Ch. 12 Smaug

[Desi Baggins]

Now you have finally been introduced to the dragon...What are your thoughts of him? How was Smaug described?

[Stormrider]

I think Smaug is pretty confident in himself. Smaug verbally challenged Bilbo with remarks to get Bilbo to feel confident in himself and spill some information Smaug could snatch onto and use. Bilbo got a bit overconfident and started in with the riddles again to confuse Smaug.

I liked how the rays from Smaug's eyes swept the room looking for Bilbo. It must have really aggravated him that he did not know Bilbo's smell and that he could not see him.

It amazes me that someone with so much treasure hoarded beneath them would miss one object. How many years had he been on that pile counting it and taking inventory?

[Andorinha]

The Dragon's Graduation Lesson -- How Bilbo passes the last test of faith, and becomes a true hero...

I read the "trilogy" before I got a copy of The Hobbit, so I was, in a way, pre-introduced to the Old Reptile. Smaug, in LotR, gets lumped together with all the other dragons of Middle-earth, and becomes just an historical footnote, a vague, monstrous threat that has already been neutralized. It was easy to stereotype Smaug, to fit him into the generalized, folkloric type of dragon, like the creatures slain by Knights Errant -- no real personality of their own, no brain to speak of, just a huge mass of sinew, bony armour and rapier teeth...

Once into The Hobbit, even my immediate appreciation that this book was lighter in tone, more familiarly narrated, more fairy tale-like than LotR did not prepare me for the full range of Smaug's personality attributes. Not until p. 212 (BB, PB, 1980 ed) did it become apparent that Smaug was actually a sentient/ sapient/ vocal character. A sly, wicked, wonderfully cynical old worm with an intricately byzantine sense of humour. He was also, quite like JRRT himself, a devotee of words and their many nuanced meanings -- a riddler! He actually reminded me of a cantankerous (but absolutely excellent!) professor whose ancient history classes I frequented: a cutting, sarcastic wit, a world-weariness that expressed itself in bitting remarks that could be variously interpreted as admonitions of encouragement, or statements of outright disgust concerning student aptitudes and levels of application in these degenerate days. Professor B. had been everywhere, done everything (twice) and seen all the possible manifestations of human behaviour. He was such a master of student psychology that he was rather bored by the repetitious excuses for poor class participation, and shoddily written papers. But, confront him with something novel, and you could see his eyes light up with interest as he filed away the new, the original, the clever excuse he had not heard before! So was Smaug bored with the usual run of human heroes and Dwarvish avengers, but delighted to cross verbal swords with a new and exciting kind of hero, Bilbo.

Both these dragons, Professor B. and Smaug, could intuitively predict what the mere mortals around them were doing, and would be doing. Both had a keenly penetrating gaze that could fix their victims where they stood in a mesmeric confusion, and both were, I think, deeply self-centered, self-congratulatory, and enormously wrathful if crossed in any way!

I wonder if Tolkien had a favorite/ feared Old Proff of his own in mind when he wrote up Smaug's personality outline? Was JRRT himself viewed as a "dragon" by his own students?

In another sense, I thought Smaug acted as a final teacher to the poor hobbit, a sort of "finishing school" situation where the lesson was turned inward, and it challenged the hobbit to re-examine the things he probably accepted on pure, blind faith: his belief in the "fellowship" of his companions. Before he met Smaug, Bilbo was confronted with external problems, how does one handle attacking spiders, wolves, goblins, a Gollum in the dark. Now, thanks to the tuition of the Worm, Bilbo started doubting his role in the company, starting doubting the Dwarves attachment to him, started wondering if the security he felt as a member of this Dwarvish group was simply chimerical. Smaug to Bilbo: "And I suppose they are skulking outside, and your job is to do all the dangerous work..." (see also Unfinished Tales, where the Dwarves' disdain for their Burglar is almost a constant theme down very near to the end of the quest, "The Quest of Erebor." pp 321- 336)

A confused Bilbo, partially under the influence of the Dragon's Evil Eye, almost succumbs to the clever lying-truths the Worm reveals. His doubts nearly get the better of him, and the Dragon plays upon Bilbo's natural anxieties: "Now a nasty suspicion began to grow in his mind -- had the dwarves forgotten this important point too, or were they laughing in their sleeves at him all the time?" (p. 215)

It is not until after he has removed himself fully from the dragon's pernicious cynicism, that he can re-integrate himself with his friends, though even then, he expresses his worries, and has to be comforted by the Dwarves who reassure him of his importance to their group, his acceptance as one of the gang. Bilbo wins another battle, passes another test when he resolves his self-doubts, swallows his hurt pride, and decides to take the Dwarves as he finds them, and just have faith that they do value his friendship. As big a victory, or bigger, than stabbing spiders...

Despite the rooted "Evil" of his nature, I still like Smaug a great deal, and find him to be the most engaging, mature minded, clear-thinking personality in the book. His corrosive wit, his ironic truthful-lying give a new depth to the tale -- in fact, I find him the most fully "adult" of all the characters created by JRRT. A forceful personality indeed!

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The ring... As he was invisible, Smaug's over-powering worm-charms could not quite "grip" on the hobbit. Certainly a great hero like Turin Turambar (Silmarillion) cannot resist the full gaze of his own dragon, Glaurung, and falls into despair by believing the reptile's twisted version of the truth. Does the ring, the lucky ring at this point, save Bilbo here? Or does Bilbo have a better rooted, better integrated, less egocentric personality than did Turin?

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What do you all think of the way the glamour of Smaug was described: "Bilbo was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug's roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug."

Does this sort of "compulsive" influence show up again when Frodo faces the Nazgul on Weathertop, and yet again when he confronts another, greater "roving eye" on the seat of Amon Hen?

[Desi Baggins]

When I first read the Hobbit I was sort of surprised by the fact that a dragon could talk! My son got the Dragonology book for Christmas and in it it states that most dragons can talk and they even write I guess since it showed their alphabet.

I think a main difference with Bilbo and Turin was that Turin was always so mad. I feel that his anger mislead him at times.

I never even thought of how maybe the Ring was trying to influence Bilbo to show himself to Smaug! This is why I love doing the studies cuz you get insights from others! I think this situtation is a lot like Frodo and the Nagul! However, Tolkien did not have the Ring's story complete in the hobbit so it must just be a coincidence, but a very good one!

[Stormrider]

Smaug used his mezmerizing voice to smooth talk Bilbo while his gaze swept the room looking for Bilbo. Bilbo had become more confident as his adventure progressed and with the Ring making him invisible, Bilbo began to do his riddling thing. I think Smaug's voice, roving eye, and Bilbo's confidence came together here causing Bilbo to give away too many clues to the Dragon. Bilbo thought he would trick and spell-bind Smaug with his riddles, but Smaug was very intelligent and was able to put most of the pieces together.

However, the Narrator says that talking in riddles is the correct

way to talk to dragons, if you don't want to reveal your proper name (which is wise), and don't want to infuriate them by a flat refusal (which is also very wise). No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it.

Smaug was not really wasting time, he was figuring out things so he would know what to do about it!

Despite the cover of the Ring, Bilbo still shook and cringed when Smaug's roving eyes swept past him. What if the Ring played one of its tricks on Bilbo and slipped off his finger at that moment!

While Smaug tried to figure things out, Bilbo was still able to get some information out of the dragon by flattering him back. Bilbo talked enough to confince Smaug to show his "soft underbelly" and seeing the one spot not covered by scales and gems.

All in all, Smaug is a very amazing dragon. I like him a lot and can't wait to see how PJ portrays him in the movie! I sure hope I am not disappointed!