I think that everyone would have an image that they would naturally associate with themselves – be they bunnies, little puppies or even a dragon or a scorpion.
This post will be about the graphic that I have made for myself – as well as the backstory behind it, and I’ll tell you why it’s so significant to me.

The graphic has two parts: the Assassin Insignia, which forms the outer part and a crowned dragon, which forms the inner part. Let me start with the Assassin Insignia.
It is the symbol of the Assassins from the Assassin’s Creed series. I’ve talked about how much I love these games before, but let me tell you, I love the symbolism behind the Insignia even more. Look closely at the area on the right, slightly below the apex of the Insignia and you will see that it is not symmetrical with the left side. The right side is significantly thicker than it is on the left. Meanwhile, they are symmetrical on the bottom.
Of course, this could be just the design of the Insignia, but to me, it rings to the tune of the Creed’s maxim, which states that “Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted”. This quote ran in concurrence with my studies, especially when learning about discourse. It teaches the Assassins that nothing would forever remain in existence, that everything can be shaken and proven false, and that being so, everything could be done, for better or for worse.
The Creed resounds so much to me because it shows that there is no one sole Truth in this world. It is made of different versions of the truth. As humans, we all choose the truths that we would follow and enforce them to ourselves. There are always binaries in this life – black and white, hot or cold. The chicken could have come first, but did a chicken not hatch from an egg? It compels me not to be complacent, and to always seek knowledge. Knowing this, “Everything is Permitted” follows naturally. Since there is no Truth, what I will do or have done is absolutely permissible – but I will have to bear the cost of my actions.
You can find out more about the Creed here.
As for the inner part of the graphic: the crowned dragon, it came out from an app I was playing with around 2 months ago when season 3 of Game of Thrones premiered. HBO launched a website known as www.jointherealm.com where users could create their own House banners. I chose this to be my banner:

If this banner would be to be described in a Game of Thrones manner, it would be: “A red dragon crowned in gold over a field of purple”
As you can see, the original dragon has a forked tongue and some teeth, unlike the one in my graphic, I decided to forego them to give my dragon a cleaner look. I also re-generated the dragon in black and white so as to match the Assassin Insignia.
In China, dragons were considered to be auspicious animals, symbolizing power, wealth and luck. Emperors have long used dragons, but that’s besides the point. I’m no descendant of Chinese nobility, but I enjoy both Chinese and Western depictions of dragons.
For me, the dragon is a misunderstood creature. The Chinese fear and revere the dragon, while the Westerners just plain feared because they only wrought havoc. Dragons hold a vast dual meaning – they can bring chaos, while they can bring peace. You see it in many times throughout pop culture – acquiring a dragon can mean winning a war, while a rampaging dragon could mean doom. Once again, the duality of life appears.
By placing the crowned dragon into the interior of the Assassin Insignia – you would get either an Assassin’s sect that adopted a dragon as their symbol, or the match point of two ideas that summarizes my beliefs that the world does have black and white, but I choose to believe in grey, not only because I can, because it is what I should do.
I hope I did not bore you too much with this post. I was just so excited that I’ve found THE image that could really represent myself. Of course, this might change in the future, but for now, I’m really happy with this, and I hope to have this as a tattoo one day.