[Kalimac]

Hmm. I think Child said it all, pretty much, but one fact I'd like to point out is that Smaug apparently did not recognize hobbit-smell "and this puzzled him dreadfully" - in other words, it kept him talking instead of trying to just destroy Bilbo right away, which gave Bilbo the chance later to steal the cup and so prompt Smaug's leaving the mountain and eventual death at the hands of Bard. Bilbo confused Smaug, which was the best possible thing that could have happened considering his and the Dwarves' position.

Obviously Gandalf didn't think things out like this; I'm sure at the time he was feeling prompted by a gut feeling but couldn't have said why. This gut feeling may have been partly due to the fact that hobbits were little known and thus a very good stealth weapon - Smaug (and most others, like the Elvenking) would simply not be aware that they existed and thus much more likely to be flummoxed by one. Should also point out that Gandalf wasn't thinking of it as saving ME at that point - and a good thing, since if he had known at that point that that was at stake, he probably would have been in a terror for fear of doing the wrong thing (send him? Don't send him? Don't worry, it's only the fate of the entire world depending on it). In retrospect, of course, it did, but these things tend to be thankfully hidden at the time they are happening.

[NB: Hooray! My title is working [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. Thank you BW!]

[ December 18, 2002: Message edited by: Kalimac ]