Editing Smaug (section)

===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]]
|}