:

:
: It is said that, in the HOME, Sauron at the end of the Second Age had more (personal) power than Morgoth did, at the end of the First Age. This being the case, there cannot be ANY doubt that Sauron was more than capable of controlling the dragons during this time. The fact that he didn't may be down to a number of reasons:

: i) He could not due to the dragons being asleep or slumbering,
: ii) The dragons being too far away,
: iii) Being unwilling to try at so early a point in the game,
: iv) A Tolkien oversight.

: There are certain to be more, among which I am sure will be his inability to (though this is totally unrealistic).

: It was probably only during the Third Age, which Sauron was greatly reduced, that the dragons became to powerful (or rather Sauron became not powerful enough) for Sauron to command on a whim. Smaug, therefore, would have certainly required a littel bribery to do Sauron's bidding, but since their basic beliefs were quite similar, I don't think it would have taken much.

: The Balrog was another matter. Although I fully agree Sauron just did not have the watts to command the Balrog in the Third Age, once again there cannot be any doubt that he would have been more than capable of doing so in the Second Age (if The Balrog had been around) and before the making of the One Ring.

: But again since The Balrog and Sauron would have been working for much the same goals in the Third Age, and Sauron having the history of having been Morgoths Number One, I believe the Balrog would have given deference to Sauron, if not obediance.

: The trouble with the dragons, is that Tolkien mentions that some escaped, but never gives a number and never suggests how many survived into the Third Age and more importantly how many survived to the time of the War of the Ring. For if any had, you would have thought that Sauron would have tried to get what ever dragons were left on board.

: Padster

Gandalf did point out at one point that there were many evil and unfriendly things in the world that were not in league with Sauron; Smaug presumably was one of them. He seems to have been a dragon of unusual power and resource, and I imagine would not have done Sauron's bidding, unless persuaded it was in his interests to do so. I rather doubt that he would have risked his life in attacking Rivendell unless there was a) a huge amount of trasure there, or b) he had some reason to avenge himself on its inhabitants.

Sean