Hello Imsirion. Welcome to the Downs. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
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To put it short, Morgoth created Dragons in Mockery of the Eagles.
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Do you have a source for this? It is not a theory that I have ever heard. If true, I would have thought that Dragons would have been winged from the start, whereas the father of Dragons, the marvellously malevolent Glaurung, was of course wingless.
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Just as Orcs were to Elves, and Trolls were to Ents.
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Careful! Don't say that when Nils is around. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Seriously, there are a number of theories of Orcish origin, and Tolkien apparently moved away from the Elvish origin theory in later years (although I myself still prefer it). As for Trolls, we only have Treebeards word for that don't we?
Thanks, One Axe, for posting the Downs' own Encyclopedia entry for Dragons.
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Often also named drakes (Old English), worms or wyrms there, dragons in Middle-Earth, are, however, exclusively evil creatures; created or bred by Morgoth
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Well it seems settled that Dragons were created by Morgoth, although I would be interested in knowing whether there a definitive source for this, and if so what it is. I strongly suspect that there is, but that I have never come across (or missed) it.
As to how Morgoth came to create Dragons, this is, as some have already said, a matter of pure speculation. My own theory is that they originated from large reptilian beasts which originally inhabited Arda (similar to dinosuars). Morgoth imbued these beats with disembodied spirits (Elves, or possibly Maia), thus giving them awareness and intelligence, and proceeded to breed them for certain characteristics (resulting, ultimately, in the winged variety).
The fact that Dragons were created by Morgoth does not preclude them breeding amongst themselves, assuming that there were females as well as the males that we hear of. Orcs, I believe bred amongst themselves. Assuming my theory above is correct, there is no reason why female Dragons should not have existed, since the original beasts from which they were created would have been both male and female.
The fact that Smaug is said to be one of the last of the Dragons does, however, suggest that there were no longer any breeding pairs by the late Third Age, even if there were before. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] Perhaps all the females were destroyed in the War of Wrath.