Chrysophylax Dives ( /ˌkrɪsəˈfaɪləks ˈdaɪviːz/) is a comically villainous dragon. He stands midway between Smaug, evil and greedy, and The Reluctant Dragon, comical and timid. Chrysophylax (Χρυσοφύλαξ) is Greek for "gold-guard" and dīves is Latin for "rich". (The classical pronunciation is ).
Chrysophylax comes across as a pompous aristocrat—rich, vain, and arrogant, but capable of compromise if handled correctly. Farmer Giles learns that he can be bullied, but is smart enough not to push him to desperation.
Read more about this topic: Farmer Giles Of Ham
Famous quotes containing the word dives:
“She had exactly the German way: whatever was in her mind to be delivered, whether a mere remark, or a sermon, or a cyclopedia, or the history of a war, she would get it into a single sentence or die. Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of the Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910)