ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Norse dragon

Okay buddy, so the Norse people believed in a big, scary creature called a dragon. This dragon was different from the kind of dragons you might see in movies or read about in fairy tales. It didn't breathe fire, and it didn't have wings that could make it fly. Instead, it was more like a giant snake that could slither around and cause all sorts of trouble.

Now, the Norse believed that this dragon was actually a symbol of a bunch of things they were scared of - like greed, evil, and destruction. They thought that whenever someone was too greedy, or too evil, or too destructive, then the dragon was getting stronger - and getting closer to waking up from its long sleep.

But the Norse had hope. They had some really brave heroes called Vikings who could fight these dragons and keep them under control. They would use really sharp weapons, like swords, to cut off the dragon's head - which was the only way to make sure it wouldn't come back to life.

And even though the Norse dragon was really scary, the Vikings never lost hope. They always believed that if they were brave enough, and strong enough, then they could fight the dragon and defeat it once and for all.
Related topics others have asked about: