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#REDIRECT ] |
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{{Infobox fictional race |
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| name = Dragons |
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{{Rcat shell| |
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{{R with history}} |
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| founded = ] |
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| founder = ] |
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| homeworld = ] |
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| base_of_operations = ], ], ] |
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| races = Fire-drakes, cold-drakes |
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{{Me races}} |
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]'s ] ] features ''']''' closely based on those of ]an legend. |
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Besides ''dragon'' (derived from ]), Tolkien variously used the terms ''drake'' (the original English term, from ] ''draca'', in turn from ] ''draco'' and ] ''δράκων'') and ''worm'' (from Old English ''wyrm'', "serpent", "dragon").<ref>{{ME-ref|bolt2}}</ref> |
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==Earliest conceptions== |
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Dragons are already present in '']'', the earliest Middle-earth-related<ref>Actually, at this stage Tolkien had yet to apply the term "]" to his work; he used terms like "the Great Lands" instead.</ref> narratives written by Tolkien, starting in 1917. ''The Book of Lost Tales'' was eventually posthumously published in two volumes as part of '']'' series, which was edited and includes commentary by his son ]. |
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In the earliest drafts of "]", the ''Lost Tale'' that is the basis for '']'', Morgoth (here called ''Melkor'') sends mechanical war machines in the form of dragons against the city; some even serve as armoured personnel carriers for ]. These machines do not appear in the published ''Silmarillion'', also edited by Christopher Tolkien, in which real dragons attack the city. As in the later conception of the dragons in the Legendarium, the winged dragons had not yet been devised by Morgoth at the time of the Fall of Gondolin. The first winged dragons were coeval with Ancalagon the Black.<ref>{{ME-ref|II}}</ref> |
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In the late ] the dragons bred in the ] and ] north of the ]. ] of ] and his son ] were killed by a cold-drake, prompting their people to leave the ]. |
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==Inspiration== |
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The Dragons were inspired by ] from ], The Dragon from ], the Dragon from the legend of ]. |
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==Taxonomy== |
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Tolkien designed his own ] system for dragons, based on locomotion and fire-breathing. |
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In Tolkien's works, dragons are ]al, like ]s or other lizards, and are either flightless (]) or are winged and capable of flight (] and ]). Winged dragons are stated to have first appeared during the ], the battle that ended the ]. |
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Tolkien refers to dragons which breathe fire as "Fire-drakes", or "Urulóki" (singular "Urulokë") in ]. 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 '']'' Tolkien mentions a "Cold-drake". It is commonly assumed, though not directly stated, that this term indicates a dragon which cannot breathe fire, rather than one who breathes ice or snow. Further, Tolkien calls a fire-breathing dragon in the non-Middle-earth story '']'' a "hot" one. |
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Tolkien calls the dragon ] a "long-worm" but does not explicitly explain the term. |
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==Other characteristics== |
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All of Tolkien's dragons share a love of treasure (especially ]), subtle intelligence, immense cunning, great physical strength, and a ] power called "dragon-spell". They are extremely powerful and dangerous but mature very slowly. Because of this, ]'s first attempts to use them against his enemies fail, as they are not yet powerful enough to be useful in battle. Despite their evil beginnings, they are not purely destructive by nature, as can be seen by Smaug, who wants to be left in peace, though he did force out the dwarves in the Lonely Mountain. |
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Dragon-fire (even that of ]) is described as not being hot enough to melt the ]; however, four of the ] are consumed by Dragon-fire. |
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==Named dragons== |
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{{dragons}} |
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Tolkien named only four dragons in his Middle-earth writings. Another, ], appears in '']'', a story separate from the Middle-earth corpus. |
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===Glaurung=== |
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{{main|Glaurung}} |
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Glaurung, first introduced in ''The Silmarillion'', is described as the Father of Dragons in Tolkien's legendarium, and the first of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of ]. He is a main antagonist in '']'', in which he sets in motion events that bring about the protagonist ]'s eventual suicide before being slain by him. Glaurung is shown to use his ability to control and enslave Men using his mind to wipe the memory of Túrin's sister Nienor, though it was restored after Glaurung had perished. He is described as having four legs and the ability to breathe fire, but no wings. |
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===Ancalagon the Black=== |
