Need a Dragon-Slayer? Just Ask the Edain!
 

The elves have a lot of reasons to hate dragons in middle-earth; Glaurung spread horrific destruction, as did his brood, in the Dagor Bragollach, Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the sack of Nargothrond, and the War of Wrath. You'd think elves would have a vested interest in dragon-slaying. But of the dragon-slayers known in middle-earth, they are all human, or part human.

Glaurung was slain by Túrin. A human man. He spent time with elves, though.
(As a side note, in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad Glaurung was held back thanks to Azaghâl and his Dwarves, I seem to recall).

Scatha was slain by Fram son of Frumgar. Though the Dwarves later killed him for the treasure and because he'd been a tad insulting to them.

Smaug was slain by Bard of Laketown. With the assistance of a Thrush.

The only claim to dragon-slaying the elves seem to have comes from Ancalagon the Black, slain by Eärendil, the HALF elven.
There were other dragons in the War of Wrath, but none of their deaths are recorded and their slayers go unnamed, if they had any. Perhaps some were elves, perhaps not. Plenty of men were also in the battle, so maybe their expertise were called upon. :rolleyes:

So the elves don't really have a good record on dragon slaying while the humans have a pretty good one.

I took a look through the letters and Tolkien does not say anything specifically about this. However, one does get a sense of his love of dragons, as he often says he has a love for tales "especially those with dragons!" There are also the old tales like Beowulf, Sigurd etc which may have had some impact on some of the specific incidents.
Where Eärendil is concerned there may be an element of revenge to be considered, as Gondolin was destroyed thanks to (among other things) the dragons (and possibly Balrogs riding on dragons), to slay one in the final battle, and not just any dragon but the biggest and baddest of them, has something of a narrative harmony to it.
Indeed, the same can be said of Smaug and Glaurung - Bard is descended from Girion who was slain in Dale by Smaug, and the town itself was destroyed by the same dragon. Bard's killing of him is full of vengeance. Túrin had plenty of reasons to want revenge on Glaurung.
Not much is known of Scatha and Fram so I cannot draw any conclusions.

It is perhaps strange that the act of killing a dragon is seemingly reserved for people with human blood. Any thoughts on why?

This reminds me of my infamous thread "Are Elves Stupid ?"

I think it's been observed elsewhere that Tolkien seems to have set up Dragons as a primary mythical foil for mortals and Balrogs (or other demonic, as in "incarnated spirits" beings) as the parallel mythical foils for non-mortals.

So, just as we don't hear about Elves (at least not full elves) taking on Dragons, we likewise don't hear about Men taking on Balrogs.

The "why?" is less clear, but I suspect it is, at least partly, as a literary device - flavoring the two kindreds with another difference while still providing each with similar feats of heroism and accomplishment.

Tuor took on Balrogs. And Elves sent out of Doriath took on Glaurung.




I just think it happens to be coincidence. Where and when Dragons were most relevant and destructive in terms of some of the writing, it seemed that the narration was more concerned with its human protagonist.

Balrogs were more ancient, so its natural their friction exists more with the elves. And Durin's Bane dealt with only dwarves and a Maiar (gandalf).



Dragon / Man seems to be a medieval concept that Tolkien interwove into his own mythology which is itself meant to be a mythology of the united kingdom.

What about Eärendil?
 

I beg to differ with you here, Hookbill. I recall reading that during the War of Wrath Eärendil the Mariner killed Ancalagon, supposed to be the mightiest of all dragons, so large that he destroyed the towers of Thangorodrim in his fall. :confused: Eärendil had, by that stage, decided to become an elf, so his blood had presumably become elvish as well. :)