Soft Underbelly

It is said that all dragons have a weakness despite their huge size and heavily armored skin. It is their soft underbelly, which in Glaurung’s case, was vulnerable to the sword of Túrin.

The Silmarillion is often thought to be such great fodder for stories because its characters are flawed and possess obvious weaknesses. This challenge asks authors to explore a weakness of any of Tolkien’s characters in The Silmarillion and show how that character was felled by this innate frailty of his or hers. For example, King Thingol of Doriath was obsessed with the Silmarils of Fëanor, and eventually, they caused his death. Likewise, Celegorm’s quickness to anger contributed to his becoming the first of Fëanor’s sons to die.

This challenge opened in May 2007 .