Dragon (Middle-earth)
Encyclopedia
J. R. R. Tolkien
's Middle-earth
legendarium
features dragons closely based on those of Europe
an legend.
Besides dragon (derived from French
), Tolkien variously used the terms drake (the original English term, from Old English draca, in turn from Latin
draco) and worm (from Old English wyrm, "serpent", "dragon").
during the First Age
, when Glaurung
, the first dragon, appears. Tolkien's dragons are capable of breeding on their own, and in later ages the Withered Heath is purportedly their spawning ground.
system for dragons, based on locomotion and fire-breathing.
Some dragons (Glaurung
) walk on four legs, like Komodo dragon
s or other lizards. Other dragons (Ancalagon, Smaug
) can both walk on four legs and fly using wings. Winged dragons are first witnessed during the War of Wrath
, the battle that ended the First Age.
Dragons who can breathe fire were called Urulóki (singular Urulokë), "Fire-drakes". It is not entirely clear whether the term "Urulóki" referred only to the first dragons such as Glaurung that could breathe fire but were wingless, or to any dragon that could breathe fire, and thus include Smaug. In Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien mentions a "Cold-drake". It is commonly assumed, though not directly stated, that this term indicates a dragon which cannot breathe fire, rather than one who breathes ice or snow. Further, Tolkien calls a fire-breathing dragon in the non-Middle-earth story Farmer Giles of Ham
a "hot" one.
Tolkien calls the dragon Scatha a "long-worm" but does not explicitly explain the term.
), subtle intelligence, immense cunning, great physical strength, and a hypnotic
power called "dragon-spell". They are extremely powerful and dangerous, though they mature very slowly. Because of this, Melkor's first attempts to use them against his enemies fail, as they are not yet powerful enough to be useful in battle. Despite their evil beginnings, they are not purely destructive by nature, as can be seen by Smaug, who wants to be left in peace, though he did force out the dwarves in the lonely mountain.
Dragon-fire (even that of Ancalagon the Black) is described as not being hot enough to melt the One Ring
; however, four of the Dwarven Rings are consumed by Dragon-fire.
, a story separate from the Middle-earth corpus.
is the Father of Dragons in Tolkien's legendarium, and the first of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of Angband. He has four legs, can breathe fire, and does not have wings. Glaurung can control and enslave Men using his mind. He is slain by Túrin Turambar
.
: rushing jaws from anc 'jaw', alag 'impetuous')
The Dark Lord bred Ancalagon during the First Age to be the greatest and mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged ‘fire-drakes’. He arose from the inferno pits of Angband like a storm of wind and fire as a last defence of the realm of Dor Daedeloth. Near the end of the War of Wrath that pitted Morgoth’s hosts against the Host of the Valar
, Morgoth sent Ancalagon leading a fleet of winged dragons from the fortress of Angband to destroy the Dark Lord’s enemies. So powerful was the assault of the dragon fleet that the Host of the Valar was driven back from the gates of Angband onto the ashy plain of Anfauglith.
From the west, Eärendil
'The Blessed' in his powerfully hallowed Elven airborne ship Vingilot, aided by Thorondor and the great Eagles
, dueled with Ancalagon and the dragon fleet for an entire day. However, Eärendil at length prevailed, casting Ancalagon upon the triple-peaked towers of Thangorodrim, destroying both dragon and towers. With his last and mightiest defender slain, Morgoth was soon utterly defeated and made captive, ending the War of Wrath.
Ancalagon the Black is considered to have been the greatest dragon of Middle-earth, undoubtedly the largest, and is often referred to as the ‘father of the winged-drakes’. He was so large that his wings were able to blot out the light of the sun, even from afar, and his body was able to crush the volcanic Thangorodrim
, the highest peaks in Beleriand
. Like all other Urulóki, Ancalagon breathed fire, which was said to be hotter than any other known flame.
.
After slaying Scatha, Fram's ownership of his recovered hoard was then disputed by the Dwarves
of that region. Fram rebuked this claim, sending them instead Scatha's teeth, with the words, "Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by." This led to his death in a feud with the Dwarves, and however the dispute was resolved, Fram's descendants "brought few good tales from the north of that folk" (from The Lord of the Rings). Certainly the Éothéod retained at least some of the hoard, and brought it south with them when they settled in Rohan
. The horn that Éowyn
gave to Merry Brandybuck after the War of the Ring
(many hundred years later) came from this hoard.
