Born Richard Hernandez in 1961, Tiamat the Dragon Lady, or simply Tiamat, is a transgender woman who claims to be “in the process of morphing into a human dragon.” Eva Tiamat Baphomet Medusa has adopted different alter egos over time but is fully-committed to becoming the only trans-species human dragon in the world.
The Arizona-native has had extensive surgery done since 1997. Tiamat’s transformation includes facial and full-body tattoos, horns, tinted eyeballs, a forked tongue, scars made to look like scales, tooth extraction, and the most shocking, ear and nose surgery. She had her nose and ears clipped to resemble a dragon.
Tiamat used to be a banker when she was Richard Hernandez but is now a celebrity in a way. She has hundreds of thousands of followers on her social media platforms and is always a fan favorite at conventions. The Dragon Lady is not afraid to be herself, saying, “I don’t care what people say about me or my views,” on a photo she shared online.
She says she is a mythical beast whose preferred pronoun is it, “like a snake.” Tiamat began its transformation into reptilian form with three sets of horns by the year 2000. It then got five eyebrow dome implants to bring out the forehead.
The tattoos followed, then the ears, the nose, the tongue, and the eyes. Dragon Lady prepared for each of these transformations, which took multiple surgeries to achieve. Doctors were not responsible for these body modifications – body modification artists worked on Tiamat, who has spent nearly 70 grand becoming a dragon.
Tiamat is HIV Positive and has experienced various health complications. When he was young, Hernandez left his home after his family rejected him for not wanting to be a boy. He later had a son and was no longer afraid to become who he had always wanted to be – a woman.
Sadly, Tiamat’s son shunned her once he became a teenager, and this pushed Tiamat to modify her body even more. Being a human dragon was the only thing left to make Tiamat feel whole again. Despite these difficult moments in her life, the self-declared mythical beast is loved by the community that surrounds her.
There have been incidents, however, where older women are shocked to see Tiamat to the point of fainting or shouting. Many people have been cruel to Eva throughout life but claims to finally be happy. Dragon Lady won’t let anybody tell her how to live her life.
Besides being unique in every way, Tiamat is also helping raise awareness about HIV through social media platforms. She has documented her journey with body mods online and hopes to one day erase the stigma of being whoever you feel like being.