Dragon (Middle-earth)

J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium features dragons closely based on those of European legend.

Besides dragon (derived from French), Tolkien variously used the terms drake (the original English term, from Old English draca, in turn from Latin draco) and worm (from Old English wyrm, "serpent", "dragon").

History

The dragons were created by Morgoth during the First Age, when Glaurung first appeared. Dragons were capable of breeding on their own, and in later ages the Withered Heath was purportedly their spawning ground.

Taxonomy

Tolkien designed his own taxonomic system for dragons, based on locomotion and fire-breathing.

Some dragons (Glaurung) walked on four legs, like Komodo dragons or other lizards. Other dragons (Ancalagon, Smaug) could both walk on four legs and fly using wings. Winged-dragons were only first witnessed during the War of Wrath, the battle that ended the First Age, so all dragons seen before the end of the First Age could not fly (such as Glaurung), although breeds of wingless dragons did exist.

Dragons who could breathe fire were called Urulóki (singular Urulokë), "Fire-drakes". It is not entirely clear whether the term "Urulóki" 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. In Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings Tolkien mentions a "Cold-drake". It is commonly assumed, though not directly stated, that this term indicated a dragon which could not breathe fire, rather than one who "breathed" ice or snow like the White Dragons of Dungeons & Dragons. Further, Tolkien calls a fire-breathing dragon in the non-Middle-earth story Farmer Giles of Ham a "hot" one.

Tolkien calls the dragon Scatha a "long-worm" but does not explicitly explain the term.

Other characteristics

All of Tolkien's dragons also shared a love of treasure (especially gold), subtle intelligence, immense cunning, great physical strength, and a hypnotic power called "dragon-spell". They are extremely powerful and dangerous, though they mature very slowly. Because of this, Melkor's first attempts to use them against his enemies failed, as they had not yet become powerful enough to become useful in battle.

Dragon-fire (even that of Ancalagon the Black) is stated as not being hot enough to melt the One Ring; however, four of the Dwarven Rings were consumed by Dragon-fire.

Named dragons

Tolkien named only four dragons in his Middle-earth writings. Another, Chrysophylax Dives, appears in Farmer Giles of Ham, a story separate from the Middle-earth corpus.

Glaurung

Glaurung was the Father of Dragons. First of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of Angband. He had four legs and could breathe fire, but he did not have wings. Glaurung could control and enslave Men using his mind. He was slain by Túrin Turambar.

Ancalagon

"Ancalagon" redirects here; Ancalagon is also a genus of priapulid worm found fossil in the Burgess Shale.

Ancalagon: (Sindarin: rushing jaws from anc 'jaw', alag 'impetuous')

The Dark Lord Morgoth bred Ancalagon, called the Black, during the First Age to be the greatest and mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged 'fire-drakes'. Near the end of the long War of Wrath that pitted Morgoth's hosts against the Host of the Valar, Morgoth sent Ancalagon, leading a fleet of winged dragons, from the fortress of Angband to destroy the Dark Lord's enemies. So powerful was the assault of the dragon fleet that the host of the Valar was driven back from the gates of Angband onto the ashy plain of Anfauglith.

But Eärendil 'The Blessed' in his powerfully hallowed elven airborne ship Vingilot duelled with Ancalagon for an entire day, until Eärendil at length prevailed, pitching Ancalagon onto the triple-peaked towers of Thangorodrim, destroying both dragon and towers. With his last and mightiest defender slain, Melkor was soon utterly defeated and made captive.

Ancalagon was said to have been so large that he blotted the Sun out, even from afar. He was the largest of any dragon to appear in Middle-earth, even larger than Smaug. His length was unknown, though longer than Glaurung or any other ground dwelling dragons. Despite his legendary might, Ancalagon's fire-breath was reckoned to be insufficiently hot to melt the One Ring, and none of the lesser dragons could do so, either.

Ancalagon was possibly long-lived like other dragons Melkor bred. So large a dragon would have taken centuries to grow to his full size. The method of how exactly Eärendil managed to battle and slay so titanic a creature is not explained.

Scatha

Scatha was a mighty "long-worm" of the Grey Mountains, little is known of Scatha except that he was slain by Fram son of Frumgar (an ancestor of Eorl the Young) in the early days of the Éothéod.

After slaying Scatha, Fram's ownership of his recovered hoard was then disputed by the Dwarves of that region. Fram rebuked this claim, sending them instead Scatha's teeth, with the words, "Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by." This led to his death in a feud with the Dwarves, and however the dispute was resolved, Fram's descendants "brought few good tales from the north of that folk" (from The Lord of the Rings). Certainly the Éothéod retained at least some of the hoard, and brought it south with them when they settled in Rohan. The horn that Éowyn gave to Merry Brandybuck after the War of the Ring (many hundred years later) came from this hoard.

His name was likely taken from Anglo-Saxon sceaða, "injurious person, criminal, thief, assassin".

Smaug

Smaug was the last great dragon of Middle-earth. He was slain by Bard, a descendant of Girion Lord of Dale. A winged fire-breathing dragon, he was described as red-gold in color and his underbelly was encrusted with many gemstones from the treasure-pile he commonly slept upon once he had taken control of Erebor (the Lonely Mountain). Smaug had only a single weakness: he was missing a scale, or area of scales, from his left breast area. Bilbo Baggins discovered this, which led to Smaug's death above Esgaroth.

Other dragons

Other dragons were present at the Fall of Gondolin. In the late Third Age, the dragons bred in the Northern Waste and Withered Heath north of the Ered Mithrin. Dáin I of Durin's folk was killed by a cold-drake.

Earlier conceptions

Dragons are already present in The Book of Lost Tales, the earliest Middle-earth-related narratives written by Tolkien starting in 1917, eventually posthumously published in two volumes as part of The History of Middle-earth series, which was edited and includes commentary by his son Christopher.

In the earliest drafts of "The Fall of Gondolin", the first ever to be written, Morgoth (here called Melko) sends mechanical war machines in the form of dragons against the city; some even serve as armoured personnel carriers for Orcs. These machines do not appear in the published Silmarillion, also edited by Christopher Tolkien, where real dragons attack the city. At it ocurrs with the later conception of the Legendarium the winged dragons weren't stil devised by Morgoth when the Fall of Gondolin happened. The first winged dragons were coeval of Ancalagon the Black , Glaurung descends of this brood.

Non-canon dragons

Iron Crown Enterprises, when they possessed the licensing rights for games made from Tolkien's books, expanded the selection of named dragons considerably in both Middle-earth Role Playing and The Wizards, a trading card game set in Middle-earth. Also in the real-time strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, based on Peter Jackson's film trilogy, there is a dragon named Drogoth.

In The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar there are several types of creatures distantly related to dragons. There are giant salamanders, worms (long, quadrupedal serpents) and drakes (smaller, weaker, less intelligent forms of dragons.) There is also an undead dragon in the game, Thorog, resurrected by the forces of the Witch-king of Angmar to aid him in maintaining control over the Misty Mountains. Though not all dragons were mentioned by name in the official texts, names coming from sources other than Tolkien are said not to be "canonical".

External links

• Encyclopedia of Arda article on Middle-earth's dragons