Quote:
At length he resolved that no others would serve him in this case but his mightiest servants, the Ringwraiths, who had no will but his own, being each utterly subservient to the ring that had enslaved him, which Sauron held.
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Interesting. So there is a theory going about that Sauron was a bit nervous of the fickle beasties? That their lust for treasure may extend to his Preciousess? True, it was not believed that a dragon could harm the One Ring, but you'd hardly want to fetch it out of Smaug's gullet, would you?
Michel Delving makes an
excellent point: Gandalf himself believed that Sauron could "use" Smaug. *Shudder!* The thought that the Dark Lord was so powerful that he could simply use a dragon as his tool is pretty scary. Maybe this would have come to pass if not for Gandalf's intervention. Smaug decided to up and fly south to Erebor at the time that the power of Sauron was strongest in Dol Guldur. Coincidence? I doubt it; Sauron had a habit of drawing all nastiness to him. I think if it hadn't been for Thorin and Company (not to mention Bard the Bowman and a little birdie), Smaug and Sauron may have had a lot more to do with each other.
Glaurung had basically his own private army of Orcs for the Sack of Nargothrond. If Sauron had provided Smaug with the same thing, it would have been a catastrophe for Middle Earth.