Editing Smaug (section)

==Analysis==

{{Quote box
 |quote = The dragon stopped short in his boasting. 'Your information is antiquated', he snapped. 'I am armoured above and below with iron scales and hard gems. No blade can pierce me.'

'I might have guessed it', said Bilbo. 'Truly there can nowhere be found the equal of Lord Smaug the Impenetrable. What magnificence to possess a waistcoat of fine diamonds!'

'Yes, it is rare and wonderful, indeed', said Smaug absurdly pleased. He did not know that the hobbit had already caught a glimpse of his peculiar under-covering on his previous visit, and was itching for a closer view for reasons of his own. The dragon rolled over. 'Look!' he said. 'What do you say to that?'

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'Dazzlingly marvellous! Perfect! Flawless! Staggering!' exclaimed Bilbo aloud, but what he thought inside was: 'Old fool! Why, there is a large patch in the hollow of his left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell!'
 |author = —J.R.R. Tolkien
 |source = ''The Hobbit''{{sfn|Tolkien|1937|loc=Chapter 12: "Inside Information"}}
 |width  = 40%
 |align  = right
 |fontsize = 90%
 |style= text-indent:1em;
}}

===Character===
[[File:Beowulf and the dragon.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Beowulf (hero)|Beowulf]] fights [[The dragon (Beowulf)|his dragon]] to the death in a 1908 illustration by [[Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton]].]]

Tolkien made Smaug "more [[villain]] than [[monster]]", writes the author and biographer Lynnette Porter; he is "devious and clever, vain and greedy, overly confident and proud."<ref name="Porter2014">{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Lynnette |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxwCczpFceAC&pg=PA37 |title=Tarnished Heroes, Charming Villains and Modern Monsters: Science Fiction in Shades of Gray on 21st Century Television |publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-5795-3 |page=37}}</ref> The fantasy author Sandra Unerman called Smaug "one of the most individual dragons in fiction".<ref name="Unerman 2002"/> The Tolkien scholar Anne Petty said that "it was love at first sight", describing Smaug as "frightening, but surprisingly knowable".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Petty |first1=Anne C. |title=Dragons of Fantasy |date=2004 |publisher=Kitsune Books |isbn=978-0979270093 |page=46 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] notes the "bewilderment" that Smaug spreads: he is enchanted by gold and treasure, and those who come into contact with his powerful presence, what Tolkien describes as "the effect that dragon-talk has on the inexperienced", similarly become bewildered by greed.<ref name="Shippey 2005"/> In Shippey's view, however, the most surprising aspect of Smaug's character is "his oddly circumlocutory mode of speech. He speaks in fact with the characteristic aggressive politeness of the British upper class, in which irritation and authority are in direct proportion to apparent deference or uncertainty."<ref name="Shippey 2005"/> In sharp contrast to this is his vanity in response to flattery, rolling over "absurdly pleased" as Tolkien narrates, to reveal his marvellously armoured belly.<ref name="Shippey 2005"/> Shippey comments that such paradoxes, "the oscillations between animal and intelligent behaviour, the contrast between creaking politeness and plain gloating over murder" join to create Smaug's principal attribute, "wiliness".<ref name="Shippey 2005"/>

The Christian commentator [[Joseph Pearce]] describes Smaug's weak spot as his [[Achilles' heel|Achilles<!--BE spelling--> heel]], noting his boastful over-confidence in his own indestructibility, and seeing in the fact that the vulnerability is over his heart a sign that "it is the wickedness of his heart which will lead to his downfall".<ref name="Pearce 2012"/> Pearce likens Smaug's pride to that of [[Achilles]], whose pride leads to the death of [[Patroclus|his best friend]], and of many Greeks; and to the cockerel Chauntecleer in [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s "[[The Nun's Priest's Tale]]", where a boastful reply to the flattering fox causes the cockerel's fall.<ref name="Pearce 2012">{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pearce |title=Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of the Hobbit |publisher=[[Saint Benedict Press]] |year=2012 |at=Chapter 10: Dragon Pride Precedeth a Fall |isbn=978-1-61890-122-4 }}</ref>

===The ''Beowulf'' dragon===
{{further|The dragon (Beowulf)|Beowulf in Middle-earth}}

