Historical Carbon Emissions From Dragons In Middle Earth

An anonymous reader writes "The climate of Middle Earth has recently been under the spotlight, with the current and future climate of Middle Earth simulated using the HadCM3L General Circulation Model. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been little work investigating the historical carbon emissions of Middle Earth. Specifically, what impact has the demise of dragons had on carbon emissions? To shed some light on this question, we start by considering the carbon footprint of the antagonist, Smaug." Smaug is surprisingly environmentally friendly.

Comments

Stating the Obvious

[dmomo]

Of course the dying off of dragons will result in a reduction of Smaug.

Methane

[nherm]

I'm far more concerned about the emission of methane gas by dragons

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl...

Only 3 proper dragons

[Gothmolly]

Glaurung
Anacalgon
Smaug

It's interesting that all were slain by Men, while the only ones who killed Balrogs were Elves or Maiar. In the original Gondolin myth the dragons were actually mechanical and basically giant troop transports, again highlighting the pastoral and anti-industrial themes in a lot of JRRTs work. Dragons were noisy, mechanical, destructive things, part of the mortal world of Men, while Balrogs were basically demons, part of the immortal world (Heaven/Hell).