Make room for dragons: Re: Dragons in the Second Age

» LordHenry - Re: Dragons in the Second Age

In response to message posted by desertblue:

As always Michael Martinez has written an insightful and thought provoking article. However, there is one important fact relating to this topic that he has omitted--the seven rings of the Dwarf lords. Of those rings, three were eventually taken back by Sauron, and the others perished in dragonfire.
When did these encounters of dwarf vs. dragon occur? Were they conflicts of the late Second Age, or perhaps the Third?
I do not think these questions have answers. As with so many things that we fans obsess upon (the other Istari, etc.) I don't think Tolkien ever gave any real thought to it. Therefore, there is no real answer to this question. And this again points to the perils of "canonizing" Tolkien--if Tolkien had an answer, was it an answer that he considered written in stone; or, like so much of his writing, was it an idea flexible in its validity, capable of being modified as the story revealed itself to Tolkien?

-- posted by LordHenry