revelations. Yes, Tiamat was in the Christian bible, although never referred to by name. You need to have read both the bible and also Babylonian texts to catch the fact that every single reference to "Leviathan" in the bible actually describes a thing that Tiamat did in the Enuma Elis in the old-testament parts, and then in the later new testament the terms "Leviathan" or "Dragon" are always used in very close association with a figure referred to as "the whore of Babylon," thus further cementing in the close association between this "Leviathan" and Babylon.

The whales and turtles thing is relevant to note however, because there is another pop-culture dragon who actually was portrayed as a whale or a turtle. Those are the frequent pre-pop culture representations of Bahamut. I've seen him represented as either a large fish or a turtle in illustrations of the Hindu version of their representations of the world, which are supposedly that the world is a disk set atop the backs of giant elephants, and those giant elephants in turn are standing on the back of Bahamut who is some form of sea creature.

We all know how Bahamut is depicted in modern-day representations. Anyone who's ever played the Final Fantasy series has seen him as the ultimate dragon summon, and those who have played D&D know him as a draconic god and leader of the metallic dragons.

(Funny thing though. I've mentioned Bahamut to actual practitioners of the Hindu faith. You're as likely to find a Hindu person who realizes Bahamut is a figure from their own religion as you are to find a Christian who knows Azazel is from Christian Angelology, much less explain who Azazel actually is in the first place. (Azazel is the angel of death, FYI. In modern day, he is called by his alternative title, the Grim Reaper, and is portrayed as a skeleton instead of his original portrayal as a black-winged angel. In several ways, he has experienced a very similar transformation to the one Bahamut went through. EDIT: And, yes, it's a sure thing that Azazel and The Grim Reaper are one and the same. It's actually possible to track the artworks portraying Azazel starting to wear a dark cloak and holding a scythe in the early parts of the Bubonic plague, become surrounded by skeletons in later works, and then becoming the skeleton himself with the same paraphernalia by the end of the plague era.))

 

[BearlyAlive]

Actually, her portrayal as a Dragon is a fault of Christianity. They first started calling her the Leviathan, and then they started alternatively swapping the use of "Leviathan" and "Dragon" in references to her during the book of Revelations. Yes, Tiamat was in the Christian bible, although never referred to by name. You need to have read both the bible and also Babylonian texts to catch the fact that every single reference to "Leviathan" in the bible actually describes a thing that Tiamat did in the Enuma Elis in order to realize this is what's going on.

I knew about the Tiamat = Leviathan parts, and I guess that's on me but I never associated Leviathan with dragons since its descriptions are more on the sea snake or even eel side of things. More like a Chinese dragon than anything else. Enough other mythologies also have giant snakes associated with water.
I guess the Christians just took a few other existing mythological creatures and slapped them together. Also, Christianity in general was pretty uncreative in its acts of demonizing (pun intended) other religions. If it isn't demons it's dragons.

But back to aerial creatures: Elementals, as in personifications of forces of nature, can take on human forms depending on lore or genre, so there's that.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

The Windy card from Cardcaptor Sakura was pretty cool.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

Got excited there for a moment

 

[Sleds]

The Windy card from Cardcaptor Sakura was pretty cool.

Another one who thought about windy.

 

[J_Chemist]

Interspecies Reviewers has introduced me to a number of aerodynamic humanoid beings I would enjoy seeing.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

This is completely off topic, so please all forgive me, BUT...

They are not even CALLED dragons in the text.

If they weren't called dragons... maybe thats because they weren't considered dragons?

You can't use things that weren't explicitly called dragons to suggest the original concepts of dragons. That doesn't make sense.

When doing a quick google search, I found it related to lizards, and often snakes. Where did you find your original definition of dragon from?

 

[Jemini]

This is completely off topic, so please all forgive me, BUT...

If they weren't called dragons... maybe thats because they weren't considered dragons?

You can't use things that weren't explicitly called dragons to suggest the original concepts of dragons. That doesn't make sense.

When doing a quick google search, I found it related to lizards, and often snakes. Where did you find your original definition of dragon from?

Bahamut and Tiamat are considered dragons NOW! In fact, they're pretty much the 2 most famous dragons in the world. I'm just pointing out that they weren't actually called dragons in either of their original lores. They were closer to cosmic horrors a-la Cuthulu in terms of scale, with no physical features about them defined. (Ok, Bahamut had more fish/turtle features, but Tiamat was completely undefined other than her ocean connection.)

Anyway, you might want to look at this OSP on dragons for more details. These are a crew that looks into the actual lore and learns the history of the cultures the lore comes from, they are pretty much the most easily accessible actual historians on just about any subject. The only way you're going to get any better than them is if you go to a dedicated historian on the specific subject or culture.