Why didn't Sauron go looking for other dragons after Smaug died?

Question

Another question here mentioned that there are more dragons in Middle-earth than just Smaug.

Why did Sauron not search them out, if Gandalf thought that Smaug was important enough to create a quest to get rid of the dragon, because of the danger that he posed?

Because he's the last of the great dragons. All the others are relatively small and puny — Valorum, Dec 04 '17 at 17:49
Possibly because dragons are very proud and arrogant, and may be unwilling to fight for anyone but themselves. — TimSparrow, Dec 04 '17 at 17:51
Well, the dragons were created by Morgoth, so they kind of had to obey Sauron. However, we all know that Sauron isn't very good at finding things. — void_ptr, Dec 04 '17 at 18:34
@void_ptr - really? The only item that we know he's looking for, he finds, admittedly it's a millennia later... — Valorum, Dec 04 '17 at 19:50
@Valorum - Sauron: "Okay let's see, where do I look for the ring today? The Shire? Nope. Minas Tirith? Nope. The Everglades? Nope. Not there. Mount Doom? Hmm now that might be a good idea. Wait, what's that hobbit doing there? Oh shi..." — void_ptr, Dec 04 '17 at 21:40
@void_ptr - Looking inside his volcano lair is the supervillain equivalent of checking down the side of the sofa cushions — Valorum, Dec 04 '17 at 22:56
@Valorum - Thanks, I finally found my TV remote and a bag of chips! — void_ptr, Dec 04 '17 at 23:12
@void_ptr Dragons kinda draw attention to themselves. Rings and hobbits are a bit harder to notice. — Darth Hunterix, Dec 05 '17 at 09:42
@DarthHunterix Meh considering this particular Ring was trying to be found I agree Sauron was being lax. I always figured it was because he assumed the Ring would be able to do even more of the work of getting found (e.g. getting Frodo to become the Tyrant of the Shire.) — DRF, Dec 05 '17 at 10:08
@DRF I think it was more of a Nazgul thing: "I can hear the Ring's calling nearby... But I can't see a damn thing in this stupid hood! Screw it, Saurie can go look for it himself, I'm going home". — Darth Hunterix, Dec 05 '17 at 10:37

score 31 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 04 '17 at 19:39

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Not all dragons are created equally

In particular Smaug was the mightiest dragon of his time, which Tolkien confirms in Appendix A to Lord of the Rings (my emphasis):

So the rumour of the wealth of Erebor spread abroad and reached the ears of the dragons, and at last Smaug the Golden, greatest of the dragons of his day, arose and without warning came against King Thrór...

The other surviving dragons are therefore lesser dragons, and not as useful to Sauron as Smaug would have been.

To what degree was Smaug more powerful than them? We don't know - Tolkien doesn't say.

edited Dec 04 '17 at 19:39

DJClayworth

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answered Dec 04 '17 at 18:26

Victim of Circumstance

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Lol. Plus one but the mightiest? Man he was a weakling for being so mighty. He was woken up by a few tiny men, managed to kill exactly none of them, then burnt a relatively defenseless village but died in the process by a single guy with a broken bow. All in the span of like an hour or two. If there are other dragons it's no wonder they're not mentioned in the books. They must be astoundingly pathetic... come to think of it, I don't remember if the bow was broken in the books. Probably not but still... single guy with a bow – Kai Qing Dec 04 '17 at 21:59
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@KaiQing Dragons are nothing compared to the will of Eru Ilúvatar. Much like the most powerful ring in existence. ;) The weak and foolish confounding the strong and wise is a core theme in Tolkien. – jpmc26 Dec 04 '17 at 22:58
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From the chapter “Shadow of the Past” in The Fellowship of the Ring: “...it is said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough...” So Gandalf is basically saying dragons ain’t what they used to be. – Todd Wilcox Dec 05 '17 at 06:03
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@KaiQing How many hours do you think would you need to become alert (without coffee!) when being woken from a few years of sleep? – Bergi Dec 05 '17 at 11:04
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@KaiQing: I want to see you fighting of a bunch of stubborn mammals after waking up from trying to sleep out your hangover... ^^ – PlasmaHH Dec 05 '17 at 12:13
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@Todd: Sure; most things in Middle Earth ain't what they used to be, according to Tolkein's philosophy. But the next line shows that dragons have always had their limitations: "nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself." – Pete L. Clark Dec 05 '17 at 14:22
@Bergi - I would need none. I have kids so I haven't slept in years. Smaug was very lucid. Nothing about his behavior suggested he was caught off guard. He smelled the dwarves fine. He was tricked by their puny taunts and basically demonstrated complete incompetence. Not unlike Boba Fett. Hyped up for no reason. I forgot to mention he was also separated from his treasure that he couldn't shut up about. He has no excuse. Hell, he was defeated by a pack of homeless guys! Come on! – Kai Qing Dec 05 '17 at 16:01
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@KaiQing: The fact that he could be killed by a single Man (with a hit in a soft part of the underbelly, which is a specific weakness of Tolkien's dragons) doesn't disqualify him from being the greatest Dragon of his time, as all Tolkien's named dragons were killed by Men - Scatha by Fram, Glaurung by Turin (another underbelly hit), and Ancalagon by Earendil (OK, Earendil was half-Elven, and had Eagles helping him, but then Ancalagon had other dragons on his side...) Tolkien's dragons are less invulnerable than those found in some modern fantasy. – cometaryorbit Dec 06 '17 at 04:16
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@cometaryorbit - Maybe so but it does substantially reduce the worth of the word "mighty" - Even if he was skilled, Bard killing Smaug with a lucky shot all by himself makes one wonder exactly what kind of failures lived in the mountain hundreds of years ago where they as a collective weren't able to thwart a single dragon, no matter how mighty. The soft spot Bard hit was supposedly a portion where the gems and treasure hadn't encrusted or something. He didn't have a small weakness back in Thrain's day. All I'm saying is he didn't last very long for being painted with such glory. – Kai Qing Dec 06 '17 at 16:23
I dunno. 1) Saruman was a Maia, at least equal in 'power level' to a Dragon one would think, yet he got killed by Grima using an ordinary knife. Being a powerful sort of being doesn't necessarily make you invulnerable to 'lesser beings' in Tolkien. 2) Bard's arrow was special, though not the giant thing in the movie. It's not as if Smaug fell to the first shot - "A hail of dark arrows leaped up and snapped and rattled on his scales and jewels"; "down he swooped straight through the arrow-storm, reckless in his rage, taking no heed to turn his scaly sides towards his foes". – cometaryorbit Dec 11 '17 at 07:22
Yes, Smaug's underbelly was probably less armored when he drove out the dwarves, but Tolkien's dragons are basically serpentine in form despite wings and legs - you're not going to have a good shot at the underside when you're fighting a snaky monster in underground halls/tunnels. Bard got a good shot while Smaug was flying high breathing fire down at the town.

