Which Tolkien work features the dragon Chrysophylax Dives?
Answer
Farmer Giles of Ham
Answer
Farmer Giles of Ham
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Farmer Giles of Ham features the dragon Chrysophylax Dives.
The comic novella follows Giles, an ordinary farmer who becomes an unlikely hero after driving away a giant. His reputation grows when he confronts the dragon Chrysophylax, whose name combines Greek and Latin elements associated with gold and wealth.
Tolkien wrote the story as a playful medieval-style tale rather than as part of the main Middle-earth narrative. It was published in 1949 by George Allen & Unwin, with illustrations by Pauline Diana Baynes in later editions and by Tolkien in the first edition.
The work’s mock-heroic tone distinguishes it from the darker atmosphere of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. Its setting resembles an imagined English landscape, and its humor comes partly from the contrast between grand legendary language and the practical concerns of a farmer.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026