DRAGON (MIDDLE-EARTH)

J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium features dragons closely based on those of European legend.
The dragons were created by Morgoth during the First Age, when Glaurung first appeared. It is stated in ''The Children of Húrin'' that they are great spirits. This means that they must be fallen Maiar. Dragons were capable of breeding on their own, and in later ages the Withered Heath was purportedly their spawning ground.

Contents

Taxonomy

Means of locomotion

Fire breathing

Other characteristics

Named dragons

Earlier conceptions

Non-canon dragons

Notes and references

External links

Taxonomy

Tolkien designed his own taxonomic system for dragons, based on two factors:

Means of locomotion

★ 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 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 could not 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 "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 mentioned a "Cold-drake". It is commonly assumed, though not 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''.

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 extremely 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

★ Glaurung — Father of Dragons, slain by Túrin Turambar. First of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of Angband. He had four legs and could breathe fire, but he did not have wings. He was the smallest of the great dragons to appear in Middle-earth.

★ Ancalagon the Black — Largest of all dragons to appear in Middle-earth, mightiest and first of the Winged-dragons, slain by Eärendil in the War of Wrath.

★ Scatha — Slain by Fram of the Éothéod. Described as a "long-worm", although this imparticular term seems to be more of an expression rather than a separate taxonomic group. He was the third largest of the named dragons, he was longer than Glaurung.

★ Smaug — The last great dragon of Middle-earth, slain by Bard, a descendant of Girion Lord of Dale. A winged Urulokë, second largest to appear in Middle-earth.
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^[1] 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. Real dragons at this stage were classified by the presence of wings or ability to fly: the winged, flying ones were smaller and could not breathe fire; the unwinged ones were larger and did breathe fire. These distinctions do not apply to Tolkien's later Ancalagon and Smaug, who had wings ''and'' could breathe fire and were the two largest dragons in Middle-earth.^[2].

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 '', based on Peter Jackson's film trilogy, there is a dragon named Drogoth.
In 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, 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 often not said to be "canonical".

Notes and references

1. Actually, at this stage Tolkien had yet to apply the term "middle-earth" to his work; he used terms like "the Great Lands" instead.
2.

External links

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

★ Ardapedia article on Middle-earth's dragons in slovak