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"Morgoth loosed upon the people of Narog the great host that he had long prepared; and Glaurung the Urulóki passed over Anfauglith."
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXI: "Of Túrin Turambar"

Fire-drakes (in Quenya Urulóki) was one term used for fire-breathing dragons in J.R.R. Tolkien's writings. They may have been a sub-species.

History

First Age

Lord of the rings glaurung by vaejoun-d71q48f

Glaurung, the Father of Dragons, by Vaejoun

Glaurung and Ancalagon were fire-drakes, and were among the most famous of the breed. Glaurung was a key player in the sacking of Nargothrond and in the fulfillment of Morgoth's curse on the children of Húrin. He was a fearsome bane to the Elves.[1] Ancalagon and his armada of winged fire-drakes by themselves drove back the Host of the Valar during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, such was their incredible power.

Fire-drakes also joined the Balrogs in the attack on Gondolin.[2][3]

Second and Third Ages

Smaug lake

Smaug over Lake-town, by John Howe

All but two of (winged) fire-drakes were thought to have been slain during the War of Wrath,[4] and the surviving drakes eventually started to multiply in the far north. During the Second Age, they still posed threats to Men,[5] and Sauron at one point summoned all of Morgoth's remaining forces, but the presence of dragons were not mentioned in the War of the Last Alliance. In TA 2770, Smaug came down from the North and sacked the Lonely Mountain. Later, in TA 2941, Thrór's grandson Thorin Oakenshield returned with a small group to reclaim his grandfather's kingdom, unleashing a chain of events that led to the death of Smaug when he attacked nearby Lake-town and was slain by the Black Arrow shot by Bard the Bowman.[6]

According to Gandalf, there were still dragons shortly prior to the War of the Ring, though they were said to be lesser in nature.[7]

Description

Fire-drakes often grew to immense sizes, and breathed destructive flames and vapours from their mouths and nostrils. The fire from one of these dragons was so intense that it was said to be able to consume and melt the Rings of Power (as became the case with some of the Dwarven Rings), with the exception of the One Ring.[7] The fire also emitted extreme heats from their bodies, enabling them to dry up a river and potentially melt their passage through snow.

Most of the famous dragons throughout the ages were fire-drakes, although only some of them fought for Morgoth.

Tolkien confirmed in a letter that Smaug was the last of his kind, the last of the "great" fire-drakes of Middle-earth. Dragons of lesser stature, such as smaller kin of Cold-drakes and fire-drakes lived on. This was also mentioned by Gandalf.

Etymology

JohnHoweSmaug

Smaug the Golden, by John Howe

In Quenya, Fire-drakes were called Urulóki ("Fire Serpent" or "Fire-dragon"[8][9]), from ur ("heat") and lókë ("snake, serpent").[10][11]

Portrayal in adaptations

The Hobbit film trilogy

In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Thranduil had claimed to face a "fire drake of the North", and presumably suffered damages caused by dragon's fire. It is unknown whether this dragon was in the First Age, or those in the Grey Mountains in later days including Scatha, but seemingly in the Third Age after Smaug's attack on the Lonely Mountain.

Video games

Fire drake

A Fire Drake in BFME 2

In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, "fire-drake" is redefined as a wingless, four-legged dragon, much different and smaller than Tolkien's dragons or "great worms". They breathe flames, and are used by the Goblin faction. Gorkil the Goblin King can summon three of them as his final power.

"Fire-drake broods" are triplets of smaller fire-drakes, introduced in The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king. They arise in groups of three and their combined attack is just as powerful as their larger cousins; only two fire-drake broods can be recruited at one time.

In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Úrgost is a winged fire-drake who lives in the Grey Mountains. Agandaûr offers him Nordinbad in exchange for his service to Sauron, Úrgost responds by saying you will have your answer in my own good time. Later on he meets the company Farin, Eradan and Andriel and makes a deal with them to bring him Carn Dûm from Agandaûr and he will not fight for Sauron.

