Editing Smaug (section)

=== 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
|}