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|sub_races = Fire-drakes<br />Cold-drakes
}}
[[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[Middle-earth]] [[legendarium]] features [[western dragon|dragons]] based on those of European legend, but going beyond them in having personalities of their own, such as the wily [[Smaug]], who has features of both [[Fafnir]] and [[The Beowulf Dragon|the ''Beowulf'' dragon]]. Tolkien's conception of the dragon has been adopted both in games loosely based on his [[Middle-earth]] writings, and by other [[fantasy]] authors.
== Development ==
[[File:BlalockAncalagontheBlack.jpg|thumb|upright|A painting of Ancalagon the Black]]
Ancalagon the Black ([[Sindarin]]: ''rushing jaws'' from ''anc'' "jaw", and ''alag'' "impetuous"<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1987}}, ''[[The Etymologies (Tolkien)|The Etymologies]]'', pp. 348, 362</ref>) was a dragon bred by Morgoth during the [[First Age]] of Middle-earth, as told in ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. He was one of Morgoth's most powerful servants, the mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged "fire-drakes". He arose like a storm from the pits of Angband beneath the [[Iron Mountains (Middle-earth)|Iron Mountains]], as a last defence of the realm of [[Dor Daedeloth]]. Near the end of the [[War of Wrath]] that pitted Morgoth's armies against the army of the godlike [[Vala (Middle-earth)|Valar]], Morgoth sent Ancalagon to lead a flight of dragons from his fortress of Angband to destroy his enemies. So powerful was the assault that the army of the Valar was driven back from the gates of Angband. [[Eärendil]] in his airborne ship ''Vingilot'', aided by [[Thorondor (Middle-earth)|Thorondor]] and his great [[Eagle (Middle-earth)|Eagles]], battled Ancalagon's dragons for an entire day. At length Eärendil gained the upper hand, throwing Ancalagon down on the peaks of [[Thangorodrim]], destroying both Ancalagon and the towers. With his last and mightiest defender slain, Morgoth was defeated and made captive, thus ending the War of Wrath.<ref name="War of Wrath" group=T/>
=== Scatha ===
The scholar of Icelandic literature [[Ármann Jakobsson]] writes that with the encounter with Smaug, the story in ''The Hobbit'' becomes "more unexpected, entangled, ambiguous, and political". He argues that Tolkien was effectively translating the subtext of his Old Norse sources, creating in his dragon a far more subtle, uncanny, and frightening monster than those in the earlier, more or less unconnected, travel narrative episodes.<ref name="Jakobsson 2009">{{cite journal |last=Jakobsson |first=Ármann |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |title=Talk to the Dragon: Tolkien as Translator |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |volume=6 |issue=1 |year=2009 |doi=10.1353/tks.0.0053 |pages=27–39|s2cid=170310560 }}</ref>
The use of dragons as an allegorical device lasted until the early 20th century. Tolkien makes clear that he prefers the actual dragon, ''draco'' (just meaning "dragon" in [[Latin]]<ref>{{cite dictionary |entry=draco |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/resolveform?type=exact&lookup=draco&lang=latin |last1=Lewis |first1=Charlton T. |last2=Short |first2=Charles |year=1879 |title=A Latin Dictionary |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]}}</ref>), to any kind of abstract or moralising usage, which Tolkien names ''draconitas''.<ref name="Honegger 2009">{{cite book |last1=Honegger |first1=Thomas |author1-link=Thomas Honegger |editor1-last=Chen |editor1-first=Fanfan |editor2-last=Honegger |editor2-first=Thomas |title=Good Dragons are Rare. An Inquiry into Literary Dragons East and West |date=2009 |series=Arbeiten für Literarisches Phantasie ("ALPH") |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Frankfurt |isbn=978-3631582190 |pages=27–59 |chapter=A good dragon is hard to find or, from ''draconitas'' to ''draco'' }}</ref> The Tolkien scholar [[Thomas Honegger]] notes that Tolkien pointed out that "a 'good dragon' is a beast that displays the typical characteristics of ''draco'' without becoming a mere [[Allegory|allegorical]] representative of ''draconitas'' (the vice of [[avarice]])."<ref name="Honegger 2009"/> In Honegger's view, Tolkien's innovation, seen best in Smaug, is his creation of "a distinct 'dragon personality'". Whereas Glaurung is a mythical element, and Ancalagon is merely ferocious, Smaug and Chrysophylax Dives "go beyond both the 'primitive' ''draco ferox'' ("fierce dragon") of myths and legends as well as the whimsical ''draco timidus'' ("timid dragon") of contemporary children's literature."<ref name="Honegger 2009"/> Thus, Honegger concludes, Tolkien's "good dragons" admit their mythical ancestry but are at the same time recognisably modern characters.<ref name="Honegger 2009"/>
== Legacy ==
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