Glaurung

Origin

Glaurung was the first of the dragons, bred by Morgoth in the pits of Angband during the long years of the Siege. He was of the kind the Elves named Urulóki, the fire-drakes, and he was wingless: a vast golden serpent that moved on its belly with terrible speed and breathed flame. Nothing is told of his hatching or his growth, only that he was the first of his race to be seen, and that all later dragons were reckoned his brood.

First emergence

He came out of the gates of Angband in F.A. 260, two hundred years after the Dagor Aglareb, while the Siege still held. He was young and only half-grown, his armour not yet hardened, and his coming was premature. He blazed his way across the plain of Ard-galen, scattering the Elves who fled from him in terror, until Fingon rode against him with a company of mounted archers and surrounded him; and because his hide was still soft the arrows drove him back to Angband. Morgoth was angry that his weapon had been revealed before it was ready, and Glaurung was not seen again for almost two centuries. The Noldor took his retreat as a victory and their watch grew easier, which was as Morgoth wished.

The Bragollach and the Nirnaeth

When Glaurung came forth again, in the winter of F.A. 455, he was in his full strength. Morgoth sent rivers of fire down from Thangorodrim, and at their head came Glaurung with Balrogs about him and a host of Orcs behind. Ard-galen burned into the desert that was afterwards called Anfauglith, the Siege was broken, and the sons of Finarfin and the host of Dorthonion were destroyed. This was the Dagor Bragollach, and the dragon was the reason the Elves could not hold.

Seventeen years later Morgoth held him back until the last stroke of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. When the Union of Maedhros seemed on the point of victory, Glaurung came out of Angband with the wolves and the Balrogs and a fresh army, and at his coming the alliance of Elves and Men fell apart, for none could stand near his fire and the Easterlings of Ulfang chose that moment to turn their coats. Only the Dwarves of Belegost held; their masks of steel turned his flame, they surrounded him with axes, and their king Azaghâl drove a knife into his belly when the dragon crawled over him. Glaurung fled the field with his brood, crushing Azaghâl as he went, and did not return to the battle.

Nargothrond

Glaurung's greatest work was done not by fire but by malice. In F.A. 495, when Túrin had persuaded the Elves of Nargothrond to give up their secrecy and had built a great bridge over the Narog, Morgoth sent Glaurung south with a host of Orcs. He burned Talath Dirnen, defeated the army of Orodreth on the field of Tumhalad, where Orodreth and Gwindor died, crossed the bridge that Túrin had made, and sacked the city. Túrin came back to find him lying in the ruin of the gates, and met his eyes. The dragon-spell held him motionless while Glaurung spoke, reproaching him with the deaths of Beleg and Gwindor and with the desertion of his mother and sister, and while he stood bound the Orcs drove Finduilas and the captives away past him; her cries were the last he heard of her. Then Glaurung released him and sent him north with a lie, to Dor-lómin, to seek Morwen and Nienor, who were in fact safe in Doriath. The dragon gathered all the treasure of Nargothrond into the inmost hall, broke the bridge, and lay down on the gold.

The ruin of Húrin's children

When news of Nargothrond reached Doriath, Morwen and Nienor set out to learn Túrin's fate, escorted by Mablung. At the river Glaurung came out of the water in a mist and stench, and the escort was scattered. Nienor climbed the hill of Amon Ethir and found herself looking into the eyes of the dragon; he took her memory, her name and her speech from her, and left her empty. She ran wild through the woods and was found at last on the grave of Finduilas by Túrin, who was living under the name Turambar among the Men of Brethil. Neither knew the other. He named her Níniel and in time married her.

In F.A. 499 Glaurung left Nargothrond and crawled toward Brethil to finish the work. Túrin took two companions, Dorlas and Hunthor, down into the gorge of the Teiglin at Cabed-en-Aras, where the dragon must cross. Dorlas lost his courage and turned back; Hunthor was killed by a stone from the cliff. Túrin climbed alone up the far side and, as Glaurung's belly passed above him, drove Gurthang into it to the hilts. The dragon's death-cry shook the forest. Túrin drew out his sword, and the black venomous blood that ran from the wound burned his hand so that he fell senseless beside the dying beast.

Níniel came looking for him and found him lying by the dragon. Glaurung, not yet dead, opened his eyes for the last time and spoke to her. He named her Nienor daughter of Húrin, told her she had wedded her brother and carried his child, and died. Her memory came back with the words, and she cast herself into the gorge. When Túrin woke and learned the truth from Brandir, he killed Brandir and then himself. So the dragon's last act completed the curse that Morgoth had laid on the house of Húrin, and Glaurung's malice outlived his body by only a few hours.

Legacy

Glaurung's image, worked in gold, crested the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin that Telchar made and that Túrin wore, a sign of the dread he had become. He is the pattern for every dragon after him: the fire, the armoured back and soft belly, the lust for treasure, the cunning speech and above all the eyes. His death is the first dragon-slaying in the histories, and the manner of it, from below and at the cost of the slayer's own ruin, echoes down to Smaug and Bard.

Stabbed from below by Túrin at Cabed-en-Aras in F.A. 499; died after speaking his last malice to Nienor.