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Glaurung was the first terrestrial, fire-breathing Dragon in Middle-earth. He was known as the Father of Dragons.

Biography

Early years

After suffering a number of defeats at the hands of the Ñoldor in Beleriand, Morgoth came to realize that his armies of Orcs were no match for the Noldor unaided. As such, he began to experiment with ways to create new, deadlier creatures for use in his armies. Glaurung was the result of these experiments. After a century of brooding and growing in the dark pits of Angband, Glaurung first emerged in FA 260 and attacked the Elves maintaining the Siege of Angband. Though Glaurung was not of the winged race that would later arise, he was the greatest terror of his time. He burned and ravaged Ard-galen, the land of the Elves in Hithlum and Dorthonion. However, he was not yet at his full strength, so was driven back by Fingon, the prince of Hithlum at that time, and his archers. Morgoth was displeased with Glaurung for revealing himself before he had grown to full strength, as Morgoth had planned for Glaurung's existence to be a complete surprise.

To Glaurung, this attack was merely a youthful testing of his strength. Terrible as he was to the Elves, the armor of his scales was still vulnerable to the bite of weapons. However, despite his untimely foray, Morgoth's plans were not disrupted.

War upon the Elves

Dagor Bragollach

Lord of the rings glaurung by vaejoun-d71q48f

Glaurung, the black wyrm, by Vaejoun

Glaurung was contained in Angband for another two centuries before he was again loosed during the Fourth Battle of the Battles of Beleriand. Known as the Dagor Bragollach for the fires unleashed by Morgoth from the Iron Mountains, Glaurung in full power led Melkor's forces against the High Elves of Beleriand. Now fully grown, none could withstand his might, and with the Balrogs at his side, Glaurung led the Orcs to an overwhelming victory and broke the siege of Angband.

Nirnaeth Arnoediad

Glaurung by ralphdamiani-d9r1qnu

Glaurung with dark forces by Ralphdamiani

In the fifth battle, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Glaurung caused even more destruction, as he had fathered a brood of lesser Dragons to follow him into battle. So a great army of Elves and Men fell before the onslaught, for none could withstand the Dragonfire save the Dwarves of Belegost, who had come to battle a common foe.

After the Elven and Edain armies had been broken, Morgoth used Glaurung to hold the territories he gained; but force in battle was not the only power the monster knew. He brought many under his sway with the binding power of his serpent eye and hypnotic Dragon Spell.

The Sack of Nargothrond

The Fall Of Nargothrond by WF74

Túrin and Glaurung, by Woutart

After Glaurung aided Morgoth during the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, he was given the assignment to complete the Sack of Nargothrond, one of the Elven fortresses in Beleriand. Glaurung came upon Nargothrond with great force, and sacked the kingdom easily. He faced Túrin, son of Húrin, at the gate and so he froze Túrin with his eyes. Túrin heard the screams of Finduilas, daughter of Orodreth, as he stood there. When the captives had been taken away, Glaurung unfroze Túrin and gave him two choices: the first to follow Finduilas, and the second to aid his mother and sister, who were suffering in Dor-lómin. Túrin chose the latter, and in this way he was deceived by the dragon, for his mother and sister were living well in Doriath. Glaurung then gathered up all the treasures of Felagund and hoarded them deep within Nargothrond's underground halls, he then sat atop his hoard, guarding it jealously, and so he rested.

Last Years

File:Glaurung y Nineor.jpg

Glaurung meeting Nienor.

Glaurung received knowledge of Morwen and Nienor's departure to seek their family members. In the forest where they were travelling, Glaurung found Nienor and caused her to lose her mind. This caused her to run through the forest "like a deer". Soon after this, Túrin found her crying on Finduilas's grave. Not knowing that she was his sister, Túrin named her Níniel (Tear maiden) and took her to his home with the folk of Brandir. There they lived for the next three years, during which they fell in love.

