He Spent $80,000 on Body Modifications to Become a Dragon – Here’s What He Looked Like Before
For years, Richard Hernandez lived a conventional life. He was a banker, a father, and a respected professional in the corporate world — the picture of stability and success. Yet, beneath the surface, he felt trapped within an identity that wasn’t truly his. From an early age, he sensed a deep divide between who he was inside and how society expected him to live. The more he conformed, the more he felt confined by the unspoken rules of appearance, behavior, and ambition.
By the time Richard turned 40, the facade began to crumble. He realized that no amount of financial success or social acceptance could fill the void created by living a life that wasn’t authentic. That moment of reckoning marked the start of one of the most remarkable body transformations the world has ever seen — the metamorphosis of a man into what he describes as a dragon.
The journey began with small acts of rebellion: piercings hidden under work attire, quiet symbols of self-expression in a world of dress codes and discipline. But when he left his banking career behind, Richard — now known as Tiamat Legion Medusa — embraced transformation with no restraints.
He covered his body and face with intricate tattoos resembling reptilian scales, carefully designed to mimic the texture and depth of dragon skin. He later underwent tongue-splitting surgery to achieve a forked, serpent-like tongue, followed by subdermal horn implants embedded beneath his forehead. His ears were surgically removed, reshaping the silhouette of his head to appear less human and more creature-like.
Each modification represented a deliberate step toward the identity he had long suppressed. Even the whites of his eyes were tattooed — a procedure known as scleral tattooing — giving him a distinctly otherworldly appearance. Pain, permanence, and judgment from others didn’t deter him. For Tiamat, these changes were not acts of defiance, but declarations of truth.
“I wasn’t living my truth before,” she says. “I was hiding behind a version of myself that others expected me to be. It wasn’t until I fully embraced my identity that I felt alive.”