Why Didn't Dragons Conquer Middle Earth | The Lord of the Rings

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  • čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
  • At the end of the 1st Age, why didn't the dragons who fled to the north return to conquer the cities of Middle-earth, despite their power and might? Why did only Smaug, many years later, take the Lonely Mountain from the dwarves? Where are the others, and what could have stopped them from returning? Or was Smaug, mentioned in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the last dragon?
    #middleearth #silmarillion #thehobbit #tolkien #lordoftheringslore #sauron #balrog
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    00:00 Intro
    00:33 Glaurung
    02:01 Ancalagon
    03:13 Scatha
    04:06 Smaug
    04:57 Is Smaug the last dragon?
    05:35 Why didn't the other dragons come back?
    06:10 1st reason
    07:20 2nd reason
    08:06 3rd reason
    09:01 4th reason
    09:57 Conclusion
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Komentáře • 60

  • @AltruistickAsk
    @AltruistickAsk Před 4 měsíci +46

    Easy answer. Because men exist. Every Dragon mentioned in Tolkien's work was slain by a single man.

    • @lukaskrueger9159
      @lukaskrueger9159 Před 4 měsíci +4

      With help from the Valar

    • @AltruistickAsk
      @AltruistickAsk Před 4 měsíci +7

      @@lukaskrueger9159 In the case of Ancalagon yes. But in the case of Glaurung, Scatha not so much. The istari obviously had something to do with the death of Smaug.

    • @lukaskrueger9159
      @lukaskrueger9159 Před 4 měsíci +3

      @@AltruistickAsk I like to imagine Eru as the one sending the Thrush to eavesdrop on Bilbo and company. But Radagast or Saruman seem more likely since Eru has taken such a hands-off approach in regard to Arda

    • @gffg387
      @gffg387 Před 4 měsíci

      ​@@AltruistickAskAncalagon lost to a bunch of birds. He was a loser by nature.

    • @AltruistickAsk
      @AltruistickAsk Před 4 měsíci

      @@gffg387 lol he battled birds but was defeated by Earendil.

  • @sektionobc9485
    @sektionobc9485 Před 4 měsíci +17

    Well done dragon. Spoken like a true Uroloki 👍🏻

  • @ozmozis6073
    @ozmozis6073 Před 4 měsíci +5

    I always thought that dragons were the opposite of the same coin shared with dwarfs. The greed of the dwarfs knew no bound and all a dragon wanted was to hoard that wealth; not to spend it, or somehow empower themselves, just to hoard it.
    Melkor wanted to thwart the dwarfs. This was how he did it. I assumed he whispered to them, to take one of the dwarf kingdoms and fester. A dragon was less than a Balrog who was a Maia. Not smart enough to do much more than fester, it served Melkor's plan well. A formidable creature to make any dwarf think twice. Nice video. Appreciate it.

  • @efaristi9737
    @efaristi9737 Před 4 měsíci +4

    I think the reasons didn't go south is simple. Only a few of them survived the War of Wrath and so their population can't be high. It is mentionned how fire breathing dragons have become rare. During the war between Dwarves and Dragons, the Dwarves seems to have faced mostly the cold variety, not the winged, fire breathing ones. So as you said, it's simply that the fire breathing population dwindled and only the crawling, cold variety, less dangerous and less likely to go over great distances, remained in sufficient numbers. It's also a recurring theme in Tolkien universe how each specie became less formidable over the ages and how the world lost its wonders as it age.

  • @bryanschaefer7616
    @bryanschaefer7616 Před 4 měsíci +11

    I really like your videos! Very entertaining and done a bit differently than the other Lord of the Rings CZcamsrs. Keep it up!

  • @Crafty_Spirit
    @Crafty_Spirit Před 4 měsíci +5

    So you asked for reasons why - just a thought, but could the presence of great Eagles deter dragons? I never considered them to be *that* fierce - or fireproof enough 🔥🦅🔥but coming to think of it, Gwaihir descends from Eagles that battled winged dragons (or was even one of them, there's contradictions).
    In the Third Age, I think the Eagles resided in the Misty Mountains, maybe there was an Eagle/dragon frontier somewhere where Hithaeglir and Grey Mountains merge?

  • @sarrjel
    @sarrjel Před 4 měsíci +4

    I think that the dragons in the north weren't motivated or interested in traveling south. It is a good possibility that they had gotten ptsd from the last battle with the Valar and decided to stay in the North and make it there home. Another CZcamsr had done a video talking about the dragons and said that Smaug was the last fire breathing dragon and that the other dragons were simply drakes. They were dragons without the fire breathing attribute and they didn't have wings. It is possible that they slowly began reverting back into none thinking animals or giant lizards and the few dragons that could speak probably knew Smaug and the dragon decided that he was going to leave and head south. This could fit right in with what you were talking about; the dragons losing their power through the years. It would make sense because they were created by Melkor who was a Valar and with him not being around , they wouldn't be getting anymore of his power and corruption. It also goes to say that even the orcs that Melkor created faced some kind of diminishment and disappeared and when the Last Alliance of men and elves came Sauron created 'his' version of orcs which weren't the same as Melkor. I don't think Sauron had the power to create dragons or know how to give them power to keep them going.