His name was likely taken from Anglo-Saxon sceaða, "injurious person, criminal, thief, assassin".
was the last great dragon of Middle-earth. He was slain by Bard, a descendant of Girion, Lord of Dale. A deadly winged fire-breathing dragon, he was described as red-gold in colour and his underbelly was encrusted with many gemstones from the treasure-pile he commonly slept upon once he had taken control of Erebor (the Lonely Mountain). Smaug had only a single weakness: there was a hole in his jewel encrusted underbelly on his left breast area. Bilbo Baggins
discovered this, which led to Smaug's death above Esgaroth
.
. In the late Third Age
, the dragons bred in the Northern Waste and Withered Heath north of the Ered Mithrin. Dáin I of Durin's folk
was killed by a cold-drake.
, the earliest Middle-earth-related narratives written by Tolkien, starting in 1917. The Book of Lost Tales was eventually posthumously published in two volumes as part of The History of Middle-earth
series, which was edited and includes commentary by his son Christopher
.
In the earliest drafts of "The Fall of Gondolin", the Lost Tale that is the basis for The Silmarillion
, Morgoth (here called Melkor) sends mechanical war machines in the form of dragons against the city; some even serve as armoured personnel carriers for Orcs
. These machines do not appear in the published Silmarillion, also edited by Christopher Tolkien, in which real dragons attack the city. As in the later conception of the dragons in the Legendarium, the winged dragons had not yet been devised by Morgoth at the time of the Fall of Gondolin. The first winged dragons were coeval with Ancalagon the Black.
gained the licensing rights for games made from Tolkien's books, they expanded the selection of named dragons considerably in both Middle-earth Role Playing
and The Wizards
, a trading card game set in Middle-earth. Also in the real-time strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
, based on Peter Jackson's film trilogy
, there is a dragon named Drogoth.
In The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
, there are several types of creatures distantly related to dragons. There are giant salamanders, worms (long, quadrupedal serpents) and drakes (smaller, weaker, less intelligent forms of dragons.) There is also an undead dragon in the game, Thorog, resurrected by the forces of the Witch-king of Angmar
to aid him in maintaining control over the Misty Mountains
. Though not all dragons were mentioned by name in the official texts, names coming from sources other than Tolkien are said not to be "canonical
".
In a later expansion of the game, The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard
, a raid of 12 or 24 players takes place in the layer of Draigoth, another dragon in the Misty Mountains, though much further south in Enedwaith. He, unlike Thorog, is alive, though similarly flies and breathes fire.
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
legendarium
Legendarium
Legendary may refer to:*A hagiography, or study of the lives of saints and other religious figures**The South English Legendary, a Middle English legendary*A legend-Entertainment:*Legendary, an album by Kaysha*Legendary...
features dragons closely based on those of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an legend.
Besides dragon (derived from French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
), Tolkien variously used the terms drake (the original English term, from Old English draca, in turn from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
draco) and worm (from Old English wyrm, "serpent", "dragon").
History
The dragons were created by MorgothMorgoth
Morgoth Bauglir is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. He is the main antagonist of The Silmarillion, figures in The Children of Húrin, and is mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings.Melkor was the most powerful of the Ainur, but turned to darkness and became...
during the First Age
First Age
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the First Age, or First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar is the heroic period in which most of Tolkien's early legends are set...
, when Glaurung
Glaurung
Glaurung is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the first of the Dragons. He is also a major antagonist in The Children of Húrin. He was known as The Deceiver, The Golden, The Great Worm and the Worm of...
, the first dragon, appears. Tolkien's dragons are capable of breeding on their own, and in later ages the Withered Heath is purportedly their spawning ground.
Taxonomy
Tolkien designed his own taxonomicTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
system for dragons, based on locomotion and fire-breathing.
Some dragons (Glaurung
Glaurung
Glaurung is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the first of the Dragons. He is also a major antagonist in The Children of Húrin. He was known as The Deceiver, The Golden, The Great Worm and the Worm of...
