Changes: Cold-drakes

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Cold-Drakes were dragons that lacked the great power of all of Middle-earth's most infamous dragons (Ancalagon, Glaurung, and Smaug): the ability to breathe fire. Nonetheless, they were strong foes with their iron-hard scales, wicked claws, bold tail and terrible fangs.

History

Though most were wiped out during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, many survived in the far north above the Grey Mountains and in the Withered Heath. As the millennia passed, the cold-drakes multiplied and became a serious threat to the Dwarves in the late centuries of the Third Age. Eventually, war was declared. In TA 2589, Dáin I, King of Durin's Folk, and his second son Frór were slain at the gates of their own hall by a gigantic cold-drake. With the ongoing attacks of these fierce creatures, the majority of the Dwarves decided to migrate eastwards from the Grey Mountains. Soon afterwards, the Iron Hills and the Lonely Mountain became the major dwellings of the Longbeards (the inhabitants of Khazad-dûm). Tolkien gives no hint to the history of the cold-drakes after this time period.

Four hundred years later, at the time of Bilbo Baggins' journey to Erebor, they seem to have left the Grey Mountains (as implied by Gandalf making no mention of them when describing the dangers of that region).

Speculations

Some of theories regarding dragons' origins claim that the morphology of cold-drakes may be similar to that of 'dragons' before dragons.

They may have been animals originally created by Yavanna (and therefore the first dragons) that were then used by Morgoth to breed the much stronger and more wicked Uruloki.

Land-crawling dragons are sometimes considered physically more powerful than their flying kin by some fans. Some of cold-drakes whose fire-breathing ability did not degenerate as much as 'true' ones, could possibly use breaths of vapor mist or smoke, and magical arts such as "death glance" utilized by Gostir (a speculation from the drake's name etymology).

What caused cold-drakes to lose the ability to breath fire is unclear. It might have been due to unnecessary to inherit such means of destruction to consume lots of energy after being freed from restraints under Morgoth's rule, or to hide them from Valar and High Elves after surviving War of Wrath. Selection of capabilities to survive is a common phenomenon among real organisms.

Translations around the world

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Koue jakkalse
Albanian	Dragona të ftohta
Arabic	تنانين البارد
Armenian	Սառը դրակոններ
Azerbaijani	Soyuq əjdahalar
Basque	Hotza herensugeak
Belarusian Cyrillic	Халодныя драконы
Bengali	ঠান্ডা ড্রাগন
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Студени дракони
Catalan	Dracs freds
Croatian	Hladni zmajevi
Czech	Chladní draci
Dutch	Koudedraken
Estonian	Külma draakonid
Faroese	Kaldadrekarnir
Finnish	Hyykäärmeet
Danish	Koldedrager
Georgian	ცივი დრაკონები
German	Kaltdrachen
Greek	Κρύους δράκους
Gujarati	ઠંડા ડ્રેગન
Hebrew	דרקוני הקור
Hindi	कोल्ड ड्रेगन
Hungarian	Hideg-sárkányok
Icelandic	Kaldirdrekar
Indonesian	Naga-naga dingin
Italian	Draghi freddi
Japanese	冷血竜
Kazakh	Суық айдаһарлар (Cyrillic) Swıq aydaharlar (Latin)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Суук-ажыдаарлар
Laotian	ມັງກອນເຢັນ
Latvian	Auksti pūķi
Lithuanian	Šalti drakonai
Luxembourgish	Kaledraachen
Macedonian Cyrillic	Ладни змејови
Malaysian	Naga-naga sejuk
Mongolian Cyrillic	Хүйтэн луунууд
Nepalese	ठण्ड ड्रेगनहरू
Norwegian	Kaldedrager
Persian	اژدهاها سرد
Polish	Smoki zimne
Portuguese	Dragões frios
Romanian	Dragonii rece
Russian	Холодные драконы
Scottish Gaelic	Drogaichean fuar
Serbian	Хладни змајеви (Cyrillic) Hladni zmajevi (Latin)
Sinhalese	සීතල මකරුන්
Slovak	Chladní draci
Slovenian	Hladni zmaji
Spanish	Dragones frios
Swedish	Kalldrakar
Tamil	குளிர் டிராகன்கள்
Telugu	కోల్డ్ డ్రాగన్స్
Thai	มังกรเย็น
Turkish	Soğuk ejderhalar
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Холодні-дракони
Vietnamese	Lạnh Con rồng
Uzbek	Совуқ аждарлар (Cyrillic) Sovuq ajdarlar (Latin)
Welsh	Dreigiau Oer
Yiddish	קאַלט דראַגאָנס ?
Yoruba	Tutu dragoni

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+{{NeedsReferences}}[[File:cold-drake.gif|thumb|250px|A Cold-drake, possibly [[Gostir]], by Kevin Ward]]
-{{NeedsReferences}}
-[[File:cold-drake.gif|thumb|250px|A Cold-drake, possibly [[Gostir]], by Kevin Ward]]
 '''Cold-Drakes''' were [[dragons]] that lacked the great power of all of [[Middle-earth]]'s most infamous dragons ([[Ancalagon]], [[Glaurung]], and [[Smaug]]): the ability to breathe fire. Nonetheless, they were strong foes with their iron-hard scales, wicked claws, bold tail and terrible fangs.
@@ Line 16: / Line 15: @@
 * Land-crawling dragons are sometimes considered physically more powerful than their flying kin by some fans. Some of cold-drakes whose fire-breathing ability did not degenerate as much as 'true' ones, could possibly use breaths of vapor mist or smoke, and magical arts such as "death glance" utilized by [[Gostir]] (a speculation from the drake's name etymology).
+* What caused cold-drakes to lose the ability to breath fire is unclear. It might have been due to unnecessary to inherit such means of destruction to consume lots of energy after being freed from restraints under [[Morgoth]]'s rule, or to hide them from [[Valar]] and [[High Elves]] after surviving [[War of Wrath]]. Selection of capabilities to survive is a common phenomenon among real organisms.
 ==Translations around the world==
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