Forum:Dragons of Middle-Earth

Glaurung
Glaurung is the Father of Dragons in Tolkien's legendarium, and the first of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of  Angband. He has four legs, can breathe fire, and does not have wings. Glaurung can control and enslave Men using his mind. He is slain by  Túrin Turambar.

Ancalagon
Melkor  bred Ancalagon during the First Age to be the greatest and mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged ‘fire-drakes’. He arose from the inferno pits of Angband like a storm of wind and fire as a last defence of the realm of   Dor Daedeloth. Near the end of the 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.

From the west, Eärendil 'The Blessed' in his powerfully hallowed Elven airborne ship Vingilot, aided by Thorondor and the great Eagles, dueled with Ancalagon and the dragon fleet for an entire day. However, Eärendil at length prevailed, casting Ancalagon upon the triple-peaked towers of Thangorodrim, destroying both dragon and towers. With his last and mightiest defender slain, Morgoth was soon utterly defeated and made captive, ending the War of Wrath.

Ancalagon the Black is considered to have been the greatest dragon of Middle-earth, undoubtedly the largest, and is often referred to as the ‘father of the winged-drakes’. He was so large that his wings were able to blot out the light of the sun, even from afar, and his body was able to crush the volcanic Thangorodrim, the highest peaks in Beleriand. Like all other Urulóki, Ancalagon breathed fire, which was said to be hotter than any other known flame.

Scatha
Scatha  was a mighty "long-worm" of the   Grey Mountains<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">. Little is known of Scatha except that he was slain by <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">  Fram<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">son of <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">  Frumgar<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">  <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">(an ancestor of <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">  Eorl the Young<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">) in the early days of the <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">  Éothéod<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.190340042114258px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px;">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.

Smaug the Magnificent
<span style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">Smaug was the last great dragon of Middle-earth. He was slain by  Bard<span style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">, a descendant of  Girion<span style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">, 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  Erebor<span style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.190340042114258px;"> (the Lonely Mountain). The Arkenstone 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. Bilbo Baggins<span style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.190340042114258px;"> discovered this, which led to Smaug's death above  Esgaroth<span style="font-size:12.727272033691406px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.190340042114258px;">.