From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was a professor of English Literature at [[Oxford University]]. He was a prominent scholar of the [[Old English]] poem ''[[Beowulf]]'', on which he gave a lecture at the British Academy in 1936.<ref group=T>{{cite book |first=J. R. R. |last=Tolkien |author-link=J.R.R. Tolkien |title=[[The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays|Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays]] |editor-first=Christopher |editor-last=Tolkien |publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]]  |date=1983 |isbn=978-0-04-809019-5 }}</ref> He described the poem as one of his "most valued sources" for ''The Hobbit''.<ref name=Letter25 group=T>{{ME-ref|Letters|#25 to the editor of ''The Observer'', 16 January 1938}}</ref> Many of Smaug's attributes and behaviour in ''The Hobbit'' derive directly from the unnamed "old night-ravager" in ''Beowulf'': great age; winged, fiery, and reptilian{{efn|The Old English word ''wyrm'', used repeatedly in ''Beowulf'' for the flying dragon, has the dictionary meaning of reptile, serpent, or dragon.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark Hall |first=J. R. |author-link=John Richard Clark Hall |title=A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |date=2002 |orig-year=1894 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |edition=4th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufdQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA365 |page=365}}</ref> Tolkien accordingly uses "worm" of Smaug in ''The Hobbit''.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc=chapter 1: An Unexpected Party}}</ref>}} form; a stolen barrow within which he lies on his hoard; disturbance by a theft; and violent revenge on the lands all about, flying and attacking at night.<ref name="Fafnir comparison"/>

The scholars of English literature [[Stuart D. Lee]] and [[Elizabeth Solopova]] analyse the parallels between Smaug and [[The dragon (Beowulf)|the unnamed ''Beowulf'' dragon]].<ref name="Fafnir comparison"/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+ Lee and Solopova's comparison of Smaug and the ''[[Beowulf]]'' dragon<ref name="Fafnir comparison"/>
|-
!scope="col" width=100px| Plot element
!scope="col" width=300px| ''[[Beowulf]]''
!scope="col" width=300px| ''[[The Hobbit]]''
|-
!scope="row"| Aggressive<br/>dragon
| ''eald uhtsceaða'' ... ''hat ond hreohmod'' ...<br/>''Wæs þæs wyrmes wig / wide gesyne''<p>"old twilight-ravager ... hot and fierce-minded" ...<br/>"that worm's war was / widely seen"</p>
| Smaug fiercely attacks Dwarves, [[Esgaroth|Laketown]]
|-
!scope="row"| Gold-greedy<br/>dragon
| ''hordweard''<p>"treasure-guardian"</p>
| Smaug watchfully sleeps on pile of treasure
|-
!scope="row"| Provoking<br/>the dragon
| ''wæs ða gebolgen / beorges hyrde,''<br/>''wolde se laða / lige forgyldan''<br/>''drincfæt dyre.''<p>"was then furious / the [[Tumulus|barrow]]'s keeper<br/>wanted the enemy / with fire to revenge<br/>[[Chalice|precious drinking-cup]]."</p>
| Smaug enraged when Bilbo steals golden cup
|-
!scope="row"| Night-flying<br/>dragon
| '' nacod niðdraca, nihtes fleogeð''<br/>''fyre befangen''<p>"naked hate-dragon, flying by night,<br/>wreathed in fire"</p>
| Smaug attacks Laketown with fire, by night
|-
!scope="row"| Well-protected<br/>dragon's lair
| ''se ðe on heaum hofe / hord beweotode,''<br/>''stanbeorh steapne; stig under læg,''<br/>''eldum uncuð.''<p>"the one who on high [[heath]] / [[hoard]] watched<br/>steep stone-barrow / the path up to it<br/>unknown to any."</p>
| Secret passage to Smaug's lair and mound of treasure in stone palace under Mount Erebor
|-
!scope="row"| Accursed<br/>dragon-gold
| ''hæðnum horde''<p>"a heathen hoard"</p>
| The treasure provokes [[Battle of Five Armies]]
|}