Translations

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Vuur drakes
Albanian Dragoi zjarrit
Armenian Կրակ Դրակոններ
Azerbaijani Yanğın əjdahaya
Basque Sua herensugeak
Belarusian Cyrillic Вогненныя драконы
Bengali আগুন ড্রাগন
Bosnian Vatreni zmajevi
Bulgarian Cyrillic Огнените дракони
Cambodian ភ្លើងឆេះ - នាគ
Catalan Dracs de foc
Corsican Dragoni di focu
Croatian Vatreni zmajevi
Czech Oheň draci
Danish Ildsprudende drager
Dutch Vuurdraken
Esperanto Fajrega drakoj
Estonian Tulekahju lohesid
Faroese Eldurdrekar
Finnish Tulikäärmeet
French Drakes d'incendie
Frisian Fjoerdraken (Western)
Galician Dragóns de lume
Georgian ცეცხლი დრაკონები
German Feuerschlange
Greek Φωτιά δράκους
Gujarati ફાયર ડ્રેગન
Hebrew אש דרקונים (Fire-drakes)

אורולוקי (Urulóki)

Hindi आग ड्रेगन
Hungarian Tűz sárkányok
Icelandic Elddrekar
Indonesian Api naga-naga
Irish Gaelic An Dragain dóiteáin
Italian Draghi del fuoco
Japanese 火竜/ウルローキ
Kannada ಬೆಂಕಿ ಡ್ರ್ಯಾಗನ್ಗಳು
Kazakh Өрт драконы (Cyrillic) Ört drakonı (Latin)
Korean 불 드래곤
Kurdish Ejdeha agir (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic От-ажыдаарлар
Laotian ໄຟມັງກອນ
Latin Ignis dracones
Latvian Uguns pūķi
Lithuanian Ugnies drakonai
Luxembourgish Feierdraachen
Macedonian Cyrillic Огнени змејови
Maltese Draguni tan-nar
Maori Nga tarakona ahi
Marathi अग्नि ड्रॅगन
Mongolian Cyrillic Гал луу
Nepalese आगो ड्रेगन
Norwegian Branndrager (Bokmål)

Elddrakes (Nynorsk)

Old English Dracan Fyr
Persian آتش اژدهایان (Fire-drakes)

اورولوکی (Urulóki)

Polish Smoki ogniste
Portuguese Dragões de fogo
Punjabi ਅੱਗ-ਡਰੈਗਨ
Romanian Dragoni de foc
Russian Драконы огня
Scottish Gaelic An Dragain teine
Serbian Ватрени змајеви (Cyrillic) Vatreni zmajevi (Latin)
Sindhi باهه ايجنٽ ?
Sinhalese ගිනි මකරෝ
Slovak Požiaru-drakoch
Slovenian Ogenj-zmajev
Spanish Serpiente de Fuego
Swedish Branddrakar
Tajik Cyrillic Оташ аждаҳои
Tamil தீ டிராகன்கள்
Telugu అగ్ని డ్రాగన్లు
Thai มังกรไฟ
Turkish Ateşsakallar
Ukrainian Cyrillic Вогонь драконів
Urdu آگ ڈریگن
Uzbek Йонғин аждаҳо (Cyrillic) Yong'in ajdaho (Latin)
Vietnamese Rồng lửa
Welsh Dreigiau tân
Xhosa Ii dragons zomlilo
Yiddish פייַער דראַגאָנס
Yoruba Ina dragoni

References

  1. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXI: "Of Túrin Turambar"
  2. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXIII: "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
  3. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter III: "The Fall of Gondolin"
  4. "The Tale of Years", The War of the Jewels, The History of Middle-earth
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, 1977, Akallabeth, The Silmarillion
  6. The Hobbit, Chapter XIV: "Fire and Water"
  7. 7.0 7.1 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter II: "The Shadow of the Past"
  8. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter II: "Turambar and the Foalókë"
  9. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies"
  10. The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin names
  11. Parma Eldalamberon, Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
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