  • @marcb3097
    @marcb3097 Před 4 měsíci +4

    Great content as always!

    • @middleearthtales
      @middleearthtales  Před 4 měsíci +1

      Thank you! Your support is very valuable to me, it shows that I am on the right track

  • @dreamsoffury8369
    @dreamsoffury8369 Před 4 měsíci +4

    Love your content, and the voice you use gives the feel of both a human and an elf somehow and i love it

    • @stimmymayhem3201
      @stimmymayhem3201 Před 4 měsíci +1

      Its a.i. generated

    • @dreamsoffury8369
      @dreamsoffury8369 Před 4 měsíci +1

      @@stimmymayhem3201 I'm aware of this as I stated and I quote "the voice you use"
      A friend of mine has a neck injury that damaged her voice so she can't speak anymore and being a big nerd wants to do things like this using A.I. voices, gonna post this on hers too?

    • @stimmymayhem3201
      @stimmymayhem3201 Před 4 měsíci +1

      Not sure why youre so upset. I didnt insult it in any way or say anything mean. Maybe calm down a bit bro?

  • @zehaha111
    @zehaha111 Před 4 měsíci +4

    Could have been that they also killed(and potentially eat) eachother.
    I always wondered how old Smaug was. I doubt he was born in Angband and fled when he was very young.
    But that would mean that there had to be a breeding pair of winged, powerful fire dragons to conceive Smaug. And those two might have been larger or at least more powerful than Smaug, because in Tolkiens world older often, not always, but very often, correlates with wiser, stronger, bigger, more powerful. Maybe those could die because of old age or were betrayed, ambushed, double teamed by other dragons.
    We so know though that four of the seven dwarven rings were destroyed by dragon fire, if i remember correctly.
    Maybe those were the rings of the four dwarven clans in the Orocarni, which would at least suggest that there were or are dragons in the Orocarni or further east in the far lands of Rhun.
    Thats the awesome thing about Middle Earth, Tolkien left much unanswered and mysterious. So imagination can run wild.

  • @josephhoskins7354
    @josephhoskins7354 Před 4 měsíci +3

    Gotta say. I love how you put forth your information. So you plan on doing longer videos or complications?

  • @Edward-nf4nc
    @Edward-nf4nc Před 4 měsíci +3

    One thing we need to Remember is that in origin dragons are magical and Arda Marred, the tainting of Arda by Morgoth, creator of the dragons! Drains magic from Middle-Earth, and so it also drained the dragons power and might and with the possibility of low birthing rates, and the fact that winged dragons only appeared at the end of the First Age means that there were not likely to be many of them, and it's possible they did not all breathe fire, which lessens their number even more.
    Finally we need to remember that every dragon that webt south was killed, so they could have decided to stay in the north as it was safer than the south, where mighty dragons are always killed by one man, but men don't often go into the far north or the Grey Mountains, but men are close to those lands. In other words, "stay out of the South. It's full of Dragon Slayer!"

    • @RFCEB99
      @RFCEB99 Před 4 měsíci +1

      It's also a case of they exist I believe to the far east of rhun and the lands there too, for me dragons definitely do exist but might avoid lands more built up for say, and might avoid conflict with men etc, or armies more should I say

  • @brucehamm2072
    @brucehamm2072 Před 3 měsíci

    My theory is that they in hiding breeding and preparing for the return of melkor because it is stated that melkor will escape his captivity and wage what is labeled the final war when they will descend on melkors enemies in numbers greater than what they were before

  • @moretriflenowplz1837
    @moretriflenowplz1837 Před 4 měsíci +3

    Maybe they went East and the Easterlings took care of them, either exterminated them or formed dragon cults, would have been a good lore builder for them at least, if you have oliphaunts able to live there why not dragons..

  • @Idiotatwork
    @Idiotatwork Před 4 měsíci +1

    My thinking based on what we know is that gold has both an addictive and narcoleptic effect on dragons possibly due to melkors evil being in all things and gold especially.
    These weaker smaller dragons found seams of gold in the area north of the mountains, carved a hole in them and just fell asleep deep in the ground waitibg for the day when the greed of men makes them venture that far north and disturb them from slumber.

  • @thevulgarone4
    @thevulgarone4 Před 20 dny

    Question...How and what did Smaug recognize about Bilbo's ring? Could Smaug sense the evil of Morgoth, which let's face it, Sauron's evil and power derived solely from the corruption of Middle earth by his former Master? I believe Morgoth corrupted gold and layed a sickness upon the metal which was named dragon sickness later. Sauron also was able to regenerate a few times by absorbing the evil that Morgoth had sewn into middle earth.

