The Tolkien Monster Encyclopedia
by Calle Mattsson
This page is devoted to all the monsters and races belonging to darkness.
Here you will find Orcs, Goblins, Balrogs and many more fearsome creatures.

Dragon
Dragons are a sort of huge lizards (often flying and breathing fire) with a great love for gold and valuables. Smaug is thought to have been the last dragon in Middle Earth but no one knows for sure if there are more dragons in the world. Dragons are clever and cunning creatures, almost as deadly using their tongue to lure their victims closer, as when they use their raw power and firebreathing mouth to kill.
 
There appear to have been three strains of dragons: the cold-drakes, the Urulóki (fire-drakes) and the winged dragons. The cold-drakes could neither fly nor breath fire. The Urulóki, e.g. Glaurung, could breathe fire but lacked the ability to fly. Dragons are sometimes referred to as Worms. Two different kinds of  "worms" are mentioned in the works of Tolkien; the Long-worms and the Were-worms. Long-worms (e.g. Scatha) lived in the far north in the elder days. Not much is known about were-worms. In The Hobbit Bilbo exclaimed to the dwarves: "Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert."
 
Ancalagon
Ancalagon the black was the first flying and firebreathing dragon, created by Morgoth. He was slain during the Beleriand wars by Eärendil and when he fell dead from the skies he landed on Thangorodrim and destroyed it. This marked the end of Morgoth´s rule.
 
Glaurung
Glaurung (Glorund) was the first firebreathing dragon and he is therefore referred to as the father of all dragons. He destroyed large parts of the Elf-lands Ered Wethrin, Dorthonion and Nargothrond. Slain by Túrin Turambar.
 
Scatha
Scatha was the mightiest dragon north of the Grey mountains during the third age. He was drawn south by the the great dwarven treasures collected by the seven dwarf-lords. Scatha was eventually slain but more dragons kept coming and many dwarves lost their lives defending their gold and valuables.
 
Smaug
Smaug the golden, greatest of the dragons of his days, took over the dwarf-kingdom under the lonely mountain and stole their great treasure. There he stayed for two centuries until the day Bilbo and the dwarves arrived. Slain by Bard.