Hobbit2 - Chapter 12 - Inside Information
 

Smaug! All the dangers and fascinating adventures so far have built up to this encounter! We have a good description of his physical appearance and some comments on the inner nature of dragons, so we get to know him pretty well. Additionally, Tolkien lets the narrator recount some of his inner dialogue, so that not all of this chapter is told from Bilbo's point of view.

What do you think of Smaug as a character? Like other animal foes (I'm thinking of the spiders) he is able to converse - on an elevated literary level, in his case.

Bilbo has developed considerably by this time - though he reminds the dwarves that he was hired as a burglar, not a hero, his actions are quite heroic. Tolkien shows us that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to keep going despite it.

The hobbit's reaction upon first seeing the treasure reminds me of his response to the dwarven music in the first chapter: But like Sam, who is tempted by the Ring in LotR, his innate humility saves him from falling completely under the spell of the dragon and his stolen riches.

There is a good deal of humour in the dialogue between Bilbo and Smaug - which parts of their conversation do you like best?

What do you think of Bilbo's instinct that they should hide before the dragon came? Is there some reason for this intuition?

We have two examples of the dwarves' lack of planning: they had no idea how they would acquire the hoard from the dragon and how to transport it away, and they did not know how to escape from the mountain if Smaug had come back alive. It would seem that they had had enough time to think about those matters. Why do you think they did not?


The previous discussion can be read here.

The book is named The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. At last, within the story, the reader is finally there. Right inside the Lonely Mountain amidst all the treasures and face-to-face with the dragon Smaug. One can’t get more there.

The preceding chapter’s main purpose was to set up this meeting.

As a picture Tolkien provides his own superb illustration “Conversation with Smaug”. This is arguably the most garish of Tolkien’s illustrations and shows that garish need not be bad. The contrast with Tolkien’s first illustration showing a beautiful and peaceful, sunlit “Hobbiton-across-the-Water” is perfect.

Seeing that Smaug is only pretending to be asleep, Bilbo steps back and blesses the luck of his ring. And then Tolkien writes the words, “Then Smaug spoke.”

The story has already presented talking giant eagles and talking giant spiders, so it is not a great surprise that this dragon should also speak. But Tolkien has kept it from the reader until now that the dragon can speak. And how he speaks! Smaug is an excellent talker and arguably more intelligent than anyone else in the tale save for Gandalf.

Smaug puts together everything that Bilbo has to say and mostly puts it together the right way. Smaug is no brute beast. Smaug’s intellect is as great as his physical power.

A talking dragon is not the norm for folklore dragons. The talking exception is the Norse dragon Fafnir, but Fafnir was in origin a man or some man-like being who changed himself into dragon shape. Tolkien was very impressed by Fafnir and also based his dragon Glorund/Glorung in his story of Túrin on Fafnir.

Tolkien specifically mentions that Bilbo “was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell”. As far as I know this dragon-spell is Tolkien’s own invention, perhaps originally coming from the supposed terror which serpents lay on their prey so that the prey freezes and does not move.

Dragons appear almost universally in folklore, usually as giant serpents without legs or wings. Latin draco and Greek δράκων (drákōn)means ‘dragon’ in this sense. The Roman dragon standards were serpentine wind-socks. The dragons of Classical tales are also legless serpents but are sometimes winged and sometimes fire-breathing.

It was medieval Europeans who added legs to dragon, sometimes also including wings and the ability to breathe fire. Medieval illustrations in bestiaries also often add legs and wings to various kinds of normal serpents. Possibly there was far back some connection with the Chinense dragons who have four legs and wings.

As Tolkien remarks in Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, letter 122:

But the whole problem of the intrusion of the ‘dragon’ into northern imagination and its transformation there is one I do not know enough about. Fafnir in the late Norse versions of the Sigurd-story is better; and Smaug and his conversation obviously is in debt there.

Neither the dwarves nor Bilbo had ever thought of the difficulties of getting Bilbo’s share of the dragon treasure home. Smaug saw the difficulty immediately. Once again, stupid, stupid, stupid dwarves and stupid, stupid, stupid Bilbo.

Well, from the Dwarves' perspective Erebor was "home," so cartage wasn't a concern. If Bilbo didn't notice its absence from the fine print, well, that was his problem. (Although Tolkien doesn't say so, I imagine Dwarf society has a huge number of lawyers).

My initial thoughts
 

This is definitely my favourite chapter in the Hobbit, the whole conversation between Smaug and Bilbo is pure gold. Together with the information provided by the narrator, it gives a brilliant insight to the malice and cunning of Smaug. I think that that very conversation is the reason that Smaug is my favourite Tolkien villain, though there are many worthy candidates.

Another thing I have always loved is the magic of Middle-Earth. I love that it is ever present, though often in quite subtle ways and that it takes many forms. In this particular chapter I always focus on “the spell of the dragon”, exactly what it is or how it works is not said. However it does give you an feeling, that even if Smaug cannot conjure up a jar of jam or a thunderstorm, he clearly posses latent magic.

I have however always been bothered with the dwarves lack of planning, I simply cannot get it to make sense, not from any perspective. They have clearly talked about this amongst themselves for quite a while, and they have had meetings with capacities like Elrond and Gandalf and yet they have no plan for dealing with the dragon.... I can understand that Dragons are no ordinary foe and it is hard to make a battle plan before you have an idea of your foe’s strengths and weaknesses, but surely you make a provisional plan. It just seemed exceptionally stupid, just like their choice not to bring any proper weapons with them on their quest.


Neither do I truly understand why Bilbo is on the quest... Why did they need a burglar? Bilbo himself establishes that the treasure is much too large for him to steal piece by piece, and they clearly did not hire him to murder the dragon. What was his purpose, to be a scout of sorts?

Tolkien's dragons are perhaps his most splendidly, deliciously evil characters; and Smaug might be the best of them, a mixture of wit and menace which blends the best of Glaurung and Chrysophylax.

I think Bilbo's main purpose was to open the secret door. However, the Dwarves do much exploitation along the way. "You have to earn your share..." Also, Smaug does not know Hobbit smell - which is a big point in this chapter.


I have to say that this is my favourite chapter in the book too. It's witty, it's funny, its full of danger, and I love Bilbo. I agree that we learn a lot about Smaug and dragons in general, but that's not the reason I like the chapter so much. I love the battle of wit between Bilbo and Smaug and that's that.

I am not claiming that Bilbo is not an asset to the dwarves, it is well established that they wouldn't have made it to Erebor without him. Smaug is definitely pussled by the smell of Hobbit (and taste?), but surely this was not the reason Bilbo was brought along? Maybe it was part of Gandalf's reason for choosing Bilbo, but I doubt that Thorin looked that far ahead.

If I remember the UT correctly, Gandalf tells Thorin that the latter would get no help from him unless he took Bilbo along. So the Dwarves did not really have a choice.