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Ancalagon the Black (]: ''rushing jaws'' from ''anc'' 'jaw', ''alag'' 'impetuous'<ref>{{ME-ref|LROW|''The Etymologies'', pp. 348, 362}}</ref>) was a dragon bred by ] during the First Age of Middle-earth, as told in '']''. He was one of ]'s most powerful servants, bred to be the greatest and mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged "fire-drakes". He arose like a storm of wind and fire from the infernal pits of ] beneath the ], as a last defense of the realm of ]. Near the end of the ] that pitted Morgoth's hosts against the Host of the ], Morgoth sent Ancalagon to lead 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 flight that the Host of the Valar was driven back from the gates of Angband onto the ashy plain of ]. |
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] 'The Blessed' in his powerfully hallowed Elven airborne ship Vingilot, aided by ] and the great ], battled Ancalagon and his dragons for an entire day. At length Eärendil prevailed, casting Ancalagon upon the triple-peaked towers of ], destroying both Ancalagon and the towers. With his last and mightiest defender slain, Morgoth was soon utterly defeated and made captive, thus ending the War of Wrath. |
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Ancalagon the Black was the greatest dragon of Middle-earth, undoubtedly the largest, and is often referred to as the "father of the winged-drakes". Like all other Urulóki, Ancalagon breathed fire, which was said to be hotter than any other known flame. |
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Two extinct genera have been named inspired by Tolkien's dragon. In 1977, an extinct genus of worms from the Cambrian ] was named ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/fossil-gallery/view-species.php?id=96 |title=Ancalagon minor |website=The Burgess Shale |accessdate=19 September 2012}}</ref> and in 1980, an extinct genus of mammal was named ].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Photomacrography of Fossils for Publication |first=Richard |last=Lund|journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=54|issue=1 |date=Jan 1980 |pages=264–266| doi = 10.2307/1304185 |
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| jstor = 1304185 |
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|doi-broken-date=2018-09-04 }}</ref> |
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===Scatha=== |
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Scatha was a mighty "long-worm" of the ]. Little is known of Scatha except that he was slain by ] in the early days of the ] (circa {{ME-date|TA|2000}}). |
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After slaying Scatha, Fram's ownership of his recovered hoard was then disputed by the ] 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. |
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The Éothéod retained at least some of the hoard, and brought it south with them when they settled in ]. The ] that ] gave to ] after the ] came from this hoard. |
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His name was likely taken from ] ''sceaða'', "injurious person, criminal, thief, assassin".<ref>J. R. R. Tolkien (1967), '']'', in ] & ] (2005), '']'', Harper Collins, p. 762; {{ISBN|0 00 720308 X}}</ref> |
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===Smaug=== |
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{{main|Smaug}} |
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] |
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Smaug was the last named dragon of Middle-earth. He was slain by ], a descendant of ], Lord of Dale. A deadly winged fire-breathing dragon, he was described as red-gold in colour and his underbelly was encrusted with many gemstones from the treasure-pile he commonly slept upon once he had taken control of ] (the Lonely Mountain). The ] was buried right in the pile he slept on, but Smaug never noticed it. Smaug had only a single weakness: there was a hole in his jewel encrusted underbelly on his left breast area. ] discovered this, which led to Smaug's death above ].<ref name="The Hobbit">Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937),Douglas A. Anderson, ed., The Annotated Hobbit, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002, {{ISBN|0-618-13470-0}}</ref> |
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==Non-canon dragons== |
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When the company ] gained the licensing rights for games made from Tolkien's books, they expanded the selection of named dragons considerably in both ] and ], a ] set in Middle-earth. Also in the ] '']'', based on ], there is a dragon named Drogoth. |
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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, Thorog, resurrected by the forces of the ] to aid him in maintaining control over the ]. Though not all dragons were mentioned by name in the official texts, names coming from sources other than Tolkien are said{{who|date=March 2016}} not to be "]". |
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In a later expansion of the game, '']'', a raid of 12 or 24 players takes place in the lair of Draigoch, another dragon in the Misty Mountains, though much further south in ]. He, unlike Thorog, is alive, though similarly flies and breathes fire. |
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In '']'', players encounter the dragon Úrgost and must ally with him against Agandaûr. |
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==See also== |
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{{Portal|Middle-earth}} |
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*] |
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*] |
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==Notes and references== |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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* {{Tolkien Gateway|Dragons}} |
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{{Middle-earth peoples and animals}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon (Middle-Earth)}} |
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] |
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] |
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