DRAUGLUIN, “FATHER OF WEREWOLVES”

The belief in lycanthropy and vampirism is as ancient as the human race: there are records of these traditions as far back as ancient Egypt. The transformation of humans to animals and animals to humans has been a part of every shamanistic culture. There was a cult dedicated to Zeus Lycaeus (the Wolf) in Arcadia even in the enlightened age of Socrates.

Of all of Morgoth’s “creatures that walked in wolf-shape” upon Middle-earth, the first was Draugluin, the Father of Werewolves. The name Draugluin in Sindarin means “Blue Wolf”, in reference to the colour of his coat. He appears to have been a Maia spirit corrupted and chosen by Morgoth to become the Lord of the Werewolves of Angband and the eventual sire of all the Werewolves of Middle-earth. In Beleriand, he dwelt in the tower of Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the “Isle of Werewolves”, along with Morgoth’s mighty lieutenant, Gorthaur the Cruel, another corrupted Maia spirit who in the Second Age would gain even greater fame as Sauron, the Lord of the Rings.

Draugluin, the “Father of Werewolves”

Throughout the Middle Ages, there was a widespread belief in vampires, who took the form of bats to suck blood from their human victims. Elements of these traditions found their way into Tolkien’s world in those evil beings that assume the form of giant vampire bats. Like Werewolves, these creatures – in both traditional folklore and Tolkien – are skin-changers who can also take on human or bat form and fly under cover of darkness to suck blood from their sleeping victims. The greatest of these in Tolkien is Thuringwethil, the “Woman of Secret Shadows”, who also inhabited the haunted tower of Tol-in-Gauroth.

In the Quest of the Silmaril, the horrific Werewolf-haunted dungeon of Tol-in-Gauroth, where Lúthien’s lover, Beren, is held prisoner, owes something of its inspiration to the Norse Völsunga saga, in which the enchantress Signy wins her brother Sigmund’s freedom from a similar werewolf-haunted dungeon.

Draugluin is also the sire of the gigantic Carcharoth, meaning “Red Maw”. Reared on living flesh by the hand of Morgoth, Carcharoth is the unsleeping guardian of the Gates of Angband. Considered the greatest of his race, Carcharoth is comparable to guardians of the gates to other mythological underworlds, such as the Norse Garm, the gigantic guardian hound of Helheim. However, as Tolkien acknowledged, the Quest of the Silmaril was patterned on the Greek myth of Orpheus's descent into the Underworld to retrieve Eurydice, only with the male and female roles reversed. In the Greek legend, instead of Carcharoth, we have Cerberus, the monstrous three-headed watchdog, as the unsleeping guardian at the gates of Hades.

Thuringwethil, the “Woman of Secret Shadows”

Werewolves of Tol-in-Gaurhoth

Carcharoth, the Wolf of Angband

In Tolkien’s tale, the quest, like that of Orpheus and Eurydice, also fails at the last hurdle. By the power of Lúthien’s enchantment, the lovers gain entry to Angband and seize the Silmaril but, tragically, Carcaroth wakes before the lovers can make their escape. Then, like the Norse legend of Fenrir, in which the Father of Wolves bites off the hand of the god Tyr, Carcharoth bites off Beren’s hand and swallows both the hand and the Silmaril in its grip. In the end, after a great hunt, Carcharoth, like his mighty sire, Draugluin, meets his fate in the jaws of Huan, the wolfhound of the Valar. In that final struggle, Huan slays and is slain by Carcharoth.