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Apart from christianity, serpents and dragons are affirmative symbolic beings, i.e. serpents symbolize renewal, healing and rebirth (skin-sloughing of serpents, Ouroboros).
In Norse mythology, that is a mythology of Indo-European descent, what do dragons symbolize for i.e. the Vikings.
Dragons and dragon ornamentation appear i.e. on ships, stave churches, ...
It is a bit challenging to delimit the quest of this question. For instant, there are lists (thulas) of serpents, which may, and may not be considered dragons. The mythological Jörmundgandr ("the world serpent"), for instant, I find Jörmungandr reflected in the most classic dragon of all Norse, Fafnir, because of the name, quite simply signifying 'Fathom'. He's much known as he also is found in the German Niebelungenlied, that Richard Wagner his Ring-cycle upon. It seems that Dragons are originally human. Well, I'm not interpreting either Æsir, Vanir, Dwarves, Youthunns, or Elves of the dark and of the light, as not human (double negation there). Fafnir's fate is profoundly reflected not merely in Wagner's work, but also in the works of Tolkien, particularly regarding the ring, Andvaranaut. It is this ring's curse, or Fafnir's obsession with the external alchemy related to the Ring of Andvari, that turns him into the dragon. In this context the Dragon is quite clearly a transformation due to perversion and obsession.
If the Norse serpents are part of the deliberation here, even Oðinn is a dragon of sorts, as he turns into Bólwork, in order to get hold of the entheogenic compound brew, relating to the greeting (skål!), aka the peace between the Vanir and Æsir, according to Snorre Sturlasson, the main contenders of the Trojan war, fascilitated by King Lear aka Youthunn Ægir. It seems to me that the ornamental dragon-serpents of ships and churches are more related to this mytheme, than that of Fafnir. This mytheme is reflected in the Kerukeion aka Caduceus, the biblical Nehushtan of Moses, and the old Sumerian Ningishida..
The ultimate viking hero, with a name that could be translated as Arrow's-Edge, is famed for having battled with the sea-monster Kraken, often likened to Chthulu, or Hafgufa, the mother of all sea-monsters.
The Norse heraldic and ornamental dragons are called Lindworms, interpreted as the Norse name for dragons. Fafnir is called a Lindworm in the Saga-litterature.
Six Lindworms are mentioned as the offspring of Gráfvitnir (Grave-witness, Grave-visitor, or grave-wolf):
Góinn, Móinn, Grábakr, Gráfvölluðr, Ófnir and Sváfnir.
My suggestion to their meaning is:
The (subtle) intestinal life-force of (sacrificial) animals - Gó(r)inn.
The (subtle) interior of arable land - Mó(r)inn.
The foul force in shit or leftovers - Grábakr.
The rolling force coming from burial mounds - Gráfvölluðr.
The force of descendance - Ófnir.
The force of ascendance - Sváfnir.
This is quite tentative, based on my own fragmentary research and dubious competence in Norse language and cult.
I hope this was a bit to work on.
