Posted: April 08, 2000 at 20:14:36: by Aelmer
:Snip
: Regarding dragons, if Melkor could only pervert existing life then there must have been a precursor to Glaurung and his brood. In the Book of Lost Tales I, there is a brief description of the columns in Melkor's halls of Utumno being twined about by huge serpents. I would assume that these were the initial stock from which the later dragons came. Glaurung (the "Father of Dragons") in particular seems to have been more serpent-like in form than the later dragons. He had legs, yet his belly dragged the ground as he moved. He was also possessed by an "evil spirit", so he may perhaps have been associated with the Maiar in some way, but certainly not on a level with Eonwe or Sauron. : The biggest difference between the dragons and the Maiar was that the dragons 'possessed' their bodies (i.e., they took control of an already existing creature) whereas the Maiar 'adopted' bodies when they chose to interact with the physical world. Destoying the 'body' of a Maia would not kill him, although it could take considerable time to generate a new form. The balrogs seem to have been a unique case in that they had become so tied to their physical forms that they seemed to have lost the ability to survive their destruction. It is stated, off-hand I can't remember where, that the longer a Maia had a form(body)of flesh, the more bound to that body the Maia became.
I think there was also ranking order among the Maiar. I don't know if this is actually stated in any of the text. Members of the higher order, Sauron and Istari for example, would take longer to become totally bound to their body. While others of the lesser orders,balrogs & dragons, would become totally bound sooner.
This might explain being able to kill a balrog or dragon. It might also explain Hourns, who were lessor spirits so bound to their tree form that were, in fact, becoming trees.
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