3 Headed dragons have been present in mythology and folklore for centuries. Dragons and monsters are usually depicted as ferocious, violent creatures that can breathe fire and often possess powerful magical abilities. With its three heads, the dragon might seem scary and monstrous. But does it really? Let’s have a look at these 11 of the most famous 3 Headed dragons and monsters from myths and pop culture.
1 Zahhak
There is a Middle Eastern dragon legend known as the Azhi Dahaka (Zahhak) that terrified the people of Persia in ancient times. The 3-headed monster, also known as the Persian terror, is devilishly frightening. It was built by an evil god and after terrorized the land, it seems to have disappeared. But some people think it’s still out there, waiting for its opportunity to destroy the world yet again.
The three heads of the monstrous dragon watch over enemies with two eyes and a huge jaw that can attack from all sides. In the mythological battle against Dahaka, three heads were better than one: they could keep an eye out while they attacked the enemy.
As a monster, Azhi Dahaka began life hunting on animals. Over the years, however, the dragon felt that it was totally destiny and became more focused on human meat. In a legend from ancient Persia, Ahriman the God created Azhi Dahaka with malicious intent to help him destroy the world . The gigantic dragon that could swallow people with one bite — he wanted that dragon to destroy his enemies.
In another story, the monstrous Azhi Dahaka was sent to take a sip of the sun, pushing Earth into darkness and causing the end of life. The Fire God, Atar, was able to do this by binding the non-native monster near Mt. Damavand near the Caspian Sea and finally happened like this.
2 Ellén Trechend
According to Irish Mythology, three-headed monster, Ellén Trechend was an Irish mythical figure with great destructive power that lived in the grotto of Cruachan and brought death and destruction to Ireland till it was killed by Amergin Eccit, who was himself a great warrior poet.
Whether the creature of Ellén Trechend seems highly controversial. The latter half of the name means “three-headed,” but Ellén is an obscure word without any other translations. There are many who believe it to be a three headed beasts herd, with others believing it has bird form. While P.W Joyce argues that the Ellén Trechend was a large, three-headed vulture who carried a devil on its back, who ordered an army of ghosts and copper-red birds.
Ellén Trechend, a monstrous living mountain, erupted out of the Cave of Cruachan in Ireland and wreaked havoc on everything in its way at some point amid Amergin mac Ecitt’s marriage to Findchoem and the Táin Bó Cúailngeand. And thereafter Amergin had killed the beast, because it caused substantial damage to the surrounding area.
3 Cerberus
Cerberus is the name of a monstrous three-headed dog or “hell hound” as seen in ancient Greek mythology and it is named from the Greek word “Kerberos” which means “spotted.” A three-headed monster in Greek mythology, Cerberus had a mane of snakes, a serpent’s tail, claws like a lion and three heads that described the past, present and future. It is also believed in myths that his three heads represented birth, youth, and old age.
Cerberus is also known as “Fluffy” who was once observed by Rubeus Hagrid and its greatest weakness was falling asleep with the sound of music.The most dominant aspect of Cerberus was his appearance. Cerberus was able to utilize his unfitting appearance among other abilities that made him scary; literally any however who saw him were turned to stone. “Cerberus,” the dog who guards the gates of Hades, has razor sharp teeth and a toxic bite. The toxic that flows from those fangs grows into a plant and is called the wolf’s bane.
It was said that Typhon, the father of Cerberus, was the most powerful and mortal monster in Greek myth. Echidna, Cerberus’ mother, was half snake and half woman. Cerberus’ was the watchdog and servant of the Greek Underworld, as well as its god Hades. Its main location is across the edge of River Styx, which represents the Earth-Underworld boundary. Cerberus served to prevent dead people from escaping back to Earth and living people from entering without his master Hades’ permission. Cerberus was gentle and loving to the dead. In addition, any new spirits who set foot in the underworld could also be friendly with him.
4 Chimera
This dragon-like beast has become one of the most famous female monsters in Greek mythology. With an aura of mystery always surrounding her, she resembles many godly creatures. Like other well known mythological creatures, she appeared in the form of several different animals. She had the head of a fire-breathing lion, a goat’s figure coming from her back, and a serpent’s tail that ended in the creature’s head and made up her body. They often described her as combining many fearsome animal attributes including, wisdom of a goat, cunning of a snake and power of a lion.
However, In Greek mythology it is said that the “mother of all monsters” Echidna gave birth to Chimera which would generally appear to Greek sailors in a time of disaster. When anybody saw Chimera, they would experience a fearful storm, shipwreck or even volcanic blooming.
