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Where Have All the Dragons Gone? - Page 4

© Michael Martinez

Glaurung felt such pain he leaped across the ravine and thrashed around on the far side, spewing flames until he became too weak to continue. The sight of the dying dragon would have been horrific to anyone nearby. Turin simply strode back across the ravine and drew his sword out of the dragon's belly. And yet Glaurung was still living, and he had enough strength to stare at Turin again, and use what remained of his power to overcome Turin's will and cause him to faint. Killing the old dragon was just not an easy task, and there was no greater warrior than Turin in his day. So could Turin have done the deed without the element of surprise? I don't think so. Simply stabbing Glaurung in the belly wasn't sufficient. Azaghal had done that, but his blade was too short. The wound had to be deep and I doubt most weapons would have sunk that deep. The Noldor most likely didn't have dragons in mind when they made their weapons. The Elves didn't do all that badly a few years later when dragons helped destroy the city of Gondolin. Turgon's people had learned much from Maeglin, Eol's son, about mining and smithing. That's not to say they actually killed any dragons. Rather, it took all night for the dragons, orcs, and balrogs to destroy most of Turgon's people. These dragons had probably not yet come to their full growth. But it may also be that Gondolin was simply better defended than Nargothrond, whose army had perished mostly in the open field. Still, since the Dagor Bragollach the score had become dragons 4, elves 0, dwarves 1/2. Turin remained the only individual to actually kill a dragon until the end of the First Age. Then Morgoth unleashed the winged dragons against the Host of Valinor. If the ground-based dragons were formidable the flying dragons were overwhelming, and the Host gave way before them until Earendil and the Eagles of Manwe arrived to do battle. Tolkien doesn't tell us how long the battle lasted, but it was probably not a short one. Many Eagles must have perished but also many dragons, including Ancalagon himself. Ancalagon appears only briefly in The Silmarillion, but Gandalf mentions him knowledgeably when speaking with Frodo. I infer from Gandalf's remark that the great dragon must have terrorized the Host of Valinor for quite some time. He had not only been named, he was still remembered with a certain awe and dread nearly 7,000 years later.

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