  • @notreallyalec
    @notreallyalec Před 4 měsíci +2

    So maybe a new dragon during the modern age would seen to claim these treasures and thus issue in another age!

  • @RFCEB99
    @RFCEB99 Před 4 měsíci +1

    I believe they might not have wanted too, from all works they don't seem to get involved in conflict unless they have a reason or greed with smaug etc being a rare one of a kind dragon, I also agree with numbers being an issue, I assume dragons wouldnt want to be around eachother in a way, I believe they'd be very unpack like creatures almost always being on their own. I can also imagine they'd want to keep away from mordor, orcs and other such things that'd use them as weapons, remember dragons aren't stupid from all accounts of them they seem very clever

  • @The_DarthWonka
    @The_DarthWonka Před 2 měsíci

    Humans, where there's a will, there's a way type of species.

  • @HaroldCone
    @HaroldCone Před 4 měsíci +2

    They desire richness not power.

  • @sayagarapan1686
    @sayagarapan1686 Před 4 měsíci +5

    Anka-Lag-gon?

  • @keishaanderson2917
    @keishaanderson2917 Před 4 měsíci +2

    Question Smaug didn't eat? He was in that cave with that gold for years 😮

    • @RFCEB99
      @RFCEB99 Před 4 měsíci +2

      He'd occasionally go out to eat on the fair maidens off Dale in the early days of his settlement of the mountain, but I believe he occasionally flew out to eat, I might be wrong though

  • @maximus3160
    @maximus3160 Před 4 měsíci +8

    No, Smaug wasn't the last of his kind. Tolkien says as much. Also, where does Tolkien say that Scatha had no wings or legs? He doesn't...

    • @jakeoreilly9627
      @jakeoreilly9627 Před 4 měsíci +5

      Smaug was the last of the great dragons. Cold drakes existed.

    • @middleearthtales
      @middleearthtales  Před 4 měsíci +4

      Well in the Lord of the Rings and its appendix, Scatha is referred to as a worm. Isn't that enough?

    • @Crafty_Spirit
      @Crafty_Spirit Před 4 měsíci +2

      ​@@middleearthtales Worm is the term an Anglosaxon would use for a dragon, it makes perfect sense that the Rohirrim would use it too - it's another example of how considerate Tolkien used language

    • @mrdark9916
      @mrdark9916 Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@middleearthtalesthey call Smaug a worm too tho. Pretty sure that's just an insulting name for a dragon, ANY dragon

  • @jodyeyre9840
    @jodyeyre9840 Před 4 měsíci +1

  • @Mentallect
    @Mentallect Před měsícem

    Smaug was the last great dragon in Middle Earth.

  • @Crafty_Spirit
    @Crafty_Spirit Před 4 měsíci

    I'm surprised - the thought of dragons, foulest of Morgoth's breeds, degenerated over the millenia to a point where they could be slain by less-than-exceptional Man - it saddens me

  • @severe79
    @severe79 Před 4 měsíci +1

    Where there any good dragons in Middle-Earth?

    • @DemitriVladMaximov
      @DemitriVladMaximov Před 3 měsíci

      Sadly, no. All dragons are the creation of Melkor, and as such, not natural creatures made with the capacity for good as humans or Elves are. Dragons are intelligent, and can understand that other species can think and talk like they can, but are incapable of compassion, mercy, or empathy.

  • @SouthJerseyGhost77
    @SouthJerseyGhost77 Před 4 měsíci

    Because of great individualz of men, dwarves and elves. But also because their greed is insatiable and once they have their horde of treasure they rather protect their booty rather than take the chance of getting more riches. Not to mention a dragon can’t pick pick up their treasure and move it to another place because they don’t have hands so they capture and defend it where it lies…..duh

  • @zef985
    @zef985 Před 3 měsíci

    .

  • @Edward-nf4nc
    @Edward-nf4nc Před měsícem

    End of the First Age: the War of Wrath. Say no more?
    Second Age: War of the Elves and Sauron=Sauron loses
    Sauron is taken prisoner by men! Men slay dragons!
    The world changes shape!
    War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men=Sauron is vanquished by a man. Men kill dragons! And now Maia!
    Third Age: afraid of Men! Defeat the dwarves, but Scatha is killed by a man!
    Smarg goes south and no word comes back! Later Smarg survived, but was then killed by a man!
    War of the Ring, Sauron returns but is vanquished! Likely by a man! They guess!
    Dragons fear men!
    Marring of Arda, magic is fading from Arda so each generation is weaker than the one before!
    It's also possible that there are more male dragons than female, like dwarf women.
    Infighting for a female and the offspring is weaker and maybe some are infertile.
    "Go south and you will be killed by a man! Stay here where it's cold and barren and they don't come" they say so they stay!

  • @neoikake
    @neoikake Před 4 měsíci

    Well dragons are simplie not that powerfull in that lore. When valar et demons just walk the world.