Hello
Thanks for an interesting question. I was delighted to research such
an enjoyable topic - with an excuse to re-read chunks of "Lord of the
Rings".
Uruloki, Winged Dragons and Cold Drakes are all varieties of dragon
who lived right on the northern edge of Middle Earth, the world in
which "Lord of the Rings" is set.
I came to the conclusion that the Northern Waste is where you'd find
them. Commentators seem to choose either the Grey Mountains or the
Northern Waste just beyond (or both) as the home of the dragons. There
isn't a lot to go on in the main part of the story, but in the long
appendices added on for 'background' at the end, there is one clear
statement that they lived in the Northern Waste:
"But there were dragons in the wastes beyond [the Grey Mountains]"
They also spent enough time in the mountains to fight with the dwarves
and drive them out.
If you look at a copy of the book with a map in, you'll see that the
mountains and the wastes are next to each other on the very northern
fringes of Middle Earth. The Grey Mountains are also called Ered
Mithrin and you can see them, and the Northern Waste, at the top.
Or try this map:
Middle Earth
http://www.tolkien-archives.com/maps/middleearth2.shtml
In case you're not a Tolkien fan, I need to explain that his stories
happen in Middle Earth (also called Arda) which is populated not only
by humans but other 'races' (e.g. dwarves, elves) and fantastic
creatures like dragons too. His official career as a professor of Old
English inspired his creative work and this is relevant when it comes
to discussion of dragons.
Tolkien used the Old English word 'worm' for dragons, as well as
'drake' and 'dragon', words which come from Latin and Greek. In his
imaginary world they were all possible names for dragons. The dragons
themselves might be "winged dragons" who could fly or they could be
slithering or walking creatures. The name doesn't necessarily reveal
which kind is which; we shouldn't be misled by our understanding of
the word 'worm' into thinking this couldn't refer to a flying dragon.
Now I've got that out of the way, I can go on to explain that amongst
the varieties of dragon, there were cold drakes and fire drakes. The
fire drakes were also called uroloki.
Tolkien's enthusiastic readers tend to disagree about the finer points
of dragon identification and history but there's no question that
Uroloki, Winged Dragons and Cold Drakes are all kinds of dragon. Even
though you can debate the details of their move from the Grey
Mountains to the Northern Waste and/or back again in other Tolkien
writings, "Lord of the Rings" speaks clearly of their living in "the
wastes".
REFERENCES
==========
First, "The Encyclopedia of Arda", a huge Tolkien resource at:
http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/
You'll need to click on the alphabetical index down the left hand side
to get to the pages you want.
Here are some quotes from their site:
Urulóki
The Fire-drakes
Origins: First appeared from Angband, c. I 265
Race: Dragons
Pronunciation: ooroo'lokee
Meaning: 'fire serpents'
Other Names: Fire-drakes
Glaurung, first of the Urulóki
The fire-drakes; dragons who breathed fire.
Cold Drakes
Dates: Presumably first bred in Angband with their cousins the
Fire-drakes in the mid to late First Age; apparently still extant
Race: Dragons
Meaning: 'Drake' is an old word for 'dragon'
"Now the least mighty [dragons] - yet they were very great beside the
Men of those days - are cold as in the nature of snakes and serpents,
and of them a many having wings go with the uttermost noise and
speed..."
Turambar and the Foalókë
in The History of Middle-earth vol. II The Book of Lost Tales II
Lesser dragons; those of dragon-kind who did not have the ability to
make fire.
As the millennia passed, their numbers grew, until they became a
serious threat in the later centuries of the Third Age to the Dwarves
that mined the Grey Mountains."
==============
Next, some excerpts from the 'Tolkien Archives' website:
He made three kinds: great serpents that slithered, those that walked
on legs, and those that flew with wings like the Bat. Of these kinds
there were two types: the Cold-drakes, who fought with fang and claw,
and the miraculous Urulóki Fire-drakes, who destroyed with breaths of
flame.
The winged Dragons swept the land below them with hurricane winds, and
the Fire-drakes breathed scarlet and green flames that licked the
Earth and destroyed all in their path.
In that time they inhabited the wastes beyond the Gray Mountains of
the North.
It was rumored that Dragons continued for many centuries to inhabit
the Northern Waste beyond the Grey Mountains, but no tale that has
come to Men out of Middle-earth speaks again of these evil, yet
magnificent beings.
Tolkien archives
http://www.tolkien-archives.com/library/histories/dragons.shtml
================
Also:
"Lord of the Rings", by JRR Tolkien. Unwin (1966) Three volumes with
maps.
Here's a fuller version of the quote I gave you near the beginning:
"But Thorin I his son removed and went into the far North to the Grey
Mountain, where most of Durin's folk were now gathering; for those
mountains were rich and little explored. But there were dragons in the
wastes beyond; and after many years they became strong again and
multiplied, and they made war on the Dwarves, and plundered their
works. At last Dáin I, together with Frór his second son, was slain at
the door of his hall by a great cold-drake." (Appendix A)
'The Great Worms'
http://home1.stofanet.dk/rhl/articles7.htm
Be aware that many 'Tolkien' websites deal with fantasy games
developed from the book and may have added quite a lot of extra detail
to the original.
Serious studies of Tolkien's dragons are using material from other
books he wrote and from his unfinished work. But your question was
headed "Lord of the Rings" and so I made a point of finding out what
that particular book said about them. However, they're not exactly
central characters:
http://www.phil.unt.edu/~hargrove/dragons.html
==================
I must thank you for a very interesting question. I thought I knew
"Lord of the Rings" fairly well but your query was quite a challenge
and I enjoyed fighting my way through all the distractions to the
dragons' home region.
Please get back to me if anything needs clarification.
Regards - Leli
search terms:
dragon "grey mountains" "northern waste"
uroloki, "cold drakes", "fire drakes", "winged dragons" |
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