) walk on four legs, like Komodo dragon
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon , also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of in rare cases...
s or other lizards. Other dragons (Ancalagon, Smaug
Smaug
Smaug is a fictional character in the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. He is a dragon, and the main antagonist within the story.-The Hobbit:...
) can both walk on four legs and fly using wings. Winged dragons are first witnessed during the War of Wrath
War of Wrath
The War of Wrath, or the Great Battle, is a key plot development in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, portraying the final war against Morgoth at the end of the First Age....
, the battle that ended the First Age.
Dragons who can breathe fire were called Urulóki (singular Urulokë), "Fire-drakes". It is not entirely clear whether the term "Urulóki" referred only to the first dragons such as Glaurung that could breathe fire but were wingless, or to any dragon that could breathe fire, and thus include Smaug. In Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
Tolkien mentions a "Cold-drake". It is commonly assumed, though not directly stated, that this term indicates a dragon which cannot breathe fire, rather than one who breathes ice or snow. Further, Tolkien calls a fire-breathing dragon in the non-Middle-earth story Farmer Giles of Ham
Farmer Giles of Ham
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is a Medieval fable written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937 and published in 1949. The story describes the encounters between Farmer Giles and a wily dragon named Chrysophylax, and how Giles manages to use these to rise from humble beginnings to rival the king of the land...
a "hot" one.
Tolkien calls the dragon Scatha a "long-worm" but does not explicitly explain the term.
Other characteristics
All of Tolkien's dragons share a love of treasure (especially goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
), subtle intelligence, immense cunning, great physical strength, and a hypnotic
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
power called "dragon-spell". They are extremely powerful and dangerous, though they mature very slowly. Because of this, Melkor's first attempts to use them against his enemies fail, as they are not yet powerful enough to be useful in battle. Despite their evil beginnings, they are not purely destructive by nature, as can be seen by Smaug, who wants to be left in peace, though he did force out the dwarves in the lonely mountain.
Dragon-fire (even that of Ancalagon the Black) is described as not being hot enough to melt the One Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
; however, four of the Dwarven Rings are consumed by Dragon-fire.
Named dragons
Tolkien named only four dragons in his Middle-earth writings. Another, Chrysophylax Dives, appears in Farmer Giles of HamFarmer Giles of Ham
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is a Medieval fable written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937 and published in 1949. The story describes the encounters between Farmer Giles and a wily dragon named Chrysophylax, and how Giles manages to use these to rise from humble beginnings to rival the king of the land...
, a story separate from the Middle-earth corpus.
Glaurung
GlaurungGlaurung
Glaurung is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the first of the Dragons. He is also a major antagonist in The Children of Húrin. He was known as The Deceiver, The Golden, The Great Worm and the Worm of...
is the Father of Dragons in Tolkien's legendarium, and the first of the Urulóki, the Fire-drakes of Angband. He has four legs, can breathe fire, and does not have wings. Glaurung can control and enslave Men using his mind. He is slain by Túrin Turambar
Túrin Turambar
Túrin Turambar is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. "Turambar and the Foalókë", begun in 1917, is the first appearance of Túrin in the legendarium. J.R.R...
.
Ancalagon
Ancalagon: (SindarinSindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
: rushing jaws from anc 'jaw', alag 'impetuous')
The Dark Lord bred Ancalagon during the First Age to be the greatest and mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged ‘fire-drakes’. He arose from the inferno pits of Angband like a storm of wind and fire as a last defence of the realm of Dor Daedeloth. Near the end of the War of Wrath that pitted Morgoth’s hosts against the Host of the Valar
Vala (Middle-earth)
The Valar are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are first mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion develops them into the Powers of Arda or the Powers of the World...
, Morgoth sent Ancalagon leading a fleet of winged dragons from the fortress of Angband to destroy the Dark Lord’s enemies. So powerful was the assault of the dragon fleet that the Host of the Valar was driven back from the gates of Angband onto the ashy plain of Anfauglith.
From the west, Eärendil
Eärendil
Eärendil the Mariner is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is depicted in The Silmarillion as a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried the morning star across the sky.-Etymology:...
'The Blessed' in his powerfully hallowed Elven airborne ship Vingilot, aided by Thorondor and the great Eagles
Eagle (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the eagles were immense flying birds that were sapient and could speak. Often emphatically referred to as the Great Eagles, they appear, usually and intentionally serving as agents of deus ex machina , in various parts of his legendarium,...
