In the universe of The Lord of the Rings, there are many creatures and individuals that one does not see in the movies. Much of this is only explored in other works by Tolkien. Long before the events of the Third Age, for example, dragons already existed. The first of them was Glaurung.
Who is Glaurung? Glaurung was the first dragon and appeared for the first time in the year 260 of the First Age (For comparison: The events of The Lord of the Rings took place in the Third Age, over 11,000 years after the start of the First Age). He was created by Morgoth, the greatest evil in Middle-earth, to bolster his forces for war.
Glaurung was not a classic dragon with wings, so he could not fly. He was more like a large lizard with four legs that could breathe fire and speak. For Morgoth’s army, he was a kind of general, leading orcs and balrogs into battle.
Glaurung, the Dragon King
When did Glaurung fight for the first time? His first battle was as a young dragon during the conquest of Angband, which had already lasted 200 years. The Noldor, an elf tribe, attempted to attack Morgoth’s fortress. Glaurung was able to fend them off initially, but the later king of the Noldor, Fingon, was able to drive Glaurung back with archers.
Morgoth was not pleased with this defeat, especially because Glaurung showed himself so early. Following the incident, Morgoth forbade the dragon from leaving the fortress for 200 years. After that time, Morgoth’s troops struck back, and Glaurung, who led the largest army of orcs and balrogs, broke the conquest.
17 years later, the Maedhros Alliance – a coalition of Noldor, Dwarves, Edain, Easterlings, and Faladrim – attacked Angband and fought against Morgoth. He also suffered significant losses until Glaurung, now alongside other dragons, entered the battle.
Glaurung was able to split the alliance and nearly annihilate the Noldor. However, the dwarves of Belegost retaliated. Glaurung killed Azaghâl, who ruled over Belegost, but Azaghâl managed to inflict a severe wound on the dragon.
In the end, Gothmog and his balrogs won the battles for Morgoth.
Even in death, Glaurung caused despair
What happened to Glaurung afterwards? Later, in the year 495 of the First Age, Glaurung intended to attack the city of Nargothrond with an orc army. This was not a problem for Glaurung. During this event, another power of Glaurung was also revealed. He was able to manipulate people with his gaze and words. He caused the people to flee.
After his conquest of Nargothrond, Glaurung ruled for a long time as the dragon king. Three years after the conquest of Nargothrond, Glaurung sent his orc army to Brethil, where Túrin was hiding. There, he lived peacefully and even fell in love with Níniel. She is actually Nienor, Túrin’s sister, but she too was enchanted by Glaurung and lost her memory as a result.
Later, Glaurung himself made his way to Brethil. However, he was met with an ambush and was mortally injured by Túrin, who fell unconscious after the battle. With Glaurung’s death, Níniel realized that she was Túrin’s sister and took her own life.
Later, the man Brandir explained to Túrin what had happened. However, he did not want to believe it and killed Brandir. When he finally realized that Brandir had spoken the truth, Túrin took his own life as well.
His brood lived on
After Glaurung’s death, there were many more dragons. These fought, for example, during the conquest of Gondolin. However, it is unclear whether they are truly descended from him or whether Morgoth created the other dragons as well. The dragons Acalagon and Smaug are, unlike Glaurung, flying dragons with wings that can also breathe fire.
Glaurung was, of course, not the only creature that caused fear and terror alongside Morgoth. One of these beings was the monster Ungoliant. The influence of this monster is still felt by Frodo: An evil creature in The Lord of the Rings terrorized the world of Middle-earth long before Sauron
