Smaug in his lair: an illustration for the fantasy The Hobbit

Smaug is a fictional character in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 542 pixels Full resolution (1024 × 694 pixel, file size: 182 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Smaug in his lair (illustration for The Hobbit). ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 542 pixels Full resolution (1024 × 694 pixel, file size: 182 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Smaug in his lair (illustration for The Hobbit). ... The Hobbit is a fantasy novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien in the tradition of the fairy tale. ... J. R. R. Tolkiens universe of Middle-earth features dragons closely based on those of European legend. ... J. R. R. Tolkiens universe of Middle-earth features dragons closely based on those of European legend. ... Ancalagon can also refer to a fossil priapulid worm. ... Known as The Deceiver,The Golden, and the Worm of Greed, Glaurung was the first and greatest of the land-bound fire-breathing Dragon, in J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional Middle-earth legendarium. ... Scatha, known as Scatha the Worm, was a dragon in J. R. R. Tolkiens fantasy universe of Middle-earth. ... The Hobbit is a fantasy novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien in the tradition of the fairy tale. ... John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) was an English philologist, writer and university professor, best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. ...

One of the last great dragons of Middle-earth, Smaug is the main antagonist in the book, having previously laid waste to Dale and captured the Lonely Mountain (Erebor) with all its treasure. The Hobbit recounts the tale of a party of dwarves (a few of the original residents of the Lonely Mountain and their descendants) to recapture the mountain and kill the dragon. Smaug is described as reddish-gold and was said in accounts of the Red Book that he was of great size. In the book he is sometimes named Smaug the Golden or Smaug the Magnificent. J. R. R. Tolkiens universe of Middle-earth features dragons closely based on those of European legend. ... A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda. ... An ... Dale is a town in J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth legendarium, the Lonely Mountain (Sindarin Erebor) is a mountain in the northeast of Rhovanion. ... Treasure Originates from the Greek work the(from Greek θησαυρος; thesaurus, meaning a treasure of words, is a cognate) is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth, Dwarves are beings of short stature who all possess beards and are often friendly with Hobbits, although long suspicious of Elves. ...

The Hobbit

Smaug was intimately familiar with every last item within his hoard, and instantly noticed the theft of a relatively inconsequential cup by Bilbo Baggins. According to Tolkien, his rage was that kind which " Is only seen when very rich folk lose something they have long had but never really wanted or needed." This theft of a cup, Smaug's knowledge of every item in the hoard, and the dragon's ensuing rampage all echo the story of Beowulf, on which Tolkien was a noted expert and which he described as one of his "most valued sources" for The Hobbit.^[1] Among the items in Smaug's possession were the Arkenstone, and a number of mithril mail shirts, one of which was given as a gift to Bilbo by Thorin Oakenshield. In The Lord of the Rings, set years later, the shirt saved Bilbo's relative Frodo from injury multiple times. Bilbo Baggins (2890 Third Age - ? Fourth Age) is an important character in J. R. R. Tolkiens legendarium. ... The first page of Beowulf Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem composed in the later Early Middle Ages (in the 8th, 9th or 10th century). ... The Arkenstone (or Heart of the Mountain) of Thrain was a wondrous gem sought by Thorin Oakenshield in J. R. R. Tolkiens The Hobbit. ... Mithril is a fictional metal from J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth universe. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth legendarium, Thorin Oakenshield was a Dwarf, the son of Thráin II and the grandson of King Thrór. ... The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by the British academic J. R. R. Tolkien. ... Frodo Baggins is one of the most significant characters in J. R. R. Tolkiens legendarium. ...

Smaug's belly was covered in gems, which rendered him almost invulnerable. However, when Bilbo met him in his lair, he discovered a bare patch on his left breast. When Bilbo told his Dwarf companions about Smaug's weakness, he was overheard by the thrush that roosted by the mountain's secret door. The thrush in turn told Bard the Bowman of Esgaroth. When Smaug attacked the town, Bard shot his Black Arrow into the armour's weak spot, killing him. In J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth, Dwarves are beings of short stature who all possess beards and are often friendly with Hobbits, although long suspicious of Elves. ... Genera 22 genera, see text The Thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World. ... A fictional character in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, Bard the Bowman of Esgaroth was one of the most skilled archers among Men, and the heir of Girion, the last king of old Dale. ... High upon the Long Lake, also known as Lake-town, is a fictional community of Men in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. ...

