Hi! Old user here, returning after rekindling my love for Tolkien
Reading The Hobbit, I was always struck by just how sorry I felt for Smaug. He was a beautiful, elegant creature, but all alone with nothing but gold for company. And even if he wanted to eat Bilbo, it almost seemed as if he enjoyed their little banter. I was very sorry when he died.
Given that Smaug was clearly not a simple beast, such as a horse or dog, and capable of rational thought, sarcasm and cruelty - do you think he, and other Dragons, could be "good" if they desired it? Did Dragons in Middle Earth have the option of being moral or immoral, or were they all uniformly evil due to their nature?