Farmer Giles is the fictional farmer who defeats a dragon in Tolkien’s comic story Farmer Giles of Ham.
The story follows Giles, an unheroic farmer in the Little Kingdom, who accidentally drives away a giant and then becomes celebrated as a defender. When the dragon Chrysophylax Dives threatens the kingdom, Giles is drawn into a confrontation that turns him into a legendary figure.
Tolkien wrote the tale as a humorous mock-medieval narrative, using exaggerated titles, courtly language, and jokes about fame and bureaucracy. It was published in 1949 with illustrations by Pauline Diana Baynes.
The name can be confused with Farmer Maggot or Farmer Cotton, both of whom belong to the world of The Lord of the Rings. Farmer Giles is not a Hobbit character, and his story is set in a separate comic universe. The dragon’s name, Chrysophylax Dives, is another distinctive clue identifying the work.