Death

Glaurung&Turin2013

Turin aiming for Glaurung, by Francesc Camos

After those years, Glaurung attacked the area around their home. Túrin resolved to kill the dragon. Two men went with him. One became afraid and fled, and the other was crushed by rocks. However, Túrin was able to kill Glaurung by thrusting his sword, Gurthang, into Glaurung's belly. Glaurung felt his death wound and screamed. When the dragon's blood touched Túrin, he fell into a swoon. Glaurung screamed until his strength was gone. Nienor found him there, with Túrin beside him. With his last breath, Glaurung gave Nienor her memory back, and died. Shortly thereafter, Nienor jumped into the river below, and Túrin awoke and threw himself on his sword.[2][3][4]

Earliest version

In The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, Glorund was the earlier and original name of Glaurung.

Trivia

Glaurung's basic concept of character shows several resemblances with Draugluin, the father of werewolves.

Glaurung functions as the Silmarillion's tertiary antagonist, appearing more often than either Sauron or Gothmog and functions as the main antagonist of The Children of Húrin.

Turin's killing of Glaurung greatly resembles the killing of the dragon Fafnir by Siegfried, who, knowing that Fafnir's scales were impenetrable, dug a hole and waited for Fafnir to pass over it, allowing Siegfried to stab into the dragon's vulnerable belly. Also like Glaurung, Fafnir's last words were a message to poison Siegfriend's trust in the ones he loved.

See also

Gallery

File:3877042614 c891ffc122.jpg
Glaurung, by J.R.R.Tolkien
84tcal 05
Glaurung in The Silmarillion
Glaurung the golden by lyntonlevengood-d34lpfh
The Golden dragon with the Dwarves of Belegost, by LyntonLevengood
Dagor bragollach by viking heart-d66bldd
In Dagor Bragollach by Viking-Heart
Nirnaeth Arnoediad by felipe elias
Glaurung in Nirnaeth_Arnoediad by Felipe-elias
Glaurung by master Berling
Glaurung by Master_Berling
722e5ba1309d492f3af610c91ccb0ace-d6lsvaw
Dragon attack by Thylacinee
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Glaurung fighting with Dwarves, by Justin Gerard
Dragon by dloliver-d4au4et
The most intense fire by Dloliver
Glaurung by joaosoares
Fire breath by joaosoares
Belegosts
Azaghâl attacking Glaurung by Deagol
Tumblr npmqr6e1D41t5fox8o1 1280
1b1df693a02836fe2b86499911dd0e73-d84haza
Glaurung and Nienor by Rirth
Glaurung the deciever by skyrace-d86j63h
Glaurung The Deceiver by Skyrace
The glance of glaurung by lelek1980-d9ml67f
The glance of Glaurung by Lelek1980
Arnaud Sohyer-Büdow - Nargothrond Bridge
Nargothrond Bridge by soys.

Translations around the World

Foreign Language Translated name
Amharic ጝላኡሩንግ
Arabic غلورينغ
Armenian Գլաուրունգ
Belarusian Cyrillic Глаурунг
Bengali গ্লুরুং
Bulgarian Cyrillic Глаурунг
Catalan Glàurung
Chinese (Hong Kong) 格勞龍
Georgian გლაურუნგი
Greek Γκλάουρανγκ
Hindi ङ्ल्औरुङ
Hebrew גלאורונג
Kazakh Глаұрұнг (Cyrillic) Glaurung (Latin)
Korean 글라우룽
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Глаурунг
Macedonian Cyrillic Глаурунг
Marathi ग्लॉरुंग
Mongolian Cyrillic Глаурунг
Pashto علاورونګ
Persian گلاورونگ
Punjabi ਗਲੋਰੁੰਗ
Russian Глаурунг
Serbian Глаурунг (Cyrillic) Glaurung (Latin)
Sinhalese ග්ලුරුන්ග්
Tajik Cyrillic Глаурунг
Tamil கிளருங்
Telugu గ్లురుంగ్
Thai เกลารุง
Ukrainian Cyrillic Ґлаурунґ
Urdu گلاورونگ
Uzbek Глаурунг (Cyrillic) Glaurung (Latin)
Yiddish גלאַורונג
Small Wikipedia logo This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Glaurung. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with The One Wiki to Rule Them All, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.



References

  1. Tolkien, J.R.R.. Beren and Lúthien (Kindle Location 3606). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
  2. The Silmarillion: Quenta Silmarillion
  3. The Children of Húrin
  4. The Book of Lost Tales 2
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