Ancalagon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dragons of Middle-earth |
|---|
| Ancalagon |
| Glaurung |
| Scatha |
| Smaug |
Ancalagon can also refer to a fossil priapulid worm.
Ancalagon the Black was a dragon in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien.
The Dark Lord Morgoth bred Ancalagon ("The Iron-jawed Swan") during the First Age to be the greatest and mightiest of all dragons, and the first of the winged 'fire-drakes'. During the brief War of Wrath that pitted Morgoth's armies against the host of the Valar, Morgoth sent Ancalagon forth from the fortress of Angband to destroy the Dark Lord's enemies. So powerful was the dragon that even the Valar host was driven back.
But Eärendil 'The Blessed' in his powerfully hallowed elven airborne ship Vingilot duelled with Ancalagon for an entire day, until Eärendil at length prevailed, pitching Ancalagon onto the triple-peaked towers of Thangorodrim, destroying both him and them. With his mightiest defender slain, Melkor was soon utterly defeated. (A prophecy given in Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth in Morgoth's Ring gives the slaying of Ancalagon to Túrin instead.)
Ancalagon was said to have been so large that he blotted the Sun out, even from afar. He was the largest of any dragon to appear in Middle Earth, even larger than Smaug. His length was unknown, though longer than Glaurung or any other ground dwelling dragons. We can later infer that from what Gandalf said, Ancalagon's fire-breath was hotter than that of any other dragon, hot enough to damage the Rings of Power, though not the One Ring.
A fossil priapulid worm discovered in the Burgess Shale was named Ancalagon after the dragon.
