Carcharoth is the dragon-like wolf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s poem The Lay of Leithian. He guards the gates of Angband and bites off Beren’s hand after Beren takes a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown.
Carcharoth is also called the Red Maw and is one of the most terrifying creatures in Tolkien’s First Age mythology. His name is associated with his enormous jaws and destructive hunger. The episode belongs to the story of Beren and Lúthien, one of Tolkien’s central tales.
The name can cause confusion because Tolkien used several great draconic creatures elsewhere. Glaurung is the first major dragon of Middle-earth, while Ancalagon the Black appears in the War of Wrath. Scatha is a different dragon associated with the Grey Mountains.
The Lay of Leithian remained unfinished during Tolkien’s lifetime. Its surviving verses nevertheless preserve one of the fullest poetic versions of the Beren and Lúthien story.