Glaurung
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Known as the Deceiver, Glaurung was a land-bound fire-breathing Dragon, in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth.
Glaurung was a very powerful and cunning dragon, and he used his abilities to achieve his desired ends without resorting to direct physical violence (which he was equally proficient at). Glaurung was much more cunning than Sauron and Gothmog, his major contemporaries in the hierarchy of Morgoth. It was his nature to trick and deceive, and to spread lies and deceptions so cleverly that they could not be discovered until it was too late. In this manner, he accomplished much more damage than he could have with brute force, and caused the destruction of the Elven stronghold of Nargothrond and the suicide of mankind's greatest hero to date, Túrin Turambar. He caused amnesia in Turin's sister Nienor, and since they had never met, they eventually married. However, Glaurung himself was slain by Túrin before he committed suicide.
Glaurung was called the Father of Dragons. It is not known with certainty, but it is largely suspected that he sired the rest of his race (or at least of his own sub-species, the Uruloki: wingless firebreathing dragons). He was created by Morgoth from some unknown stock and was the first dragon to appear outside of Angband. This first appearance occurred during the Siege of Angband, when he came forth to attack, but too early because he was still pre-mature and young. He was defeated and driven back to Angband by mounted Elven archers.
After the sack of Nargothrond, he made a nest of treasure in the abandoned tunnels of the city. It is likely that he is the dragon that appears in Tolkien's poem "The Hoard" in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, which seems to be based on the events at Nargothrond.
| Dragons of Middle-earth |
| Ancalagon | Glaurung | Scatha | Smaug |