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Old 08-02-2002, 08:24 AM   #18
Aiwendil
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Join Date: Mar 2001
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Sting

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1. Iron Dragons: These were clearly a kind of machines rather then creatures. Why not retain them as such and eliminate the word dragon by a replacement?
We are aware that these were machines in the early Tale rather than actual creatures. There has been much discussion on whether to leave them as machines or change them to real dragons. The justification for changing them is that mechanical dragons never appear again in any of Tolkien's writings, not even in any later versions of the Fall of Gondolin. We haven't reached a concensus on this yet, but I must say I am firmly opposed to retaining the mechanical dragons.

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2. The cooper and bronze dragons: These are a good description of dragons as they are mentioned in other Tolkien sources.
Well, some metallic imagery was associated with dragons later on, but I think that in the Tale, these were literally supposed to be dragons made out of copper and bronze.

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The purely flaming dragons: They do not rightly feel like Glaurung. What about retain them as kind of special devise of Morgoth and his sorcerers?
Again, I think that since there is no later mention of these, they should be dropped.

There will probably be a vote on this eventually.
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