Just to clarify:
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Originally Posted by Letter #144
Dragons. They had not stopped; since they were active in far later times, close to our own. Have I said anything to suggest the final ending of dragons? If so it should be altered. The only passage I can think of is Vol. I p. 70: 'there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think, that there are still dragons, if not of full primeval stature.
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Originally Posted by Might
What about a heat resistant alloy?
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How can that prevent the dwarves from dying? They would still die of the heat. Ha, unless their blood had a very high boiling point! When it comes to dwarves, nothing is impossible.
But how did the dragons themselves stand the heat? I would imagine Glaurung had quite a sore throat after burning some trees... I'm rather sure even Melkor couldn't make them as heat-resistant bodies as they needed. Even though they were 'lesser spirits', is there any evidence against the idea that they had 'chosen' their form themselves (though forced by Melkor)?
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Originally Posted by Greenie
Gandalf's "for that was made by Sauron himself" indicates to Sauron being much more powerful than the dragons, so if Sauron is a maia, and if dragons indeed are somewhere close, then, well, Saorun must be just an uncommonly powerful maia, and the dragons weak.
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Could Gandalf destroy the One Ring? Could a balrog, for instance, have done that? On the other hand, Melkor could destroy the Trees and the Lamps.
Sauron would not have risen to the rank he had, had he not been an exceptionally powerful maia. He was definitely more powerful than the dragons, and thus I find it totally credible that no dragon could have destroyed a ring with Sauron's powers in it.
To me, that's a sufficient answer to why dragons couldn't have melted the One Ring, but I'm still rather baffled about dwarven armours.