Werewolves, Vampires and other creatures?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

It may be just your wording (if so, my apologies in advance) but I think Gandalf's statement was nuanced a bit differently when he said, in UT, "The dragon, Sauron might use with terrible effect."

There is no comma at that place in the original quote.

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

"Would have acted for Sauron" implies, to me, that Smaug would have been concious of acting to aid Sauron (whether willingly or not). From Gandalf's word choice, there is an additional possibility that Sauron might manage to manipulate Smaug to actions that aid him without Smaug even realizing (or caring) that he is doing so.

I think either scenario is possible, but as I said, it doesn't seem too much of a stretch that Smaug would have willingly aided Sauron, with some appropriate motivation especially.

If that failed, Sauron was surely capable of bringing about some circumstance that would have galvanized an unaware Smaug to destructive action against the West or its allies.