The thousand-year-old mega-monster that periodically rides out to plunder the surplus value of native peoples is… the natural world? And it’s… rebelling?

I see you're not familiar with the mythical history of what dragons are, or what they do.

The dwarves didn’t chop down any forests.

It's what dwarves do. They chop down trees and feed them to the fires to create wealth. Grower vs. maker. Why do you think they are in eternal conflict with elves? That's why Legoloas' and Gimli's friendship was so exceptional. It was Saruman's great crime...only he did it to an ancient forest that still had its ancient defenders. Bad move.