Dragons

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Dragons, Drakes, Worms
Race
J.R.R. Tolkien - Dragon.jpg
General Information
MembersGlaurung, Ancalagon, Scatha, Smaug
Physical Description
Lifespan"Long and slow"[1]
GalleryImages of Dragons, Drakes, Worms
"Never laugh at live dragons."
Bilbo Baggins[2]

Dragons were created by Morgoth out of fire and sorcery sometime before the First Age of the Sun, when Glaurung first appeared.

History

Scouring the Mountain by Ted Nasmith

The origin and early history of dragons

Seeing the strength of the Noldor in battle, Melkor realized that orcs alone were not sufficient to defeat his enemies. He therefore began to breed a new race of monsters: the dragons.[3][note 1]

The Father of Dragons was Glaurung, a mighty worm with a fearful intelligence and a powerful hypnotic gaze. Glaurung played an integral part in the fate of the Children of Húrin. Among his many crimes were the destruction of the Elf-realm of Nargothrond and a spell cast upon Nienor which stripped her of her memory. This eventually led her to a disastrous reunion and marriage to her long-lost brother Túrin. When Nienor learned the truth of Glaurung's plot, she flung herself to her death. Glaurung was finally slain by Túrin, who afterward committed suicide in reaction to Glaurung's plot.

At the Fall of Gondolin, Morgoth's foul host included dragons, "many and terrible"[4] including the fearful Beast of Gondolin.

During the War of Wrath, Morgoth unleashed a new terror upon Middle-earth -- the winged dragons. Chief among these was Ancalagon the Black. Eventually slain by Eärendil the Mariner, Ancalagon's fall crushed the towers of Thangorodrim. Many of the dragons were destroyed in the War of Wrath but some fled and survived into the later Ages of Middle-earth.

The re-emergence of dragons

No dragon is mentioned in the tales of the Second Age. It would appear that the dragons that survived Beleriand's destruction fled to the Northern Waste, far from the lands of Men and Elves. Over the centuries, the race of dragons continued to breed and repopulate, particularly in the Withered Heath, an area north of the Grey Mountains.

In the late Third Age the dragons bred in the Withered Heath, stirred by the return of Evil, began to make war with the Dwarves around the year T.A. 2570 (Dáin I and Frór of Durin's folk were killed by a great cold-drake in 2589).[5][6] It was perhaps in these wars that dragons swallowed four of the Seven Dwarf-rings.[7]

The most fearsome dragon of the Third Age was Smaug, who laid waste to the Dwarf-realm of Erebor and the nearby town of Dale. This devastated the area and sent Durin's folk into exile. Smaug remained in the abandoned halls of the Lonely Mountain for many years until the coming of Thorin and Company and their "burglar", the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. This began a chain of events that led to Smaug's death at the hands of Bard the Bowman.

Although Smaug was the greatest of the dragons of his day,[6] he seems not to have been the last of his kind as Gandalf told Frodo that "there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough [to melt the Rings of Power]",[7] indicating the presence of other, lesser dragons.

Characteristics

Means of locomotion

Some dragons (Glaurung) walked on four legs, like a Komodo dragon or some other lizard.

  • A second type (Ancalagon, Smaug) could both walk on four legs and fly using wings. Winged-dragons only first appeared during the War of Wrath, the battle that ended the First Age, so all dragons introduced before the end of the First Age couldn't fly (such as Glaurung), although breeds of wingless dragons did survive into later ages.

Fire breathing

  • The Urulóki (singular Urulokë, Fire-drakes) could breathe fire. It is not entirely clear whether the term "Uruloki" referred only to the first dragons such as Glaurung that could breathe fire but were wingless, or to any dragon that could breathe fire, and thus include Smaug.
  • The Cold-drakes could not.

Other characteristics

The dragons also shared a love of treasure (especially gold), subtle intelligence, immense cunning, great physical strength, and a hypnotic power called "dragon-spell". The best way to talk to a dragon under the circumstances of this spell (when it was questioning you) was to not directly give it the information it wanted, as this would compromise you and your friends, but not to flat out deny it an answer, because this would anger it to violence. Therefore, the best way to talk to the dragon is to be vague and speak in riddles- apparently dragons find it hard to resist wasting time with riddles.

Dragon-fire (of the Urulóki) was hot enough to melt Rings of Power: four of the Seven Rings of the Dwarves were consumed by Dragon-fire, although it was not powerful enough to destroy the One Ring itself.[7]

Individual dragons

Smaug by John Howe.
  • Glaurung — Father of Dragons, slain by Túrin Turambar. First of the Uruloki, the Fire-drakes of Angband. He had four legs and could breathe fire, but didn't have wings.
  • Ancalagon the Black — first and mightiest of the Winged-dragons, slain by Eärendil in the War of Wrath.
  • Scatha — Slain by Fram of the Éothéod. Apparently a cold-drake. Described as a "long-worm", although this imprecise term seems to be more of an expression rather than a separate taxonomic group.
  • Smaug — the last great dragon of Middle-earth, slain by Bard of Esgaroth. A winged Urulokë.
  • An unnamed dragon appears in Hobbit verse, said to have had red eyes, black wings and teeth like knives.[8]
  • Beast of Gondolin — A Fire-Drake at the Fall of Gondolin.

Names

The dragons were known by many different names: drakes, worms, long-worms, serpents.

Other tongues

Words denoting "dragon" in Quenya are lókë and angulóke. Sindarin has lhûg and amlug.

Etymology

Dragon is derived from French; drake is an English word, from Old English draca (derived from Latin).[9]

Obsolete tongues

In Gnomish, "dragon" is fuithlug ("a dragon who guards treasure"), lingwir or ulug (plural ulûgin; "she dragon" is uluch, uluchnir or ulugwin).[10]

Other fiction

A dragon named Chrysophylax appears in J.R.R. Tolkien's story Farmer Giles of Ham.

In the story Roverandom, white dragons are among the creatures living on the moon. A dragon, called the Great White Dragon, attacks Rover and the moon-dog, and is said to be the origin of all white dragons. In Merlin's time, this dragon had been to the earth, and fought with the Red Dragon in Caerdragon. The Great White Dragon has wings and can breath fire.[11]

Portrayal in adaptations

Portrayal in games

1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:

Apart from the type of dragons created by Tolkien, additional races include Rain-drakes, Light-drakes, Ash Drakes and several others.[12]

2001-: The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game:

The Dragon, which can have the ability to breathe fire and fly, is a powerful enemy of the Good players.[13] The game also includes the subterranean Cave Drake, a large but agile monster and natural enemy of the Dwarves.[14]

2007-: The Lord of the Rings Online:

Dragon-kind includes several varieties: Cold-, Fire- and Shadow-drakes, Fire-worms, Rock-worms, and many more. Related beasts include the salamander, a weaker and simpler breed of dragons, the pygmy-sized dragonet, and the turtle-like avanc.[15]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. How this was done is unclear.

References