Tolkien’s dragons
Dragons are an integral part of many modern fantasy stories, so it’s no surprise that we should find them in the classic forerunner of the genre. I refer, of course, to J.R.R. Tolkien’s collection of writings, known as the “Middle-earth legendarium,” which includes The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and more. In 1938, Tolkien delivered a lecture called “On Fairy Stories,” in which he explained his fascination with dragons in the legends of myth from a young age. It’s no surprise that he later focused on Beowulf’s final nemesis in his paper “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” as well as in his fiction.Naming was always very important to Tolkien, given his love of languages and ancient legends. Within his stories, he referred to dragons, drakes, and worms, and divided the creatures based on details like their method of movement or whether they could breathe fire. The latter were referred to as Uruloki, or “fire-drakes.” Despite Tolkien’s careful attention to detail, he only gives the name of four different dragons in the history of Middle-earth. Perhaps he was trying to maintain some element of the magic and mystique which fascinated him in Beowulf and the King Arthur tales?In any case, we do know where Tolkien’s dragons came from. They were created by Morgoth the Tyrant, a character mentioned only briefly in The Lord of the Rings but featured heavily in The Silmarillion. Glaurung was the first dragon, and was able to breathe fire. Like all of Tolkien’s dragons, he had a great love of treasure, and was resting on it when he was killed.Ancalagon and Scatha are two later dragons found in the writings, but the most infamous and well-known is Smaug, who Bilbo Baggins tangled with in The Hobbit. Smaug has Glaurung’s love of gold as well as his fire breath, and is also implied to have Glaurung’s ability to control minds. Luckily, Bilbo discovered Smaug’s weak spot on his left breast, and the dragon was able to be killed. Although Tolkien didn’t mention any dragons in his writings after Smaug, he implied in letters and conversations that several did survive much later than people might think.