=== Fafnir ===

[[File:Hylestad I, right - Fafnir and Sigurd.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sigurd]] kills the dragon [[Fafnir]]. Wood-carving in [[Hylestad Stave Church]], 12th–13th century.]]
{{further|Fafnir}}

Smaug's ability to speak, the use of riddles, the element of betrayal, his enemy's communication via birds, and his weak spot could all have been inspired by the talking [[Germanic dragon|dragon]] [[Fafnir]] of the ''[[Völsunga saga]]''.<ref name="Unerman 2002">{{Cite journal |title=Dragons in Twentieth Century Fiction |last=Unerman |first=Sandra |journal=[[Folklore (journal)|Folklore]] |date=April 2002 |volume=113 |issue=1 |pages=94–101 |jstor=1261010 |doi=10.1080/00155870220125462 |s2cid=216644043 }}</ref> Shippey identified several points of similarity between Smaug and Fafnir.<ref name="Fafnir comparison"/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;" 
|+ [[Tom Shippey]]'s analysis of similarities between Smaug and [[Fafnir]]<ref name="Fafnir comparison">Shippey's discussion is at {{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |date=2001 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261-10401-3 |pages=36–37}}; it is summarized in {{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Stuart D. |author1-link=Stuart D. Lee |last2=Solopova |first2=Elizabeth |author2-link=Elizabeth Solopova |title=The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien |title-link=The Keys of Middle-earth |date=2005 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave]] |isbn=978-1-40394-671-3 |pages=109–111}}</ref>
|- 
! style="width: 120px;" | Plot element
! style="width: 320px;" | ''[[Fáfnismál]]''
! style="width: 320px;" | ''[[The Hobbit]]''
|-
!scope="row"| Killing the dragon
| [[Sigurd]] stabs [[Fafnir]]'s belly
| [[Bard the Bowman]] shoots Smaug in the belly
|-
!scope="row"| Riddling to the dragon
| Sigurd does not give his name, but replies in a [[riddle]] that he has no mother or father
| Bilbo does not give his name, but gives himself riddling names like "clue-finder", "web-cutter", "barrel-rider"<ref name="Inside Information" group=T/> 
|-
!scope="row"| Dragon suggests betrayal
| Fafnir turns Sigurd against [[Regin]]
| Smaug suggests Bilbo should not trust [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarves]]
|-
!scope="row"| Talking to birds
| Dragon-blood lets Sigurd understand bird language: the [[nuthatches]] say Regin wants to betray him
| A [[Thrush (bird)|thrush]] hears Bilbo talk about Smaug's weakness, and tells Bard the Bowman
|}

=== Old English spell ===

{{further|Philology and Middle-earth}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+ "A low [[Philology|philological]] jest"<ref name=Letter25 group=T/> 
|-
! [[Old English]] !! [[Old Norse]] !! Plain meaning !! Alternatively 
|-
| ''smugan, sméogan''<ref name="Bosworth"/><br/>past tense ''smeah'' || ''smjúga''<ref name="Shippey 2002"/><br/>past tense '''''smaug'''''  || "to creep, to squeeze through a hole" || "to think out, to scrutinise"
|-
| ''wyrm'' || &nbsp; || "worm" || "lizard, reptile, dragon"
|-
| [[File:Lacnunga f.137r spell wið smeogan wyrme (detail).jpg|200px|center]] {{center|''[[Lacnunga]]'', [[Spell (magic)|spell]] (on line 3)<br/> ''wid smeogan wyrme''<ref name="Storms 1948"/>}} || &nbsp; || [[File:Ascaris lumbricoides (Round worm).JPG|100px|center]] {{center|''[Book of] Remedies''<br/> "against a [[Ascariasis|penetrating worm]]"<ref name="Storms 1948"/>}} || "against a crafty dragon"
|}

