Seven: Four From Five or One?

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Originally Posted by Bêthberry

But there is a problem, too, in writing too much about the destruction of rings. If the One Ring and its end in Mount Doom is the ultimate story, would 'precursor' stories merely take away some of the . . . fire . . . of the final destruction? Then, how would one maintain narrative interest in a back story--four of them--of the other rings' destruction? How many times can a ring be melted before it becomes impossible to maintain interest? (Now, I say this and remember that Scheherazade kept up her storytelling skills over a good many nights.)

That makes sense. Just how many dragon stories can we have? One everyone knows; the other everyone may be reading (or rereading) soon. Still, it might be helpful to read a one-liner about either the fall of a dwarven stonghold because of a dragon's interest, or the fall of a dragon due to a dwarven vendetta. And it's not like the Sil isn't cyclical.

"The Dwarven capitol of Southwestern Khand, ZiggyMarleyHall, overrun by DepecheMode the Goth."

And I suppose another quandry might be the place of dragons in Middle-earth. Do they belong to the lore of TH or do they belong to the less fanciful LotR? Recently an Old English scholar known for his admiration of Tolkien complained in his blog about talking foxes in Lot R. How would dragons have to be handled to satisfy such wits?

Smaug and Glaurung talked, and it didn't come off as does the fox, which stood out bombadilicly. Again, the lengthy story would be appreciated, but the blurb would be welcome as well.

On the other hand, the elves were given three rings and those were not destroyed until they lost their power with the destruction of The One. Why were the dwarven rings lost? Were the dwarves, with their greater resistance to the power of the One, able to understand something which the elves could not?

The dwarves knew that sometimes...it's better to burn up than to fade away.

[Lalwendë]

When Tolkien tells us that some of the Dwarves' rings were 'consumed by dragons' it could be taken one of two ways: they may have been eaten by the Dragons, or they may have been 'consumed' by Dragonfire as they were burnt up and destroyed. That second idea is very exciting!

Now, Dragons love treasure as much as Dwarves do, and the Rings brought to their bearers even more treasure - each was associated with a hoarde. Given that the Dwarves and the Dragons shared much of the North between them the chances of conflict must have been high. That some of the Dragons 'consumed' some of the Dwarves' rings must mean that there were independent Dragons, free of the control of Sauron and hence not terribly worried about destroying his Rings of Power in order to get their claws on that treasure (does this mean there were also female Dragons and Dragon babies?).

It conjours up all kinds of possibilities for truly Northern myths - tales of Dwarf Lords and their hoardes of treasure, glittering mountains of gold and gemstones hidden under the mountains; their power and wealth increased by the Rings they held, but their minds not fully corrupted. Then into the caverns came the Wyrms and the Drakes, some bold and brassy, some small and sneaky and concealing their literal firepower. There would be battles of course, and maybe at times stealth attacks, the clever Drake coming across the Dwarf Lord sitting proudly on guard outside the vault housing his hoarde and just blasting him to dust, having worked out that he needs to destroy the Ring in order to get hold of that hoarde.



And another thing that fascinates me...Why did Sauron want his Dwarf rings back?

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Originally Posted by Lalwendë

When Tolkien tells us that some of the Dwarves' rings were 'consumed by dragons' it could be taken one of two ways: they may have been eaten by the Dragons, or they may have been 'consumed' by Dragonfire as they were burnt up and destroyed. That second idea is very exciting!

I guess we should assume both possiblities. Did the Dragon eat the Dwarf - armour, boots, Ring and all? Or did it torch the Dwarf, and, seeing the Ring, eat that?

Now, Dragons love treasure as much as Dwarves do, and the Rings brought to their bearers even more treasure - each was associated with a hoarde. Given that the Dwarves and the Dragons shared much of the North between them the chances of conflict must have been high. That some of the Dragons 'consumed' some of the Dwarves' rings must mean that there were independent Dragons, free of the control of Sauron and hence not terribly worried about destroying his Rings of Power in order to get their claws on that treasure (does this mean there were also female Dragons and Dragon babies?).

Could a Dragon wear/use a Ring of Power? Did a Ring inside the Dragon beget anything more than indigestion? Could a Dragon detect that these Rings, even the least of them, contained something more than just ornamental value?

Were the Dragons located/designated so that each would spoil a specific treasure hold (which usualy was surrounded by a Dwarven community), or were they more freelance, foraging for treasure wherever they could find it? Does this mean that Dragons fought one another? Would one Dragon try to take the Ring of another?

Why were there no Dragons in Moria? It had treasure, the possibility of a Ring and Dwarves - what's not to like? Sure, there was a Balrog running about, but given enough avarice (especially if the Dragon held a Ring), that fear could be surmounted.

And another thing that fascinates me...Why did Sauron want his Dwarf rings back?

My thought has always been so that he could regift them. Without arms to work the forge, he had to make due with what remained.

Or maybe he saw how much they would bring on eBay...