Glaurung, Worm or Dragon ?

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

How do you imagine Glaurung looks?

I am asking, because I always pictured him more like a great worm, than like a “normal” dragon. Kind of like the dragons of the Norse Mythology, who also was called “great worms”. . . When I read the Silmarilion the first time; the thing that convinced me, was when Glaurung crosses the Teiglin. We hear how he drags his body over, kind of snake like and not in a fierce jump. This tells me that he must have been more like a worm than the classical dragon.

Then I read “Unfinished Tales” and it tells us, that when Glaurung passes the Teiglin; he has his front legs on one side and the rest of the body on the other (not that he is divided in two). This is kind of problem for my theory, as worms/snake normaly don’t have legs, but could it be that even though he has legs, he still moves more like a snake? I personally believe so. His legs does not seem to hold enough power to carry him like a normal animal, sure they must have a purpose. But if you look at how he crosses the river and the discretion on how all kinds of stuff is stuck to his belly, it seems like he more or less just uses them to drag him self around and not walk/run.

Please let me know, how do you picture Glaurung and why ?