Why is Kirin labeled as an elder dragon?

[twiggy]

kirin is a unicorn, he looks nothing like the other elder dragons, especially in size and he cant even fly/doesnt have wings

[Thundaga]

Kirin is a horse shaped dragon. The hint is that it has scales instead of regular fur. It's also based on a Qulin which much more strongly resembles a horse dragon.

Diablos was created in MH1 which pretty much used the flying wyvern template for everything that wasn't a piscine wyvern (even the two piscine wyverns in that game sort of resemble flying wyverns). Even Khezu was a flying wyvern.

[Lynx]

RareCiara の投稿を引用：

kirin is a unicorn, he looks nothing like the other elder dragons, especially in size and he cant even fly/doesnt have wings

"elder dragon" is a blanket term for "anything that doesn't fit into previously established categories"

[Lu2]

he have scales

[aXe]

Nazarekt の投稿を引用：

Elder Dragons = Monsters that defy the law of nature and can perform super natural feats like heating up the surrounding (Teostra/Lunastra), call lightning (Kirin), creates tornadoes (Kushala) aka walking natural disaster.

Smelling bad (Vaal Hazak).

[JPM岩]

Elderdragons have two reasons for classification: They can't be classified as anything else, ie Piscine, Amphibian, Neopteran, etc, or they can cause massive catastrophies to the surround ecosystem. Kirin fits both of these categories, as it can't be classified as anything outside of elderdragon, and the thunderstorms it causes can wipe out villages in seconds.

[Linguistically Inept]

first of all; it cant be easily classified as anything else... though that alone isnt enough as we have '???' and unclassified classifications

elder dragons dont have a set body type; we get a lot of winged quadropeds; but we also get weird sky blobs, giant snakes and sea bisons

there was debate about whether kirin was or wasnt an actual elder dragon (just falling into the classification) in the previous games; but that was ended in world as it now drops 'elder dragon blood' which is pretty self explanatory

so we go onto the true reasons:

- it is destructive; a force of nature

- it doesnt really exist as part of an eco system

really the better question is why isnt jho an elder dragon?

[Thundaga]

first of all; it cant be easily classified as anything else... though that alone isnt enough as we have '???' and unclassified classifications

It makes sense for Gore Magala because it defies a lot of classification logic by being in-between an ED and a regular monster, and story wise it turned out it is essentially a shell that contains Shagaru Magala, an Elder Dragon, within. Basically, they didn't know what it actually was until it revealed itself as a proper Elder Dragon.

[JPM岩]

Linguistically Inept の投稿を引用：

first of all; it cant be easily classified as anything else... though that alone isnt enough as we have '???' and unclassified classifications

elder dragons dont have a set body type; we get a lot of winged quadropeds; but we also get weird sky blobs, giant snakes and sea bisons

there was debate about whether kirin was or wasnt an actual elder dragon (just falling into the classification) in the previous games; but that was ended in world as it now drops 'elder dragon blood' which is pretty self explanatory

so we go onto the true reasons:

- it is destructive; a force of nature

- it doesnt really exist as part of an eco system

really the better question is why isnt jho an elder dragon?

Jho isnt an elder because it's skeletal structure is that of a brute wyvern. It's power also isnt considered dangerous because theyre extremely stupid as theyre essentially a stomach with legs, and they gets themselves killed a lot. Theyll eat their own babies too.

[Linguistically Inept]

JPM岩 の投稿を引用：

Linguistically Inept の投稿を引用：

first of all; it cant be easily classified as anything else... though that alone isnt enough as we have '???' and unclassified classifications

elder dragons dont have a set body type; we get a lot of winged quadropeds; but we also get weird sky blobs, giant snakes and sea bisons

there was debate about whether kirin was or wasnt an actual elder dragon (just falling into the classification) in the previous games; but that was ended in world as it now drops 'elder dragon blood' which is pretty self explanatory

so we go onto the true reasons:

- it is destructive; a force of nature

- it doesnt really exist as part of an eco system

really the better question is why isnt jho an elder dragon?

