Where Be Dragons?

[paranoid marvin]

One thing that I was always curious of when reading the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy - especially just after finishing The Hobbit - was 'Where are the dragons?'. It seems curious that whilst the preceding tale has one of these mighty creatures at its' heart, the following 3 should mention them not at all (or at least not to my recollection). Surely such fierce and terrible creatures would have been of great use to Sauron , and - whilst they may have been far from invulnerable - would have created devastation , and struck terror into the hearts of their enemies.

Would the outcome of the battle at Minas Tirith been different if Aragorn's fleet had been reduced to cinders? Would the gallant defence of Helms Deep have been so effective if Treebeard and his bretheren had been reduced to ash?

In fact , would have dragons supported Saruman or Sauron? From what we learnt of Smaug , they are no lovers of men and are quite fearless when threatened. I doubt they would be able to be forced into servitude , or even tricked by the gilded tongue of the Enemy - but it is possible they could be bribed , and perhaps the promise of further mountains of gold would have been enough to persuade them to rouse themselves from their slumber to aid the Dark Lord in his conquest for Middle Earth.

 

[The Ace]

Most of the dragons were wiped out, along with many of Morgoth's servants, when Angband was destroyed at the end of the first age.

Like the Balrog, a few survived but not that many and constant warfare with the dwarves had probably killed many of the survivors.

After the fall of Smaug, there just weren't enough dragons to make a difference and, as dragons live alone and serve no-one, Sauron'd be unlikely to win any of them over.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Most of the dragons were wiped out, along with many of Morgoth's servants, when Angband was destroyed at the end of the first age.

Like the Balrog, a few survived but not that many and constant warfare with the dwarves had probably killed many of the survivors.

After the fall of Smaug, there just weren't enough dragons to make a difference and, as dragons live alone and serve no-one, Sauron'd be unlikely to win any of them over.

If Saruman had had just ONE fire-breather , he would have wiped out the Ents, possibly have re-captured Merry & Pippin , and almost certainly have uncovered the plans of Frodo; it could have altered the entire outcome of the War.

Whatever the speculation, it is curious that they aren't even mentioned though (unless you count The Green Dragon! )

 

[chopper]

With the ending of the Third Age, which LOTR is concerned with, nearly all of the mythical and magical creatures and races had either gone "into the west" or just died out: the Ents, which by Treebeard's own admission were forgetting who they were; the Elves leaving Middle Earth en masse; the Wizards all gone or dead; even the Dwarfs seem less than they were before. JRRT takes a lot of time to show that the elder races are diminished, that they have been supplanted by mankind. He tried writing stuff set in the new Fourth Age, but realised quickly that it had none of the qualities that the likes of the Hobbit or the Silmarillion had - it was very mundane writing, if I remember correctly, and he could not find a story to tell.

All of which is going 'round the Wrekin to say: Smaug, as a mythical and magical creature (and dragons in general) can be seen as the last of dragonkind, old and diminished, and ignominiously slain by these upstart humans. Perhaps there weren't any more dragns after Smaug. LOTR is the last rallying battle of JRRT's epic forces.

 

[j d worthington]

Whatever the speculation, it is curious that they aren't even mentioned though (unless you count The Green Dragon! )

Well, they are, actually, if only in the appendices. More is gone into with the Silmarillion on why there weren't many around and the fact they would simply not ally themselves with anyone, following the fall of Morgoth, their creator -- Ace has gone into that.

There are also mentions of the dragons once again "multiplying" in the North, and their plundering of the hoards of the Dwarves in the History of Middle-earth (cf., for example, XII.252, 275).

But, in the main, I think it was simply because, as noted, the nature of the beasties was to be no one's ally, let alone servant; even Sauron would have found himself having a tough time with that one -- remember that (despite his own views on the matter) Shelob was certainly not under his control/command; she was merely useful where she was; at best, the situation would be the same with the Great Worms....

 

[paranoid marvin]

Thanks you three guys for the replies to my question. To be honest , I actually felt a bit sorry for Smaug in The Hobbit - sure , I wouldn't fancy living near a real dragon and I guess he got what he deserved , but I couldn't help feeling sad when his life was extinguished by Bard. He didn't seem particularly evil - just like a wasp that stings or a snake that bites , he was what he was.

 

[Professor 0110]

I think Smaug was the last dragon on Middle-Earth.

In any case, there were other creatures that wouldn't participate in the Last Battle against the shadow. Gildor's elves whom Frodo and company met in Fellowship of the Ring were not going to tangle themselves in the war against the Shadow.

So, even if a dragon did survive, I don't think it would have been interested in fighting someone else's war. Even if the Dark Lord won, he couldn't bend a dragon to his will. At least from my prospective.

 

[Pyan]

I think Smaug was the last dragon on Middle-Earth.

No, not according to Gandalf, speaking eighty-odd years after the Death of Smaug:

...but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough (to destroy the Ring)*

implying that there are still fire-drakes extant, just not as powerful as they were.

* Fellowship of the Ring, Book 1, Chapter II, The Shadow of the Past.

 

[Siberian]

In The Ques of Erebor (Unfinished Tales) Gandalf was indeed concerned that Sauron could have put Smaug to some evil use. So it seems to be a possibility at least.

 

[Dimentio]

They were wiped out by a meteorite causing an ice age.

XD

Sorry... could'nt resist :/

 

[Grimward]

And just to throw in my 2 cents, Tolkien never explored the Withered Heath any further in The Lord of the Rings. Had he looked in that direction, maybe he would have found his fourth age story, despite the waning of magic and the races other than men. Then again, his major desire being to get his first age stories published (which didn't happen until after his death), be probably felt that:

1. the lack of a compelling story fourth age story;
2. the fact that he'd already done a book prominently featuring a dragon in Middle Earth; and
3. the lack (in his eyes) of his published Silmarillion foundation for his readers

were more than enough reason to focus his non-university energies elsewhere....

 

[Kimbo]

A curious question indeed.

It was never mentioned that Bilbo's dragon was the last of it's kind so you would imagine there would be plenty of them around. Writers privilage I suspect

 

[River Boy]

Dragons still lived in the Grey Mountains at least, Smaug was the last of them big and powerful enough to trouble the world of men, but it's still why Gandalf made the dwarfs and Bilbo travel through Mirkwood rather than around it and past the Grey Mountains.

There's something in the Appendix of LOTR where Gandalf speculates that Sauron may have wanted to use Smaug if he grew in power again and Gandalf's support for Thorin was due to this anxiety, at the same time he was troubling the White Council to remove the Necromancer (Sauron) from Dol Guldur. Although dragons are solitary the Dark Lord was the natural master of all evil things.

 

[Grimward]

And 2 cents more ( because if you give me the opportunity... )

And yes, Gandalf DID fear the terrible damage Sauron might have done with Smaug, if not for a chance meeting with Thorin. "Dragon fire and savage swords in Eriador, night in Rivendell". On the other hand, Tolkien seemed to go back and forth on the topic of dragons in Letters, at first feeling that "the real fun about orcs and dragons was before their time" (meaning the time of hobbits), indeed supporting the fact that dragons were on their way out, then saying that they "...had not stopped, since they were active in far later times, close to our own".

I'm inclined to agree with those who think Sauron would have found some way to get Smaug to do his bidding, had the opportunity presented itself.