Tolkien noted, in a joking letter that he was surprised to see published in ''[[The Observer]]'' in 1938, that "the dragon bears as name—a [[pseudonym]]—the past tense of the [[Common Germanic|primitive Germanic]] verb ''smúgan'',<ref name="Bosworth">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Bosworth |first1=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Bosworth |last2=Toller |first2=T. Northcote |author2-link=Thomas Northcote Toller |chapter-url=http://www.bosworthtoller.com/028182 |chapter=smúgan |title=[[An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary]] | publisher=[[Charles University]] |location=Prague |date=2018}}</ref> to squeeze through a hole: a low [[Philology|philological]] jest."<ref name=Letter25 group=T/> Critics have explored what that jest might have been; an 11th-century medical text ''[[Lacnunga]]'' ("Remedies") contains the Old English phrase ''wid smeogan wyrme'', "against a [[Parasitic worm|penetrating worm]]" in a [[Incantation|spell]],<ref name="Storms 1948">{{cite book |last=Storms |first=Godfrid |title=No. 73. [Wið Wyrme] Anglo-Saxon Magic |date=1948 |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff]]; [[D.Litt]] thesis for [[University of Nijmegen]] |location='s-Gravenhage |page=303 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/16191646.pdf |quote=If a man or a beast has drunk a worm ... Sing this charm nine times into the ear, and once an Our Father. The same charm may be sung ''against a penetrating worm''. Sing it frequently on the wound and smear on your spittle, and take green centaury, pound it, apply it to the wound and bathe with hot cow's urine. ''[[Harley manuscript|MS. Harley]] 585, ff. 136b, 137a (11th century) ([[Lacnunga]]).'' |access-date=24 February 2020 |archive-date=31 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731211147/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/16191646.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> which could also be translated "against a crafty dragon". The Old English verb meant "to examine, to think out, to scrutinise",<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark Hall |first=J. R. |author-link=John Richard Clark Hall |title=A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |date=2002 |orig-year=1894 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |edition=4th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufdQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA311 |page=311}}</ref> implying "subtle, crafty". Shippey comments that it is "appropriate" that Smaug has "the most sophisticated intelligence" in the book.<ref name="Shippey 2005">{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=The Road to Middle-Earth |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=Grafton ([[HarperCollins]]) |isbn=978-0-26110-275-0 |pages=102–104}}</ref> All the same, Shippey notes, Tolkien has chosen the [[Old Norse]] verb ''smjúga'', past tense ''smaug'', rather than the Old English ''sméogan'', past tense ''smeah''—possibly, he suggests, because his enemies were Norse [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|dwarves]].<ref name="Shippey 2002">{{cite web |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=Tolkien and Iceland: The Philology of Envy |date=13 September 2002 |url=http://www.nordals.hi.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/wa/dp?detail=1004508&name=nordals_en_greinar_og_erindi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014000303/http://nordals.hi.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/wa/dp?detail=1004508&name=nordals_en_greinar_og_erindi |archive-date=14 October 2007}}</ref>

===''The Song of Hiawatha''===

{{further|Tolkien's modern sources}}

[[File:Wampum peek bead girdle (detail).jpg|thumb|Detail of [[wampum]] bead girdle]]

Tolkien's biographer [[John Garth (author)|John Garth]] notes the similarity between Smaug's death from Bard's last arrow and the death of Megissogwon in [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]'s 1855 poem ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''. Megissogwon was the spirit of wealth, protected by an armoured shirt of [[wampum]] beads.{{efn|Jeff Thompson drew illustrations of Megissogwon's wampum shirt deflecting arrows for ''[[National Geographic]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Jeff |title=Hiawatha & Megissogwon |url=https://www.jefthompson.com/book-illustration?lightbox=i01qou |publisher=[[National Geographic]] |access-date=23 February 2020 |date=2001 |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024210955/https://www.jefthompson.com/book-illustration?lightbox=i01qou |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Hiawatha shoots in vain, until he has only three arrows left. Mama the [[woodpecker]] sings to Hiawatha where Megissogwon's only weak point is, the tuft of hair on his head, just as Tolkien's [[Thrush (bird)|thrush]] tells Bard where to shoot at Smaug.<ref name="Garth 2014">{{cite news |first=John |last=Garth |author-link=John Garth (author) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/dec/09/tolkien-death-of-smaug-began-america-middle-earth |title=Tolkien's death of Smaug: American inspiration revealed |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=9 December 2014 |access-date=1 July 2018 |archive-date=1 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701140244/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/dec/09/tolkien-death-of-smaug-began-america-middle-earth |url-status=live }}</ref>