Dragons also known as the Great Worms were evil creatures seen mostly in the northern Middle-earth. They were greedy, cunning, seductive and malicious, probably a corruption devised by Morgoth with the aid of fire and sorcery sometime in the First Age.

Origin and early history

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.

The Father of Dragons was Glaurung, a mighty wyrm 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 Glaurungs plot, she flung herself to her death. Glaurung was finally slain by Túrin, who afterward committed suicide in reaction to Glaurungs plot.

At the Fall of Gondolin, Morgoths foul host included dragons, many and terrible.

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, Ancalagons 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.

After the First Age

It would appear that they fled to the Northern Waste, far from the lands of Men and Elves. At the height of his power Sauron was said to have assembled most of the holdovers of Morgoths forces under his kingship, possibly some of the dragons as well, though no account of the Second Age makes any notable mention of any such servant. Over the centuries, the race of dragons continued to breed and repopulate, particularly in the Withered Heath, an area in between two spurs of the Grey Mountains.

In the late Third Age the dragons of the Withered Heath, stirred perhaps obliviously by the rebirth of all evil with Saurons return, began to harass the Northmen and make war with the Dwarves around the year T.A. 2570 (Dáin I and Frór of Durins Folk were killed by a great cold-drake in 2589). It was perhaps in these wars that dragons swallowed four of the Seven Dwarf-rings.

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 Durins Folk into exile. Smaug remained in the abandoned halls of the Lonely Mountain for many years, much to the concern of the Wizard Gandalf who feared the prospect of Sauron using the Dragon in his host. But that was until the coming of Thorin and Company and their burglar, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. This began a chain of events that led to Smaugs death at the hands of Bard the Bowman.

Although Smaug was the greatest of the dragons of his day, 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 , indicating the presence of other, lesser dragons, weak enough for them to pose no significant threat should Sauron have meant to make use of them.



This painting by J.R.R. Tolkien dates from around 1927-8 and was published in The J.R.R. Tolkien Calendar 1979.

Characteristics
The dragons were huge and longeval, with their lives spanning centuries. They shared a greed of treasure (especially gold), subtle intelligence, immense cunning, great physical strength, and their eyes and words had a hypnotic power called dragon-spell. Those clever enough to avoid the spell never give direct information, but talked vaguely in riddles, since plainly refusing an answer would invite an immediate attack.
Apparently, dragons came from eggs.
It may be that dragons could sport horns.
While dragons were armoured with iron scales, they had a soft spot underneath, in the region of the chest, which could be pierced by blades or darts.
Means of locomotion
Some dragons (Glaurung) crawled like snakes, yet had four legs, like a Tetrapodophis. These must have been the most common type of dragons in the First Age, since the winged fire-dragons only first appeared during the War of Wrath, while the winged Cold-drakes are only reported in Turambar and the Foalókë. These (such as Ancalagon and Smaug) could both walk on four legs and fly using wings. 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.
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.
The dragons who could not breathe fire were known as Cold-drakes. Those were found mainly in Ered Mithrin.

Individual dragons

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 didnt 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.


Gostir — was one of the Dragons of Morgoth only known by name.