After Smaug's death, Thorin and Company claimed the treasure as theirs by birthright. This created a conflict with Bard and the Elvish king Thranduil of Mirkwood, who each wanted a portion of the gold as reimbursement for all the damage Smaug had caused their kingdoms over the years. Thorin refused to share the treasure and declared war on both of them. The conflict was avoided by the arrival of the Goblin and Warg army, and the Dwarves decided to ally with the Elves and Men to fight this greater evil. This conflict was known as the Battle of Five Armies in which Thorin was killed. Celeborn (portrayed by Marton Csokas), an Elf in Peter Jacksons adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring. ... King Thranduil was a character in the fictitious world of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... Combatants Dwarves of the Iron Hills and Erebor, Elves of the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood, Giant Eagles, Men of Lake-town Orcs, Wargs, Bats Commanders Gandalf, Thranduil, Bard the Bowman, Dain II Ironfoot, Thorin II Oakenshield†, Lord of the Eagles Bolg† Strength 500 Dwarves of the Iron Hills, 13 Dwarves...

Creation

Tolkien created numerous pencil sketches and two pieces of more detailed artwork portraying Smaug. The latter were a detailed ink and watercolour labelled Conversation with Smaug^[2] and a rough coloured pencil and ink sketch entitled Death of Smaug.^[3] While neither of these appeared in the original printing of The Hobbit due to cost constraints both have been included in subsequent editions and Conversation with Smaug has been used extensively. Death of Smaug was used for the cover of the first UK paperback edition of The Hobbit.

Many of Smaug's attributes and behaviour in The Hobbit derive directly from the unnamed "old night-scather" of the Old English epic Beowulf: great age; winged, fiery, and reptilian form; a stolen barrow within which he lies on his hoard; disturbance by a theft; and violent airborne revenge on the lands all about. This debt is unsurprising: Tolkien was from 1925-45 Rawlinson & Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, and an important critic of Beowulf--on which, especially its dragon, he gave a seminal lecture at the British Academy in 1936.^[4] At the same time Smaug's immolation of Esgaroth, largely destroying the town and killing many innocents and non-combatants, a scene which had been composed by early October 1936,^[5] horribly anticipated the German bombing of Guernica on 26 April 1937, and reminds readers that Tolkien's earliest dragons were conceived in 1916-17 after he had seen the first tanks at the battle of the Somme.^[6]

Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon[1], Old English: ) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... The first page of Beowulf Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem composed in the later Early Middle Ages (in the 8th, 9th or 10th century). ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The British Academy is the United Kingdoms national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. ... Guernica or Guernica y Lumo (Basque Gernika-Lumo, pronounced in IPA [gernika]) is a small city in the Spanish Basque Country that was the meeting place of the Biscayne assembly under an oak tree, the Gernikako Arbola, which was a symbol of traditional freedoms of the Basque people. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (117th in leap years). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Consequences

Tolkien writes in "The Quest of Erebor" (published in full in Unfinished Tales, appearing in abridged form in the Appendices for The Lord of the Rings) that, according to Gandalf it was fortunate that Smaug had been slain, since this allowed the area around Dale and Erebor to be defended against Sauron's forces in the War of the Ring. The absence of such a bulwark would almost certainly have led to much destruction in northern Wilderland and allowed an invasion of Eriador from the north. As Gandalf said: "Think of what might have been. Dragon-fire and savage swords in Eriador!"

The Quest of Erebor is a work of fantasy fiction by J. R. R. Tolkien, posthumously published by his son Christopher Tolkien in Unfinished Tales. ... Unfinished Tales (full title Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth) is a collection of stories by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. ... The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by the British academic J. R. R. Tolkien. ... For other uses, see Gandalf (disambiguation). ... Dale is a town in J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth legendarium, the Lonely Mountain (Sindarin Erebor) is a mountain in the northeast of Rhovanion. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Eye of Sauron. ... Combatants Free peoples: Gondor, Rohan, Dale, Esgaroth, Erebor, The Shire, Lothlórien, the Woodland Realm and the Fangorn forest Evil forces: Under Sauron: Mordor, Rhûn, Morgul, Harad, Umbar, Khand Under Saruman: Isengard, Dunland Commanders Gandalf (died but later resurrected) Aragorn Théoden† Éomer Denethor† Dáin II† Brand† Galadriel... the meaning of bulwark is protect . eg : a soldiers duty is to bulwark the country . ... In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Rhovanion or Wilderland was a large region of northern Middle-earth. ... Eriador (the Lone Lands) is a large region in J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional world of Middle-earth. ...

Smaug's death as the last of his kind in Middle-earth also kept the dragons of Morgoth out of The Lord of the Rings. His peculiar horror as an enemy reaching back to the First Age is therefore displaced onto, first, the "Balrog of Morgoth" that pulls Gandalf into the abyss in Moria, and second, Shelob, "last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world".^[7] A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda. ... Morgoth Bauglir (originally known as Melkor) is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. ... The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by the British academic J. R. R. Tolkien. ... A Balrog fighting Gandalf, as depicted by Ted Nasmith. ... In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria, was an ominous name given to what had once been an enormous underground city in Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, mines and huge halls or mansions, that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains. ... Shelob is a character from J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional works of Middle-earth. ... In the fictional world of Middle-earth, Ungoliant was an evil spirit in the form of a spider who dwelt in Avathar in the First Age. ...

