Origins
In the comics, there were once four dragons: the Long Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the Pearl Dragon and the Black Dragon. The dragons were compassionate and wise and were very upset when they saw that the world below was having a long drought. They appealed to the cruel and vain Jade Emperor but he refused. Taking matters into their own hands, they scooped water into their mouths and rained it onto the land below, saving the people.
This infuriated the Jade Emperor and he ordered that the four dragons be locked away forever in four mountains. A kind and wise nymph named Xin Jing (Chinese: 心晶), meaning Heart of Crystal in Chinese, felt that this was unjust and confronted the Emperor. Though unable to undo his spell, she still wished for the dragon's noble deeds to be remembered. She absorbed the Dragon's essence and became a dragon herself, flying away. The four dragons became the four rivers of China. After, all that remained to remember Xin Jing was a crystal pendant that contained the Dragon's essences plus her own. The crystal was named the Heart of Kandrakar.
According to the animated series, there once was a kingdom that was suffering from a prolonged drought. Feeling pity for the people of the kingdom, the Jade Emperor's four dragons came together and used their magical abilities to bring rain to the land. However, in doing so they enraged the Emperor himself.Angered that they had acted without his permission, the Emperor ordered that the dragons be confined in the hearts of four mountains. The Emperor's daughter, however, realized that the dragons were right in helping the people. She argued with her father and when he refused to reverse his decision she freed the dragons herself. After being freed from their mountain prisons, the dragons became one with the Emperor's daughter, and she left. All that remained of her was the Heart of Kandrakar.
The Heart is shown to have a strong bond with its keeper, leaving a spark within them and always coming back to them. It has also been revealed that it is not the Keeper who chooses the Heart, but the Heart that chooses the Keeper.
Read more about this topic: Heart Of Kandrakar
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)