, dueled with Ancalagon and the dragon fleet for an entire day. However, Eärendil at length prevailed, casting Ancalagon upon the triple-peaked towers of Thangorodrim, destroying both dragon and towers. With his last and mightiest defender slain, Morgoth was soon utterly defeated and made captive, ending the War of Wrath.
Ancalagon the Black is considered to have been the greatest dragon of Middle-earth, undoubtedly the largest, and is often referred to as the ‘father of the winged-drakes’. He was so large that his wings were able to blot out the light of the sun, even from afar, and his body was able to crush the volcanic Thangorodrim
Thangorodrim
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Thangorodrim was a group of three volcanic mountains in the Iron Mountains in the north of Middle-earth during the First Age...
, the highest peaks in Beleriand
Beleriand
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work The Silmarillion, which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic...
. Like all other Urulóki, Ancalagon breathed fire, which was said to be hotter than any other known flame.
Scatha
Scatha was a mighty "long-worm" of the Grey Mountains, little is known of Scatha except that he was slain by Fram son of Frumgar (an ancestor of Eorl the Young) in the early days of the ÉothéodÉothéod
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Éothéod were a group of Northmen who became the ancestors of the Rohirrim. The word, meaning "horse people", is a compound of the Old English words éoh and théod ; it is cognate with Old Norse jóþjóð...
.
After slaying Scatha, Fram's ownership of his recovered hoard was then disputed by the Dwarves
Dwarf (Middle-earth)
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting the world of Arda, a fictional prehistoric Earth which includes the continent Middle-earth....
of that region. Fram rebuked this claim, sending them instead Scatha's teeth, with the words, "Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by." This led to his death in a feud with the Dwarves, and however the dispute was resolved, Fram's descendants "brought few good tales from the north of that folk" (from The Lord of the Rings). Certainly the Éothéod retained at least some of the hoard, and brought it south with them when they settled in Rohan
Rohan
Rohan is a realm in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy era of Middle-earth. It is a grassland which lies north of its ally Gondor and north-west of Mordor, the realm of Sauron, their enemy . It is inhabited by the Rohirrim, a people of herdsmen and farmers who are well-known for their horses and cavalry....
. The horn that Éowyn
Éowyn
Éowyn is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, who appears in his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings. She is a noblewoman of Rohan who describes herself as a "shieldmaiden".-Literature:...
gave to Merry Brandybuck after the War of the Ring
War of the Ring
In the fictional high fantasy-world of J. R. R. Tolkien, the War of the Ring was fought between Sauron and the free peoples of Middle-earth for control of the One Ring and dominion over the continent. The War of the Ring took place at the end of the Third Age. Together with the Quest of Mount Doom,...
(many hundred years later) came from this hoard.
His name was likely taken from Anglo-Saxon sceaða, "injurious person, criminal, thief, assassin".
Smaug the Magnificent
SmaugSmaug
Smaug is a fictional character in the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. He is a dragon, and the main antagonist within the story.-The Hobbit:...
was the last great dragon of Middle-earth. He was slain by Bard, a descendant of Girion, Lord of Dale. A deadly winged fire-breathing dragon, he was described as red-gold in colour and his underbelly was encrusted with many gemstones from the treasure-pile he commonly slept upon once he had taken control of Erebor (the Lonely Mountain). Smaug had only a single weakness: there was a hole in his jewel encrusted underbelly on his left breast area. Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R...
discovered this, which led to Smaug's death above Esgaroth
Esgaroth
Esgaroth, or Lake-town is a fictitious community of Men upon the Long Lake, in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. The town is constructed entirely of wood and stands upon wooden pillars sunk into the bed of the Long Lake, south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood...
.
Other dragons
Other dragons were present at the Fall of GondolinFall of Gondolin
In the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, the "Fall of Gondolin" is the name of one of the original Lost Tales which formed the basis for a section in his later work, The Silmarillion....
. In the late Third Age
Third Age
The Third Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. The history of Middle-earth is to be taken fictionally as a history of the real Earth....
