The Dragon is an unused enemy found in the files of Qtest and early screenshots. While a mesh exists in Qtest, the AI had yet to be developed, meaning the level would immediately stop if the Dragon was alerted. As the .mdl file worked fine, some players would swap out the Serpent to get a somewhat functional Dragon.
Existent since the early screenshot releases, the Dragon was one of the most promoted aspects of Quake from 1995 until the release of Qtest. As Quake mostly focused on constrictive level design and couldn't handle wide open areas, the Dragon was never completed. While Quake had outside areas, the main problem was the scale, the Dragon could never appear large enough while also appearing far away.
The Dragon did not have legs since that would have required additional polygons. This in turn, combined with the early screenshots showing the Dragon from far away (the Dragon is around 30m), resulted in some individuals stating that it appeared to be more like a Wyvern.
Despite rumors, John Romero has confirmed that the Dragon was designed to roam outside a map and occasionally swoop in and breathe fire at the player. [1]
Alongside the Chainlightning Gun, the Dragon eventually made its way into Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity in a similar fashion, if not identical to the plans.
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