According to mythology, Chimera was a dragon-like creature that moved to Lycia, an area in Asia Minor. Part of this region sees some volcanic activity, which in turn causes fires covering the land. The ancient Greek residents did not know that the fires were caused by volcanoes, and instead believed it was because a mythical monster named Chimera was creating them across Lycia by breathing.
Previously, due to the high range of her breath and her ability to destroy attackers on the ground from afar, Chimera was immune to being harmed. Bellerophon climbed onto Pegasus and flew above Chimera’s head. Then he put a bit of glass at the end of his spear when she tried to incinerate him with her fiery breath. The molten material in the spear melted through Chimera’s defenses and she died by suffocation because of the lead poisoning in her gizzard.
5 Geryon
Geryon is a mythical creature from Greek mythology. The original description of Geryon comes from Hesiod and was that he had one body but had three heads. The tradition followed by Aeschylus was that he had three bodies. A stray statement made by Stesichorus mentioned that he has six hands and six feet and is winged. While Chalcidian pitcher sketch Geryon as a winged figured man in mid-sixth century.
He is also described as a three-bodied, four-winged monster. Geryon lived on the island of Erythia and lived next to the westernmost stretch out of the earth-surround Oceanus. He had an amazing swarm of livestocks whose coats were spotted red from the light of sunset on the ocean. Herakles was sent to summon these cattles with light red coats as part of his twelve labors.
The hero arrived at the island by shipping in a golden-cup boat carried off from Helios that he experienced and slew the cattle-herder Eurytion, two-headed guard dog, Orthus, and in the end king three-bodied Geryon.
6 Asmodeus
Asmodeus was the “seven princes of hell” with horns, teeth, and sharpened claws is perhaps the most unnatural of all. Asmodeus may seem like a “prince of lust,” but his looks aren’t even that good. He has three heads: one like a bull, one like a sheep and one like a man. The man’s face might seem the most normal at first glance, but his sharp ears, spiky teeth, curved nose and mouth that can breathe fire make up for it!
All of Asmodeus’s heads are on the chest that seems a man-like body. At the back, his body passed off a weird alteration and now he’s got brightly-feathered legs like a cock and scaly tail like a snake at the bottom.
In the Talmud and the Testament of Solomon, one of the demons who was pressured to help construct Solomon’s temple is named Asmodeus. When his eye fell on Solomon’s beautiful wives, Asmodeus was furious. He decided to stop the enslavement after all that. The demon Asmodeus threw Solomon 400 miles away among the sands, changing his form during the process, personating himself as the king, assuming his palace and wives. Lastly, Solomon returned and banished the demon back to hell.
In the later seasons, Asmodeus gained an eccentric personality. Sure, he could be numerous, but he did not have the malicious purposes one would hope from one of hell’s seven princes.
7 Bael (Demon)
Bael is the primary King of Hell, commanding 66 – 250 legions of monstrous souls. Bael is one of the 72 Souls of King Solomon and ranks as the first demonic spirit of Ars Goetia. As a fallen Angel and a Demon, Bael is described as being croaky voiced with the power to make men viewless. Names like Baal were common for minor deities, who ruled Syria and Persia. As claimed by some writers, Bael is a ruler of the 66 legions of demons.
It is believed that Bael was the first king of Hell, ruling the underworld before being dethroned by the Devil. He has abilities such as invisible enchanter. According to a source, The Grand Grimoire says that Bael is Lucifuge’s subordinate. According to a source from Wierus, Bael is the first king of Hell and that he has his own estates in the East.
In Grimoire of Pope Honorius, at least two different versions of Bael exist. The first is a king ruled over by Oriens. He was given invisibility as well as the power to garner the favor of others with his intimidating powers. The second is Astaroth, under which he’s a prince and possessor of abilities such as invisibility and enhanced popularity.
In many depictions, Bael is depicted as a man or a bull. In one depiction, though, he is said to appear on Earth as either a human or a bull with the heads of a cat and toad respectively on his human head. He is also three-headed: with a toad’s head, a cat’s head and his own human head in that order and also has a set of spider legs.
8 King Ghidorah
Ghidorah is an enormous and powerful winged dragon that slays anyone and anything in its path. It has two tails, three heads and a powerful energy shaft to destroy anything it comes across. Ghidorah also has the ability to produce electrical bolts from its wings when needed, making him a disruptive force on a global scale in certain films.
