Eamon dragon
The Eamon dragon is an iconic image of a winged, standing dragon that appears in the splash screen of the original Eamon text adventure and many of the game's variants. It is the only graphical element present in the programs on the original Eamon master disk and is frequently used as a symbol of the Eamon series.
Origin
Eamon creator Donald Brown notes in the player's manual that the dragon is the work of "the talented people of Ann Arbor, Michigan," and in remarks in the Main Program attributes the artwork more specifically to "R. L. Phillips & friends of Ann Arbor." Huw Williams suggests that R. L. Phillips is likely Richard L. Phillips, an engineering instructor at the University of Michigan who was active in the field of computer graphics in the late '70s and early '80s. The exact circumstances of the dragon's creation and how it came to Brown remain uncertain.
Robert Clardy used a slightly altered version of the dragon for the splash screen of Synergistic Software's 1980 adventure game Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure. Clardy recalls that the artwork came to him from friend Ron Aldrich, but was uncertain how Adrich obtained the original line drawing; Clardy himself modified and colorized the drawing.
John Nelson confirms in comments at blogspot that the dragon was part of Eamon from its beginning in 1979. Matthew Clark suggests that Odyssey likely copied the drawing from the public-domain Eamon rather than vice versa; the author of the CPRG Addict blog suggests that the drawing both games used may have begun on a public forum.
Appearances and variations
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Gary Flanagan's dragon, used in the banner of the National Eamon User's Club's newsletter, the Eamon Adventurer's Log.
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A colorized version of the dragon from the splash screen of Frank Black's Eamon Deluxe.
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A colorized dragon from Jeff Hurlburt's Eamon Master.
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The dragon shown in later Eamon Deluxe documentation.
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A slightly modified form from the splash screen of Super Eamon by Little Green Software.
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The version from Lightning Eamon by Scott Everts.
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The dragon from Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure by Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software.
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The Super Eamon dragon by Paul Van Bloem.
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A baby-like version of the Super Eamon dragon with a diaper and a rattle.
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From the splash screen of the Atari 800 version by Daniel Noguerol
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A colorful variant from Eamon IIgs by Darrel Raines, based on artwork of Smaug by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt.
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A caricature drawn by Huw Williams.
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Artwork by Williams created for the Eamon Wiki login page.
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AI-generated Eamon dragon
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Trivia
- In heraldic terms, the dragon's normal attitude can be described as rampant (standing erect with front feet raised) and to dexter (facing the viewer's left).
- Phil Schulz in his Prisoner of Darkness mentions the dragon in the description of an old lunchbox: "The picture of the Eamon dragon is almost totally worn off."
- The Magic Kingdom notes that the Main Hall contains a large mural of a dragon, possibly a reference to the game's splash screen artwork.