cometaryorbit

Dec 11 '17 at 07:26

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 04 '17 at 20:56

I don't think a firm answer can be given, but it's debatable to what degree Sauron (his powers of command having been reduced by the lack of the Ring) could have commanded Smaug or any other dragons. Perhaps he might have enticed Smaug to strike with a promise of spoils, or engineered events such that Smaug would be drawn into the conflict by local fighting disturbing his region, but on the whole, dragons may not have been very reliably commandable; even Melkor had some difficulty with Glaurung revealing himself prematurely (see https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-Sauron-use-dragons-in-the-war-against-Middle-earth). Drawing other dragons into the battles in LotR in the might have required overcoming their reluctance to leave their own distant hoards undefended.

For that matter, AFAIK, we don't know for certain that Sauron didn't find some use for some dragons elsewhere. Given some of the armies (Easterlings and Haradrim) that were drawn to the fights in LotR, we're given hints of Sauron's influence or machinations in far lands. Recall Sam reflecting regarding a dead Southron: "He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace..." This is just speculation, of course, but it may be useful to remember that there were clearly things going on the world besides the central battles explicitly described.

Sauron would definitely have been able to control Smaug, since if I remember correctly, Gandalf believed he could, and it was a big reason why he went with the dwarfs in the first place — Hyperdrive Enthusiast, Dec 12 '17 at 12:44
@Hyperdriveenthusiast See https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/77171/85401 Gandalf's concern that Sauran might "use" Smaug doesn't definitely mean full command. — Jacob C., Dec 14 '17 at 22:40

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 04 '17 at 20:30

A possible (admittedly speculative) explanation: they may have been thousands of miles away from the action. There is a lot that we don't know about Middle-Earth, but we do know that it extended far to the east and south of the regions shown on Tolkien's maps. It may not have been practical (or worthwhile) to lure whatever lesser dragons were lurking in these regions to the battlefields in the north-west of the continent.

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

I agree with the points made by Victim of Circumstance, Jacob C. and Ian Thompson in their answers. I would like to add the following points.

He didn't have the time or resources to try every strategy that we can dream up

Powerful as he was, Sauron doesn't have an infinite amount of time or resources. The search for dragons would have taken resources away from other efforts, such as recruiting the Haradrim and the Easterlings, that he might have thought more likely to bear fruit.

He didn't think he needed additional help to win battles

Also, according to his wisdom, Sauron knew that the forces he had were enough to ensure his victory. While using the palantír, Denethor is convinced of Sauron's certain victory.

‘My lords,’ said Gandalf, ‘listen to the words of the Steward of Gondor before he died: You may triumph on the fields of the Pelennor for a day, but against the Power that has now arisen there is no victory.

_{The Lord of the Rings Book Five, Chapter 9: The Last Debate}
_{Page 878 (Single volume 50th Anniversary Edition)}

Sauron comes to realise that the Ring is all that's important

Gandalf explains this to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli:

The Enemy, of course, has long known that the Ring is abroad, and that it is borne by a hobbit. He knows now the number of our Company that set out from Rivendell, and the kind of each of us. But he does not yet perceive our purpose clearly. He supposes that we were all going to Minas Tirith; for that is what he would himself have done in our place. And according to his wisdom it would have been a heavy stroke against his power. Indeed he is in great fear, not knowing what mighty one may suddenly appear, wielding the Ring, and assailing him with war, seeking to cast him down and take his place. That we should wish to cast him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that occurs to his mind. That we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet entered into his darkest dream. In which no doubt you will see our good fortune and our hope.

_{The Lord of the Rings Book Three, Chapter 5: The White Rider}
_{Pages 496-7 (Single volume 50th Anniversary Edition)}

Why didn't Sauron go looking for other dragons after Smaug died?

4 Answers4