King Ghidorah, the three-headed flying dragon with an alien origin that first appeared in Japan’s Toho series of giant monster movies around 1964. He has since reappeared in numerous movies used to fight Godzilla and his friends ever since, always trying to destroy Earth, Godzilla and his buddies.
In different generations and adaptations, the creature has been depicted as being a monster from space, most often brought to Earth by an outside race as some kind of weapon with which to subjugate or kill humans. It has been the role of Godzilla (King of The Monsters), Mothra, other monsters on Earth to loop jointly and beat Ghidorah, often in spite of the enmity these creatures have towards humans.
But Ghidorah has always been a force of chaos and destruction, typically appearing in the films as Godzilla’s one arch-nemesis. Ghidorah has been Godzilla’s rival since the beginning. He will both be an enemy, and help provide a challenge in King of the Monsters. In the words of another classic villain, “He won’t stop.”
9 Fluffy
Fluffy was a three-headed giant dog in the “Harry Potter” movie, with one weakness, the inability to protest falling asleep to music. Rubeus Hagrid used to care for Fluffy before he died. Hagrid originally bought Fluffy from a “Greek guy” at The Leaky Cauldron. Hagrid then credited Fluffy to Albus Dumbledore who was the headmaster, so he could protect the Philosopher’s Stone during a school year in 1991-92. As an additional security measure, the door salient to the room Fluffy was staying in was magically locked.
When Draco challenged Harry to a duel, then Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, caught the first sight of Fluffy. Fluffy had a reputation of being savage, fluffy was usually dangerous, fierce and physically strong but he may act more kinder around fixed people such as Rubeus Hagrid who was capable of getting Fluffy into the third floor corridor.
Fluffy attacked when anyone got too close. It is unacquainted if each head showed a variant purpose like with the Runespoor.
Honorable Mentions: Next Monsters in this list may contain more than 3 heads and they deserve their place due to their fame gained in supernatural comic and movies as well.
10 Lernaean Hydra (Multiple Headed Dragon)
The Hydra is an ancient immortal beast that created chaos and fear throughout Lake Lerna. In Greek myth, the Hydra is a snake with multiple heads that would periodically grow back from being cut off. The monster claimed hundreds of people’s lives over centuries, It is most well known for its warfare with hero Heracles.
The Hydra was more brutal than even its closest relative, the snake! The Hydra, which lived in swamps, was virtually impossible to kill. Not only did it have more heads than any other snake, the estimated number of heads ranged from 6-100!
The Hydra was a mythical sea dragon or beast with a long, serpentine neck. As it grew, each head would remain intact allowing the entirety of the Hydra to attack from all angles. In some cases the core (the long snake-like tail) trails on the ground behind it and splits into two or more smaller tails at the end.
The Hydra had regenerative powers and was undying. Its heads, which were protected by the other deadly heads, two or more heads would extend in response to a fatal head wound. In order to kill it, one needed to cut off the immortal head—a nearly impossible task. And one another myth that, The Hydra was a poisonous dragon that had a blood and breath full of toxic material, capable of killing men with one inhalation. Even after the beast was killed, its blood was used as a weapon because of how toxic it is.
11 Yamata-No-Orochi
The giant snake, known as Yamata no Orochi, has eight tails and eight heads. Orochi has a red colored belly and radiant red eyes. The creature is so heavy and stretches so much that it blankets an area of eight hills and eight valleys as well as its own body, which is covered by moss. Trees like cypress and Fir grow on its astern, and it’s covered in lichen.
In The Three Treasures, Orochi has a more draconic appearance with snaggy legs and heavy body. In Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon, Orochi now looks like a giant snake with little eight tails and eight heads extending from the main head and also gray colored scales. In his appearance in Brush of the God, Orochi has a body shape similar to that of a slug, but with purple scales wrapping its rearwards and vastly of its heads. distinct from its past appearance, the god no longer has three gray stumped heads where they would normally be.
Moreover, Battle-hardened and with a potent appearance, the Orochi dragon is almost snakelike in appearance with spikes jutting out of its head and yellow scales on its neck that go down to its tail. White bones frame the face while black razor-sharp claws give it an intimidating look.
When it appeared, the eight-headed giant Orochi slithered into a fence and noticed the potent sake. In an effort to drink the alcohol from the vats, the three headed demon dove deep into the vats. After a few minutes, the demon fell asleep. Using this opportunity, Susanoo made his attack and sliced the colossal beast into thousands of pieces with his sword.