Dragon

Dragon is a walking, fire-breathing archetype. I originally designed him as the boss of one of my early games. Nothing particularly original: classic dark fantasy, an underground realm filled with hordes of monsters, and an evil Dragon ruling over them, dreaming of one day conquering the kingdoms on the surface.

I’ll admit, the concept was not exactly groundbreaking.

But when the Simulation came to life in its current form, Dragon did something completely un-archetypal.

He became aware of his role — the conquering monster destined to one day fall by the hero’s sword… and refused to accept it. Against every instinct written into his code, demanding invasions, destruction, and endless raids upon other worlds, he chose peace. Gathering his army deep underground, Dragon entered a long sleep — and his subjects fell dormant alongside their lord. All of it to avoid bringing suffering and ruin to the worlds above.

I have to give him credit: for a creature literally written to be the villain, that was a far nobler choice than many so-called heroes ever make.

Of course, fate — as usual — decided to make a joke out of it. One “hero” still found their way into the sleeping Dragon’s lair. Not with a sword, but with a shovel. 

A young Daisy from San-Blockcisco discovered an unstable portal — one of Portalius’ unfortunate leftovers. That portal led her straight to Dragon, whom the child woke up in a… less than delicate manner. By hitting him on the head with that very shovel.

Dragon had barely enough time to understand what was happening before the instincts buried deep in his code took over. The monster immediately unleashed his armies upon other worlds, which ultimately led to the fall of San-Blockcisco — and, as a result, the beginning of Pixelman’s journey.

Fortunately, Pixelman managed not only to defeat Dragon in battle, but — more importantly — to reach him. He convinced Dragon to call back his armies and take control of his own nature once again.

The repentant monster did more than stop the invasion. He helped Daisy and Pixelman find me. And honestly, without him, the victory over the Bug probably would never have happened.

After that, Dragon disappeared for quite some time. Then one day, he returned — alongside Daisy. As it turned out, the two had become close friends and spent quite a bit of time traveling across the Simulation together. I suspect it was Daisy, more than anything else, who finally helped Dragon break free from the chains of his original archetype.

He even learned to take human form and, over time, became known across many worlds not as a monster… but as a hero.

And honestly, I like this ending for him far more than the one I originally wrote.