Was Smaug the last 🐲dragon?

[Snaga]

Was Smaug the last dragon? Gandalf says if the events in the Hobbit hadn't taken place Sauron would have used Smaug to terrible effect. So weren't there any more that Sauron could use?

 

[Lord T]

If i remember correctly Gandalf said that the Rings could be destroyed by dragon fire but that there were none left.
I dont think anything else about the dragons was mentioned anywhere else so im assuming that he was the last.

 

[Cian]

Smaug was not the last Dragon. cheer up

 

[Uminya]

Perhaps there are only young 'dragons' (wyverns or drakes?) left in the Withered Heath. No Great Dragons or Wurms, though, I should say.

 

[druid]

Hi all

Lord T

If I'm not greatly mistaken Ganadalf says that not even dragons fire could unmake the ring, only the fire from whence it came, ie mount doom

and i would nearly risk to say that smaug was the last of his kind, but my memory is fussy and my copy of the hobbit not at hand

 

[Moonbeams]

Well, I never read that all dragons were extinct in ME, and that Smaug was the last.
Maybe the others were just too far off, too far for Sauron to call them to come and do some damage.

 

[Cian]

"Dragons. They had not stopped; since they were active in far later times, close to our own. Have I said anything to suggest the final ending of Dragons? If so it should be altered. The only passage that I can think of is Vol 1 p. 70: 'there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think, that there are still dragons, if not of full primeval stature." JRRT

 

[EverEve]

umm....i always thought that smaug wuz the last dragon...didnt gandalf say that? and in the beginning of the fellowship of the rings, sum hobbit said that the only dragon left wuz the green dragon (the pub)

 

[Ståle]

Actually, at least the Seven could be destroyed by dragonfire(4 of them did), so it's probable that at least the Three and the Nine could be consumed by them.

Hence, unless Dragons were totally utterly evil, the good guys could have had a great weapon against the Nazgul.

 

[Snaga]

As far as dragons and rings go I think that only the One is immune, since it alone was forged in Mt Doom.

Stale you say

Hence, unless Dragons were totally utterly evil, the good guys could have had a great weapon against the Nazgul.

I think it is a safe bet that all dragons were evil. Didn't Melkor make them? Anyone with a copy of Sil to hand know?

Even if they were not totally evil, I can't see them wanting to go up against the Nazgul just because they wanted to do good. You'd need a ring of power to control them. Anyway I don't think the Nazgul actually carried their rings around with them - other debates elsewhere seem to conclude S kept them in Barad Dur.

 

[druid]

Well you're right about Melkor creating the dragons and I do get the impression that they are evil being conceived of evil

just my op thought

 

[Bucky]

>>>If i remember correctly Gandalf said that the Rings could be destroyed by dragon
fire but that there were none left.

Gandalf actually says "There is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough".

So, he doesn't actually say there are no dragons left, but that those left are getting old....


BTW, what's a 'wyvern'?
Never heard that one before.

 

[Greymantle]

In D&D, wyverns are dragon-like in shape, but smaller, barb-tailed and without that pesky fire breath. But I don't know how that translates to Tolkien.

 

[Bucky]

I would expect that a few 'Cold Drakes' (wingless Dragon, correct) remain in The Withered Heath, but they're old & not going anywhere.....

 

[Cian]

'there is not now any dragon left on earth
in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think, that there are still dragons, if not of full primeval stature." JRRT

Tolkien's comment on his own sentence is that it implies that though there are none left of comparable "full primeval" stature, there are still Dragons.

Dragons had bred since the Old Days notably, and were said to have "multiplied" and became "strong again" at one point in the TA, afflicting the Dwarves (a great cold-drake slew Dáin I and Frór for example). Smaug was said to be the greatest of his contemporaries:

"... Smaug the Golden, greatest of the dragons of his day ..." Appendix A RotK

 

[Taranir]

Great dragons

Originally posted by Lord T
If i remember correctly Gandalf said that the Rings could be destroyed by dragon fire but that there were none left.

Gandalf said that the One could only be destroyed in Mt. Doom Or by the Greatest of dragons, but there were none left. So, there were dragons but they were not that mighty...

 

[Beleg Strongbow]

Re: Great dragons

Originally posted by Taranir

Originally posted by Lord T
If i remember correctly Gandalf said that the Rings could be destroyed by dragon fire but that there were none left.

Gandalf said that the One could only be destroyed in Mt. Doom Or by the Greatest of dragons, but there were none left. So, there were dragons but they were not that mighty...

Ancalagon and if there were dragons surely sauron would know and try and get themin the war. I'm pretty sure i heard either bilbo, thorin or gandalf say that smaug was the last left but i can't remember were and i haven't got my books.

 

[Tar-Elenion]

In Letter 144 JRRT wrote:

Dragons. They had not stopped; since they were active in far later times, close to our own. Have I said anything to suggest the final ending of dragons? If so it should be altered. The only passage I can think of is Vol. I p. 70 : 'there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think, that there are still dragons, if not of full primeval stature.

 

[ssgrif]

The Encyclopedia of Arda states that:

Smaug was the last of the great fire-drakes, and said to be the greatest dragon of his time.

I've looked at the Bibliography section of the site, and most (if not all) of Tolkiens works are used, so can we say that Smaug was indeed the last?

 

[Cian]

I think we can say Smaug was not the last Dragon.

Tar-Elenion and I have posted a Tolkien quote (I posted part of it twice) that says as much In my opinion

'there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think, that there are still dragons, if not of full primeval stature.' JRRT