# Why didn't Sauron seal the entrance to Mount Doom (LOTR)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-sauron-seal-the-entrance-to-mount-doom-lotr/146158>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 2, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-sauron-seal-the-entrance-to-mount-doom-lotr/146158 "2003-01-02T05:05:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-sauron-seal-the-entrance-to-mount-doom-lotr/146158/41 "2003-01-04T16:01:28Z")

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And one final note to (I believe) cover the last base of this dragon speculation: It was further stated, either by Gandalf in Bag End or later at the Council of Elrond, that even if dragonfire COULD destroy the One Ring, all the dragons are dead now anyway.

Smaug was the last of the great dragons, and he was killed some 70 years before the events of LotR.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-sauron-seal-the-entrance-to-mount-doom-lotr/146158/42 "2003-01-04T17:06:05Z")

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No, it was not stated that all the dragons were dead, only that no dragon had a hot enough fire anymore. Then it was pointed out that even the fire of Ancalagon the Black (whom Eärendil slew) would not have been hot enough to melt the One Ring.

In JRRT’s “letters” he wrote that dragons persisted well into the 4th age and beyond.

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**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-sauron-seal-the-entrance-to-mount-doom-lotr/146158/43 "2003-01-04T17:10:46Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \*  
> \*\*I remember that passage as specifically referring to returning the surviving Dwarf rings, not issuing new ones. \*\*

Yep – it’s towards the beginning of the chapter “The Council of Elrond”… “Find it, and three rings that the Dwarf-sires possessed of old shall be returned to you, and the realm of Moria shall be yours forever.”

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