It's horrific, but also kind of tragic

One of the central themes of Dark Souls is the decline of majesty into ruin, and the Gaping Dragon represents this process for the dragons themselves.

[ZullietheWitch]

There's a quote from Miyazaki about the bizarre physiology of the Gaping Dragon, stating "As to what triggered this change... well, the emergence of life corrupted it." The effect the First Flame had on the world was extremely profound, even the immortal, unchanging everlasting dragons were twisted merely by the introduction of the concepts of life and death, and the decline from their original form to their warped descendants is a sad procession.

[Sigh]

Here’s an excerpt from the Dark Souls Design Works book:

Miyazaki: “Also, I particularly like the the Gaping Dragon…. I was asked what is happening to the dragons now, and I explained that it is like they have been eaten away by the toxins of life. By this I meant things like the emotions and acts that came along with the lesser creatures. Then I mentioned the words “insatiable need” and he (Nakamura) replied, “got it.” Then, before I knew it, I had a design draft in my hands and I was looking at the Gaping Dragon. From most designers I would have expected a big fat monster with an oversized mouth or something, but not Nakamura. I was very impressed with the way he chose to express what I had been trying to describe.”

Nakamura: “That’s all he thinks about (starvation) and the obsession literally consumed him to the point where things like his head and other physical features degenerated severely…. With all his other abilities similarly dissolved, the Gaping Dragon turned into a specialized creature that lives only to devour. I think his location also contributed to this change, as he lives in a very remote place that is rarely visited by other creatures like humans.”

[RamAurelius]

Interesting to note that the Gaping Dragon has a distinctly serpentine appearance compared to other dragons in the franchise, with the serpent being the poster child for imperfect dragons.

[Jesse__H]

"It's horrific but also kind of tragic" describes SO many bosses in the Soulsborne universe tbh.

[kendlerkendler]

Fromsoftware has some serious talent when it comes to enemy design

[clawsandteeth]

One thing I always thought was really clever is that this dragon that lives in the sewer happens to resemble an alligator. For those who don't know, sewer gators are a pretty common urban legend in America, and they are sometimes rumored to be exceptionally massive or even mutated from feeding on the contaminated garbage and rats within.

[Jm-kisu]

there's nothing more horrific than being small in an open space with a bigass monster chasing you

[veskaphen]

While I agree and understand that the dragons were changed merely by the emergence of flame, I thought the gaping dragon was more the result of Seath. Weakened and imprisoned in the depths, immortality waning into hunger and resulting starvation. These changes, monitored by Seath through the eyes of his channeler. Perhaps both torturous vengeance against the dragons and a motivation to gain the long sought immortality lest he be subject to such change.

[RottingCarpet]

Isn't the gaping dragon just a descendant, and as such shows not the Eternal Dragon's decay but rather the warping of their subspecies across the ages?

[MiniBlackWaltz]

My sister's reaction to it the first time she saw it is forever burned in my memory. I had already seen it by that point so I knew it was gonna be magical

*Cutscene plays, only the head is visible*
"Aw, its kinda cute" :D
*Dragon moves up, its sheer size is becoming apparent, the beginning of the chest is becoming visible*
:)... :|
"...oh"
*Dragon completely moves up and the massive, gaping chest full of teeth is fully visible now*
:|... :(
"...oh"

Honestly, this retelling doesn't even do it justice. She kinda went through a whole spectrum of emotions. When that was finished she just settled on a look that was simultaneously one of dejected repulsion and morbid fascination

[samlocke]

And this is why you don't flush your pet dragon down to the sewer.

[YukiGibson]

So in the trailer it is bigger, cool stuff!
I've always loved the 2 tiny front teeth, looks so cute lol.

[GoatToHeal]

Interestingly enough the room for gaping dragon closely aligns with one of the stone rooms in Blighttown. It's a theory that the dragon originally crawled out of Blighttown to the Depths.

[doe]

The appearance of these monsters plays more into the difficulty of the souls games than I think most ppl realize

[undakovrist]

As much as Gaping Dragon's fight is kinda pathetically easy, it's always been one of the most memorable for me just because of his design as well as the intro cutscene. They really did an fantastic job on that. Seeing that little snake head pop up and the all of a sudden there's a giant, monstrous dragon-like tooth thing clambering up the waterfall in front of you, that always stuck with me.
It's just a shame the fight isn't more challenging lol

[sewerwater]

this boss is underrated ngl.

it's design is badass, the cutscene is perfect, it's an incredibly fun boss, and the openings it gives you don't feel too easy to take advantage of, nor are they too hard.

[thepigeonknight]

I always thought the gaping dragon was two dragons melded together. Extra legs, two sets of wings, what appears to be two abdomens one of them split in half using its ribs as teeth becoming a mouth. Just a dragon very well melded to another and evolved accordingly to its needs.

[christiankettlewell]

"It's horrific, but also kind of tragic" -Gwyn when Gwyndolin was born

[captainfrancoo]

first playthrough i stumbled in this boss fight, just to notice he wasnt attacking me at all or had the weirdest tracking. it took me ages to figure out it was because of these boots that make you silent, and because the dragon is blind and relies on hearing where you are, he just couldnt find me. one of the coolest features i randomly encountered

[rrinnlonginus]

One of the most memorable boss you'd recall in your early days of playing. I still remember seeing Gaping Dragon and was like "alright we have a standard dragon down here" and it started to move closer revealing its large body and I noticed something's wrong with the stomach part of it and boom, the thing literally showed its gaps