, the dragons bred in the Northern Waste and Withered Heath north of the Ered Mithrin. Dáin I of Durin's folk
Durin's folk
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Durin's folk, also known as the Longbeards, were the most important clan of Dwarves. Their name comes from that of their first king, Durin I "The Deathless". They were the eldest and greatest of the seven Dwarf-clans.They originally...
was killed by a cold-drake.
Earlier conceptions
Dragons are already present in The Book of Lost TalesThe Book of Lost Tales
The Book of Lost Tales is the title of a collection of early stories by J. R. R. Tolkien, and of the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series The History of Middle-earth, in which he presents and analyses the manuscripts of those stories, which were the earliest form of the...
, the earliest Middle-earth-related narratives written by Tolkien, starting in 1917. The Book of Lost Tales was eventually posthumously published in two volumes as part of The History of Middle-earth
The History of Middle-earth
The History of Middle-earth is a 12-volume series of books published from 1983 through to 1996 that collect and analyse material relating to the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien. Some of the content consists of earlier versions of already published...
series, which was edited and includes commentary by his son Christopher
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher Reuel Tolkien is the third and youngest son of the author J. R. R. Tolkien , and is best known as the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. He drew the original maps for his father's The Lord of the Rings, which he signed C. J. R. T. The J...
.
In the earliest drafts of "The Fall of Gondolin", the Lost Tale that is the basis for The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, Morgoth (here called Melkor) sends mechanical war machines in the form of dragons against the city; some even serve as armoured personnel carriers for Orcs
Orc (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Orcs or Orks are a race of creatures who are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings — Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman...
. These machines do not appear in the published Silmarillion, also edited by Christopher Tolkien, in which real dragons attack the city. As in the later conception of the dragons in the Legendarium, the winged dragons had not yet been devised by Morgoth at the time of the Fall of Gondolin. The first winged dragons were coeval with Ancalagon the Black.
Non-canon dragons
When the company Iron Crown EnterprisesIron Crown Enterprises
Iron Crown Enterprises was a publisher of role playing, board, miniature battle, and collectible card games.ICE was incorporated in 1980 shortly after the principal founders graduated from the University of Virginia...
gained the licensing rights for games made from Tolkien's books, they expanded the selection of named dragons considerably in both Middle-earth Role Playing
Middle-earth Role Playing
Middle-earth Role Playing is a 1984 role-playing game based on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien under license from Tolkien Enterprises. Iron Crown Enterprises published the game until they lost the license on 22 Sep 1999.-Setting:The setting for MERP is an expanded version of J. R. R...
and The Wizards
Middle-earth Collectible Card Game
Middle-earth Collectible Card Game is a collectible card game released by Iron Crown Enterprises in late 1995. It is the first CCG based on J.R.R...
, a trading card game set in Middle-earth. Also in the real-time strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, abbreviated BFMEII, is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is based on the fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and its live-action film trilogy adaptation...
, based on Peter Jackson's film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
, there is a dragon named Drogoth.
In The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows set in a fantasy universe based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings...
, there are several types of creatures distantly related to dragons. There are giant salamanders, worms (long, quadrupedal serpents) and drakes (smaller, weaker, less intelligent forms of dragons.) There is also an undead dragon in the game, Thorog, resurrected by the forces of the Witch-king of Angmar
Witch-king of Angmar
The Witch-king of Angmar, also known as the Lord of the Nazgûl and the Black Captain among other names, is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. In Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, he is the chief of the Nazgûl , the chief servants...
to aid him in maintaining control over the Misty Mountains
Misty Mountains
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, the Misty Mountains is a mountain range, running for 795 miles from north to south, between Eriador and the valley of the Great River, Anduin, and...
. Though not all dragons were mentioned by name in the official texts, names coming from sources other than Tolkien are said not to be "canonical
Middle-earth canon
The term Middle-earth canon, also called Tolkien's canon, is used to loosely define the published writings of J. R. R. Tolkien regarding Middle-earth as a whole...
".
In a later expansion of the game, The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard
The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard
The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard is the latest expansion pack for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, released on September 27, 2011...
, a raid of 12 or 24 players takes place in the layer of Draigoth, another dragon in the Misty Mountains, though much further south in Enedwaith. He, unlike Thorog, is alive, though similarly flies and breathes fire.