Dragonair is a long, serpentine Pokémon covered in blue scales along its back and a bright white underside. Its violet eyes are dark and glossy. It has a smooth, rounded snout and a small horn in the middle of its forehead. Its head is flanked by two stylized wings, each white and curving into a swirl. It has distinct blue orbs on its lower neck and near the tip of its tail.
Dragonair emits a distinct, gentle aura that can be felt by humans. As seen in the anime, it is able to make its wings grow to large sizes in order to fly; it otherwise moves through the air unaided. Dragonair hosts a large amount of energy within its body, which it can discharge through the orbs on its neck and tail, allowing it to change the weather. Dragonair's entire body emits light whenever it affects the weather. Dragonair is a rare Pokémon that inhabits lakes.
Dragonair first appeared in the banned episode, EP035, as a Dratini the warden of the Safari Zone was protecting. Over the 30 years since Kaiser last saw the elusive Dragon-type, it evolved into Dragonair. It also had a child Dratini.
In On Olden Pond, a Dragonair was living in a lake that Mr. Saridakis once planned to build a luxury resort on.
Minor appearances
Dragonair briefly made its worldwide debut in Pikachu's Rescue Adventure, flying around the rainbow after the storm.
In Pokémon Adventures, Lance owns two Dragonair, one of which he caught previously, the other stolen and brainwashed. The latter was sought by Yellow for surfing, as it was offered as a prize in a surfing contest. Many other Dragonair also make up the Dragon-type army that he used to ravage the land of Kanto.
Dragonair appeared in a fantasy from Lance's Dragonite in The Final Battle!! when Dragonite was telling a false story about how it met Lance.
Dragonair made an appearance in Good-Bye, Pikachu?! where it evolved from a Dratini. It managed to take out all of Giovanni's Pokémon. Dragonair evolved into a Dragonite when Clefairy pulled its tail.
In Crystal Orb of Rainfall, Shu meets a Dragonair named Ryuko in the body of a human. He helps her find the blue orb she lost that used to be on her neck. Later in the manga, Shu captures a Dragonair of his own.
Dragonair stores an enormous amount of energy inside its body. It is said to alter weather conditions in its vicinity by discharging energy from the crystals on its neck and tail.
A Dragonair stores an enormous amount of energy inside its body. It is said to alter the weather around it by loosing energy from the crystals on its neck and tail.
In Blackthorn City, a woman is willing to trade her RhydonGS or DodrioCHGSS for a female Dragonair. This makes Dragonair the only Pokémon able to be male or female that must be a specific gender for an in-game trade.
In Yellow, Dragonair's catch rate was changed from 45 to 27, making it the hardest Pokémon to catch in the Kanto Safari Zone. In the later games, the catch rate was changed back to 45.
It appears to be based on sea serpents or ryu, traditional Japanese dragons or Chinese dragons who bring good luck. It also appears to look like a snake. In fact, its tail makes it resemble a rattlesnake. Its wing-like ears on its head resembles the wings on Greek god Hermes' shoes, and its long, snakelike body may be a reference to the snakes on his scepter. It's also very likely that it was based on the imugi, which is a proto-dragon that resembles a snake and lives in water or caves much like Dragonair. After an imugi lives a thousand years a jewel (called a Yeouiju) will fall from the sky and if the imugi catches it, it will become a full fledged dragon, which may be where Dragonair acquires its jewels from.
The jewel on Dragonair's neck might also be a reference to the Japanese folktale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, in which the moon princess Kaguya-hime asks some princess to bring her back some items, one of which includes a colored jewel from a dragon's neck.
Name origin
Dragonair may be a combination of dragon and air (referring to its ability to change the weather or to its air of grace and majesty) or debonair (graceful, referring to its graceful flying capabilities). It could also make reference to a "lair", the traditional home of a dragon.
Hakuryū could be taken to mean 白竜 (white dragon). Hakuryu was also the name of the dragon-like companion of Zhu Bajie/Cho Hakkai from the legend of the Journey to the West in Buddhist lore.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
Protein (100%)
Dragon Scale (8%)
Dragon Fang (5%)
For other sprites and images, please see Dragonair images on Bulbagarden Archives.
