Glaurung
the Father of Dragons; the Great Worm of Angband
Name and Nature
Glaurung — “the Father of Dragons” — is the first of the great dragons, bred slowly in the pits of Angband by Morgoth, the Great Worm, the first of the fire-drakes, whose coming from the west door of Angband in the Dagor Bragollach (dreadfully hot, half-formed) marked the breaking of the Long Peace. He is the most terrible and the most cunning — “the deceiver” — of Morgoth’s monsters: it is said — his evil is not only flame but guile — his spells of oblivion and his lies dominate the second half of the Quenta.
The Doom-Worker
- The Bragollach and the Dorthonion: His first rising burnt the plains; he was driven back by the Fëanorians — but the age turned against the Elves.
- The sack of Nargothrond: Coming down the Narog against the realm whose bridge (built by Túrin’s counsel) made his path easy, Glaurung overthrew Nargothrond, slew Orodreth and devoured the caverns’ folk, and enchanted Túrin (who thought he saw his mother slain) so that he slew his own friend — the lord of the watch — the dragon’s curse then worked its way.
- The curse of the children: In the woods of Brethil, with Nienor at the river — the dragon cast a spell of forgetfulness over Nienor (his last great act), so that (unknowing) she wed her own brother; and at last, in the pass where the woodsfolk hunted him, Túrin stabbed him through the belly — but as the worm died, he unveiled the truth to Nienor: “she is your sister!” — and by his dying words (the victim’s curse and revelation) completed the doom.
The Meaning Glaurung is the mythological Dragon of the North
— the greedy, riddling, spell-binding worm whose hoard and malice are the engine of the tragedy; his death at Túrin’s hand is at once the victory and the ruin of the greatest of Men’s heroes — the beast through whom the Curse of Morgoth works its most subtle and cruel turn.