Where Have All the Dragons Gone? - Page 2
© Michael Martinez
When time came to tell the tale of a Hobbit, Tolkien needed a monster greater than all other monsters. He had goblins and wolves and spiders, but he wanted something more terrifying, more powerful. He wanted a dragon. Of all the creatures encountered in The Hobbit, only Smaug seems invincible except for the one bare patch on his chest. One could well imagine Beorn charging the dragon in his bear form only to end up burned to a crisp. As great a warrior and hero as Beorn was, he was no match for a dragon.
Bard the Bowman, on the other hand, was the descendant of ancient kings whose realm had been destroyed by Smaug. Fate was on his side, and the power to speak with thrushes. But perhaps if Bard had not had the black arrow which passed down to him from his ancestors of old even his skill and courage might not have been sufficient to bring down the great dragon (which was not green).
The black arrow was made by the Dwarves of Erebor before Smaug destroyed their kingdom. Why should it be a potent weapon against dragons? Dwarves had no love for dragons, and the dragons had certainly been a plague upon the Dwarves. But was the arrow really an "arrow of dragon-slaying" or was it just an arrow of exceptionally good quality?
Tolkien's Dwarf and Dragon conflicts extended all the way back to the First Age. The Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost were allied with the Noldor against Morgoth. Telchar of Nogrod made a helm shaped in the image of Glaurung, father of dragons. This helm was given to Azaghal, lord of Belegost, who in turn gave it to Maedhros, who in turn gave it to Fingon, who in turn gave it to Hador, first Lord of Dor-lomin.
While Hador wore the Dragon-helm he was invincible in battle. Hador may not have worn the dragon-helm when he led a rearguard action for Fingolfin soon after the Dagor Bragollach. Hador and his younger son Gundor fell before the walls of Eithel Sirion, the mighty fortress which protected one of the chief passes over the Ered Wethrin into Hithlum. Galdor the Tall, Hador's elder son, inherited the dragon-helm with his father's lordship, but "Narn i Chin Hurin" says that "by ill-fortune Galdor did not wear it when he defended Eithel Sirion", seven years after his father's death, "for the assault was sudden, and he ran barehead to the walls, and an orc-arrow pierced his eye."
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