Tolkien's best Dragon - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 04-25-2003, 10:58 AM

I'm glad to see new life breathed into this particularly enjoyable discussion. Allow me to raise the ante... thusly:

Everybody seems to think that since we're comparing Tolkien's dragons to Tolkien's dragons, that it's apples to apples, so to speak. But The Silmarillion is quite a different book from The Hobbit, and Farmer Giles of Ham is quite different from either of the other two. Thus, one may conceivably compare Ancalagon the Black and Glaurung without having to account for legendarious (new word, eh? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ) differences, but Smaug's milieu is that of a classic fairy tale with its happy ending, whereas Glaurung's is of mythic scope, and tragic. By comparison, Chrysophylax's milieu is unabashed farce. So...

Given the farcical underpinnings of Chrysophylax and the happy ending underpinnings of Smaug, and the mythic tragedy underpinnings of Glaurung, a lot of the arguments raised in defense of this one or that being best, is mitigated by these very underpinnings. Thus, Smaug letting Bilbo discover his weakness is part of the nature of fairy tale, and is not as valid a mark against him as Ancalagon losing his first battle. There are probably many more examples of just such a thing.

All of this to say, given the farcical nature of Farmer Giles of Ham, all the mitigations therein accounted for, such as Chrysophylax being a groveling, treasure loving sycophant set aside, his sheer wrath at the stupid giant, and cleverness at all times, not to mention his ability to stay alive in the face Caudimordax, Chrysophylax, is clearly the best dragon. Of course, I've already voted, so this is redundant. But necessary. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

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04-25-2003, 10:58 AM	#11
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	I'm glad to see new life breathed into this particularly enjoyable discussion. Allow me to raise the ante... thusly: Everybody seems to think that since we're comparing Tolkien's dragons to Tolkien's dragons, that it's apples to apples, so to speak. But The Silmarillion is quite a different book from The Hobbit, and Farmer Giles of Ham is quite different from either of the other two. Thus, one may conceivably compare Ancalagon the Black and Glaurung without having to account for legendarious (new word, eh? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ) differences, but Smaug's milieu is that of a classic fairy tale with its happy ending, whereas Glaurung's is of mythic scope, and tragic. By comparison, Chrysophylax's milieu is unabashed farce. So... Given the farcical underpinnings of Chrysophylax and the happy ending underpinnings of Smaug, and the mythic tragedy underpinnings of Glaurung, a lot of the arguments raised in defense of this one or that being best, is mitigated by these very underpinnings. Thus, Smaug letting Bilbo discover his weakness is part of the nature of fairy tale, and is not as valid a mark against him as Ancalagon losing his first battle. There are probably many more examples of just such a thing. All of this to say, given the farcical nature of Farmer Giles of Ham, all the mitigations therein accounted for, such as Chrysophylax being a groveling, treasure loving sycophant set aside, his sheer wrath at the stupid giant, and cleverness at all times, not to mention his ability to stay alive in the face Caudimordax, Chrysophylax, is clearly the best dragon. Of course, I've already voted, so this is redundant. But necessary. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]