Abilities

Smaug has the fiery breath generally associated with dragons, but is just as dangerous behind as before: his tail is described as having the power of a battering-ram wielded by giants, and when Bilbo foolishly gives him too many clues as to where his and the Dwarves campsite is, Smaug uses this powerful tail to bring rubble down upon them to try to bury them all.

Smaug also, like all dragons, has a terribly acute sense of smell, which he is able to use asleep or awake. He is even able to put an exact figure on the number of people and ponies that have arrived near his lair, and his appetite (he had already eaten ten out of the fourteen ponies at the time of his conversation with Bilbo) is also monstrous. To further complicate things, he is also able to sleep with one eye open to keep watch over his treasure.

Smaug's weakness, we are told, aside from the physical one at having a gap in his bejewelled armour, is that he enjoys hearing riddles and cannot resist the urge to uncover them. Hence, while he can smell Bilbo, he cannot recognise what he is, and when Bilbo gives a cryptic answer as to who he is and where he comes from, Smaug is mystified by some of what he says- although, significantly not all it, as the inhabitants of Esgaroth soon find out. However, to help him, he also has hypnotic powers in his eyes, and we are told that every time he looks past the unseen Bilbo, he is in "mortal danger of falling under the dragon's spell", and suddenly wants to tell him everything. Smaug very nearly also convinces him by this means- aside from his own cleverness- that it is useless trying to steal his treasure and that his friends are laughing behind his back at his efforts to even attempt it.

What is truly unusual about Smaug as a firedrake however- even outside of Tolkien's literature- is that he is able to speak. The nameless dragon in Beowulf is voiceless, although he is no less greedy and angry at being robbed, and the trope of a speaking dragon is in Old English and Old Norse, as well as Icelandic, specifically associated with Fáfnir in the Völsunga saga and Nibelungenlied. But Fáfnir speaks because he was once a human, and despite acquiring a dragon's form his mind and language remain human, while Smaug's conversation with Bilbo in The Hobbit, though in many ways comic, gives to the ancient and full-grown worm its own voice and capacities of language.^[8] Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... Fáfnir guards the gold hoard in this illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagners Siegfried. ... The Ramsund carving depicting the Saga of the Völsungs The Volsunga saga is a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the story of Sigurd and Brynhild, and the destruction of the Burgundians. ... The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. ...

Name

In the books, the name Smaug is presented as a translation of the "original Dalish" Trâgu, and is related to Sméagol/Trahald. According to Tolkien, the name Smaug is "the past tense of the primitive Germanic verb smeugan (Old Norse smjúga; past smaug) = "to squeeze through a hole"" (This is noted in the first chapter of The Hobbit when the Dwarves wonder how the dragon was able to squeeze through the passageway in the mountain) (Letter No. 31); others have noted that it has echoes of "smoke" and "smog". Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkiens legendarium. ... The preterite (also praeterite, in American English also preterit, or past historic) is the grammatical tense expressing actions which took place in the past. ... Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC-50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Swedish, Norwegian... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... The Hobbit is a fantasy novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien in the tradition of the fairy tale. ... Victorian London was notorious for its thick smogs, or pea-soupers, a fact that is often recreated to add an air of mystery to a period costume drama. ...

Portrayal in adaptations

In the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit, Smaug was voiced by Richard Boone and displayed some slightly mammalian features not keeping with the book's description. Richard Boone often played in Westerns and action films. ...

In the 2003 video game release, Smaug was voiced by James Horan. James Horan (b. ...

References

1. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Letter #25. ISBN 0-395-31555-7. 
2. ^ Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull (1995). J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, Image #133. ISBN 0-395-74816-X. 
3. ^ Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull (1995). J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, Image #137. ISBN 0-395-74816-X. 
4. ^ J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (ed. Christopher Tolkien, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983).
5. ^ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (ed. Christopher Tolkien and Humphrey Carpenter, 1980; with expanded index, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000), p. 14.
6. ^ John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War (London: HarperCollins, 1993), p. 221.
7. ^ The Lord of the Rings, I.371, III.332.
8. ^ John Lennard, 'Of Modern Dragons: Antiquity, Modernity, and the Descendants of Smaug', in Of Modern Dragons and other essays on Genre Fiction (Tirril: Humanities-Ebooks, 2007), pp. 87-142,