Smaug
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| Dragons of Middle-earth |
|---|
| Ancalagon |
| Glaurung |
| Scatha |
| Smaug |
Smaug is a fictional character in The Hobbit, a fantasy book by J. R. R. Tolkien, published in 1937.
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 or evict the dragon. Smaug is described as reddish-gold and was said in accounts of the Red Book that he was of great size, though the exact is not known. What is known is that he was the second largest dragon to appear in Middle-earth, second only to Ancalagon who was much larger than him.[citation needed] In the book he is sometimes named Smaug the Golden or Smaug the Magnificent.
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[edit] The Hobbit
Despite having accumulated vast wealth, Smaug was intimately familiar with every last item within his hoard, and instantly noticed the theft of a relatively inconsequential cup by Bilbo Baggins. 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 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 chain shirts, one of which was given as a gift to Bilbo by Thorin Oakenshield, and was later to save Frodo Baggins from the spear of a goblin captain in Moria.
Smaug, having slept for so long on his treasure, had a belly covered in gems which rendered him almost invulnerable. However, when Bilbo Baggins 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, and when Smaug attacked Esgaroth, Bard was able to slay Smaug with his Black Arrow.
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.
Tolkien created numerous pencil sketches and two pieces of more detailed artwork portraying Smaug. The latter of these were a detailed ink and watercolour labeled 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.
[edit] After the Hobbit
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!"
It is a common misconception among Tolkien readers that Smaug is the last of the Dragons, but Gandalf tells Frodo in Fellowship of the Ring that there are still Dragons in Middle-earth, though none of them are as powerful as the Great Dragons of Old. "There is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough." By this he most likely means that after the death of Smaug, no living dragon is capable of consuming and destroying any of the Rings, in the manner that half the Seven Rings of Dwarves had been.
[edit] 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) = "to squeeze through a hole"" (This is noted in the first chapter of The Hobbit when the Dwarves wonder as to how the dragon were to squeeze through the passageway in the mountain) (Letter No. 31); others have noted that it has echoes of "smoke" and "smog".
[edit] Portrayal in adaptations
In the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit, Smaug was voiced by Richard Boone and bore a more common resemblence to mammalian creatures than reptilian.
In the 2003 video game release, Smaug was voiced by James Horan.
[edit] References
- ^ Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Letter #25. ISBN 0-395-31555-7.
- ^ Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull (1995). J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, Image #133. ISBN 0-395-74816-X.
- ^ Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull (1995). J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, Image #137. ISBN 0-395-74816-X.