Jho isnt an elder because it's skeletal structure is that of a brute wyvern. It's power also isnt considered dangerous because theyre extremely stupid as theyre essentially a stomach with legs, and they gets themselves killed a lot. Theyll eat their own babies too.

intelligence has nothing to do with threat; sea bison was just minding its own business nudging some land and it was destructive enough to require hunting

jho is frequently referred to as being as strong as an ED; its nomadic, having no ecosystem it naturally slots into and it destroys ecosystems when it appears by eating the ♥♥♥♥ out of everything

yeh it has a brute profile... sea bison, amatsu and dire miralis have a leviathan profile

im not trying to convince anyone that it *should* be an ED; just that it fits the known criteria

['Napsterfire]

Zefar の投稿を引用：

I can only imagine it being like this.

Kirin sees the "Cool" group of monsters and wants to join.

The group of actual dragons laughs at him.

Kirin starts a thunderstorm and smack every dragon there with thunderbolts and then all of them accepted Kirin into their gang.

Kinky

[Thundaga]

intelligence has nothing to do with threat; sea bison was just minding its own business nudging some land and it was destructive enough to require hunting

jho is frequently referred to as being as strong as an ED; its nomadic, having no ecosystem it naturally slots into and it destroys ecosystems when it appears by eating the♥♥♥♥♥♥out of everything

yeh it has a brute profile... sea bison, amatsu and dire miralis have a leviathan profile

im not trying to convince anyone that it *should* be an ED; just that it fits the known criteria

Deviljho just isn't a rare or mythical creature like those that "have a leviathan profile". Researchers only say that it can disrupt an ecosystem like an Elder Dragon, not that it makes him one. If anything Deviljho's abilities to travel to any biome and attack other monsters are well researched and documented, unlike most Elder Dragons which have little known about them.

[Linguistically Inept]

LoveCanBloomOnaBattlefield の投稿を引用：

intelligence has nothing to do with threat; sea bison was just minding its own business nudging some land and it was destructive enough to require hunting

jho is frequently referred to as being as strong as an ED; its nomadic, having no ecosystem it naturally slots into and it destroys ecosystems when it appears by eating the♥♥♥♥♥♥out of everything

yeh it has a brute profile... sea bison, amatsu and dire miralis have a leviathan profile

im not trying to convince anyone that it *should* be an ED; just that it fits the known criteria

Deviljho just isn't a rare or mythical creature like those that "have a leviathan profile". Researchers only say that it can disrupt an ecosystem like an Elder Dragon, not that it makes him one. If anything Deviljho's abilities to travel to any biome and attack other monsters are well researched and documented, unlike most Elder Dragons which have little known about them.

the guild knows a lot about elder dragons (despite how played up the commisions ignorance is in world); they have a dozen odd games worth of research... sure jho is more researched than xeno; but id argue it isnt as well researched as say kush or teo (especially if the guild maintains tabs on multiple teos in the wild as stated multiple times in multiple games)

[Thundaga]

They know about Teostra because it is an elusive monster with mostly tales of it to go by and the extreme danger of it literaly changing an area's climate just by being there has to be noted. Elder Dragons are like Moby ♥♥♥♥♥ to the Ahabs out there. Deviljho is known about because it can be captured and dissected to find out things like its digestive system and it's easier to find one in the wild to observe its destructive behavior.

Deviljho is Tyranitar, not Rayquaza. Its power doesn't give it a legendary status.

[RyuYokaze]

LoveCanBloomOnaBattlefield の投稿を引用：

They know about Teostra because it is an elusive monster with mostly tales of it to go by and the extreme danger of it literaly changing an area's climate just by being there has to be noted. Elder Dragons are like Moby ♥♥♥♥♥ to the Ahabs out there. Deviljho is known about because it can be captured and dissected to find out things like its digestive system and it's easier to find one in the wild to observe its destructive behavior.

Deviljho is Tyranitar, not Rayquaza. Its power doesn't give it a legendary status.

Nice comparison``

[Metbert]

Just like in Pokèmon, Dragon here has a different meaning compared to the mainstream idea of a "Dragon".
Anyway Frontier, canon or not, give the best explanation.

An ED has to be a really strong and rare monster with a specific kind of blood (shared by all Elders) and sometimes special bones or the "Dragon Treasure", it also must be related with only other Elders + in World we know Elders have natural blue bioenergy.