The Cure for Dragon Sickness
“I’ve found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay.”
—Gandalf the Grey in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Today, we’re returning to my ongoing series, Keeping the Darkness at Bay. As we fight darkness in our everyday lives, there are many things that you, the hero, need to be wary of. It is a condition that has blinded many a warrior, a disease that has crippled the strongest of men.
If this disease takes hold of you, if the virus grips your heart, you will be unable to confront the darkness in your life. You can’t fight the darkness if the shadow roots itself into the depths of your soul.
The disease is Dragon Sickness.
I can sense your eyes rolling now. Whatever Jered. There’s no such thing as dragons! Don’t be ridiculous!
First of all, just because we don’t have proof of dragons existing doesn’t mean they don’t exist or never existed. Maybe they’re just really good at hiding, as cunning as they are fearsome.
Second of all, even if there are no dragons in real life, I’ve seen the sickness in action. And I’m willing to bet you have too.
The real question is, What is the sickness?, followed by the equally important question, What is the cure?
Dragon Sickness
In The Hobbit (both the book and the films), certain characters (especially the dwarves) are driven by greed.
The movies try to smooth this over early in the story by having the dwarves put a heavier emphasis on legacy and honor as opposed to greed. It seems the story’s all about the dwarves reclaiming their homeland, but by the time they get to the Lonely Mountain, the truth is clear—Thorin’s quest is more about greed than honor, more about the lust for pride and power than about justice.
Thorin is deeply affected by this sickness, where the gold and the Arkenstone (a gem symbolic of his royal place as king) became his sole obsession. Thorin’s actions put his friends in danger, incites a battle of five armies, and leads to his own downfall.
It’s referred to as “dragon sickness” because the dragons of Middle Earth are known for their greed, especially in the case of Smaug, the prime antagonist in The Hobbit. The gold entrances its victims, to the point where nothing matters but the gold.
Smaug spends years sleeping on his pile of gold. What’s the point of hoarding gold? It’s not a very comfortable bed. It’s not gaining interest, it’s not helping the economy. The gold became more important as a status symbol than the actual wealth it represents as currency.
And people die because of it.
But Dragon Sickness is not just for dwarves and dragons…
Any person can be infected by this greed.
Is money the most important thing in your life? Obviously, we need money to survive. Such a simple need, the innocent need for provision, so easily morphs into a perversion of itself.
Instead of helping you live your life, your life becomes centered on it.
As the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10 (HCSB), “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”
Notice, money is not the root of evil. Money isn’t bad in and of itself.
But the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. The love of money is a root, or a nutrient-gathering source, for all kinds of evil. Evil grows from the roots of Dragon Sickness!
The disease is sneaky, starts innocent, then takes you captive. It is an enslaving force that seems to have no easy path to freedom.
“Yes, I’d like to not love money, but if I lose money, I won’t be able to live. I need money.”
The key is stewardship. The key is using money and controlling money without letting it control you.
But if you’re already its slave, such a proposition seems impossible. Laughable, even.
What hope is there? Does a cure even exist?
I’m happy to tell you the cure for greed does exist. The answer is found in the story of another dragon in a different world…
The Cure
"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
So begins C.S. Lewis’s beloved novel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eustace is the cousin of the original protagonist siblings the Pevensies. Eustace is an easy-to-hate character, due to his annoying, entitled, pretentious attitude. To his credit, he grows throughout the book, and actually becomes one of the most dynamic characters in the entire Narnia series.
The most important part of his growth happens when the Dawn Treader stops at a particular island. Eustace wanders off alone and finds a dead dragon’s den, filled with gold and jewels.
Overcome with greed, Eustace experiences the Narnia version of Dragon Sickness—the magic emanating from the gold mixed with his own covetousness physically transformed Eustace into a dragon.
After almost getting killed by his friends, they eventually discover that the dragon is Eustace, but nobody knows how to cure him. Indeed, each island encountered on the Dawn Treader’s journey holds crazy, magical surprises and presents unique challenges.
Stuck in dragon form, Eustace does find a way to help the Dawn Treader. He also learns humility, but even as his character finds new strength, he’s trapped. Trapped as a dragon, covered in the scales of his greed. Every waking moment reminds Eustace of his failure.
Yes, he learns, but he also feels hopeless. Is it too late for Eustace? The Dawn Treader can’t hold him for long, lest it sink. Unless he changes back to human form, he’ll have to be left behind, and he’ll have to live the rest of his days trapped on the island, his scales weighing him down, his very skin holding him hostage to his sin.
Greedy. Hopeless. Selfish. Everyone sees Eustace’s failure, his sickness, but nobody has a solution.
Nobody but Aslan.
In one of the novel’s most poignant scenes, Aslan—the talking omnipotent lion and son of the Emperor across the sea—finds Eustace, despondent and desperate. Aslan offers to help Eustace, but warns it may be painful.
Then, Aslan, with his sharp lion claws, tears the scales off of Eustace’s skin. Aslan slowly slices through Eustace’s dragon form, ripping away every piece of dragon from Eustace’s body.
Indeed, Eustace the human boy waited beneath the scales as a scared kid. But the paws of Aslan gave that boy redemption.
So, what’s the cure for Dragon Sickness?
The cure only comes by the hands of a lion, ripping the disease from you, one scale at a time.
The Application
If you suffer from a form of Dragon Sickness, you might feel that my description of the cure is entirely impractical.
What does a lion attacking a dragon have to do with me here in the real world?
I’m so glad you asked.
You see, when greed takes hold of your heart, you become ruthless, unstable, and insecure. You think being a dragon makes you strong when in reality, the scales are a facade.
Beneath that tough exterior, you are a scared child, horrified at what he’s become.
Yes dragons fly, but they’re also heavy. Weighed down by the consequences of your actions, your new skin will keep you trapped in one place, and as a dragon you’ll never reach your destiny at the edge of the world.
No matter how large or intimidating or dangerous you seem, if greed has taken hold of your heart, you are a slave to money.
And, just as was the case with Eustace, you have no solution within yourself. You have no cure. Your cure can only come from someone outside you and above you.
Just as Aslan—giving his life for his people, living again through the power of the deepest magic, extending the Emperor’s rule throughout the land—was the only one powerful enough to help Eustace, you need one of greater power to restore you.
In short, you need Jesus Christ.
We know from scripture that “…the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 HCSB).
At the word of Jesus, the all-powerful King of Kings, your dragon scales can be rended from your spirit.
Restoration comes from Jesus alone.
The tearing is painful, but in the end, you will be stronger, more mature, and more dignified than if you allow your disease to fester.
Let the Lion remove your greed. Give the Arkenstone to the only one qualified to rule. Learn mercy, compassion, and love.
Embrace the cure, and share it with the dragons who need it.
[This post is in the ongoing series, Keeping the Darkness at Bay. For more, check out parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.]
