The Hobbit - Chapter 12 - Inside Information

[deal_with_it]

This chapter alone marks the entire mythos of how to deal with dragons in every role playing game that ever came out after LOTR. They basically like thier butts kissed.

[Bêthberry]

Thank you Estelyn for another well done entry to this chapter by chapter discussion. You put us all to shame with your great dedication, patience and persistence.

Aiwendil's post is also very well done, putting Smaug in the context of story and fairie and dragon lore; I don't think I could add much.

Tolkien's initial description of Smaug is interesting in its familiar domesticity and in its details appealing to the senses. Sound must have been important to Tolkien I would think. And here we have another example of Tolkien's dislike of cats!

A sound, too, began to throb in his [Bilbo's] ears, a sort of bubbling like the noise of a large pot galloping on the fire, mixed with a rumble as of a gigantic tom-cat purring. This grew to the unmistakable gurglingnoise of some vast animal snoring in its sleep down there int he red glow in front of him.

Just a few other observations of things I enjoy in this chapter, aside from the dragon himself:

As Bilbo sneaks down the tunnel, I cannot help but recall that hobbits too lived underground and wonder if this familiarity with tunnels is something that aids Bilbo.

I enjoy Bilbo's riddling with Smaug, particularly his name-creation; it is almost a species of boasting and really lifts Bilbo's character, particularly in its lyrical quality. Here is a suggestion of Bilbo's penchant for writing which will later allow him to write his tales. Interesting too how he refers to the Ring:

'I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.'

'Lovely titles,' sneered the dragon. "But lucky numbers don't always come off.'

'I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.'

'These don't sound so credible,' scoffed Smaug.

'I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,' went on Bilbo...

And trust our vain little hobbit who loves his waistcoat and buttons to notice that Smaug has a diamond waistcoat! It can't be said that hobbits are completely dissimilar to dragons!

There is one final passage I find particularly intriguing. It begins the description of Bilbo's coming under the spell of the treasure hoard.

To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.

As Aiwendil suggests, there are touches in this story which lift The Hobbit to another plane.

[davem]

Just on the titles Bilbo claims for himself here. I'm reminded of
The Song of Amergin. If you compare the two (first Bilbo's riddling titles, then Amergin's song

"You have nice manners for a thief and a liar,"said the dragon. "You seem familiar with my name, but I don't seem to remember smelling you before. Who are
you and where do you come from, may I ask?"

"You may indeed!

I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air,
I am he that walks unseen."

"So I can well believe,"said Smaug, "but that is hardly your usual name."


"I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly.
I was chosen for the lucky number."

"Lovely titles!"sneered the dragon. "But lucky numbers don't always come off."

"I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water.
I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me."

"These don't sound so creditable,"scoffed Smaug.


"I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles.
I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and
I am Barrel-rider,"

went on Bilbo beginning to be pleased with his riddling.

The Song of Amergin

I am a stag: of seven tines,
I am a flood: across a plain,
I am a wind: on a deep lake,
I am a tear: the Sun lets fall,
I am a hawk: above the cliff,
I am a thorn: beneath the nail,
I am a wonder: among flowers,
I am a wizard: who but I
Sets the cool head aflame with smoke?

I am a spear: that roars for blood,
I am a salmon: in a pool,
I am a lure: from paradise,
I am a hill: where poets walk,
I am a boar: ruthless and red,
I am a breaker: threatening doom,
I am a tide: that drags to death,
I am an infant: who but I
Peeps from the unhewn dolmen arch?

I am the womb: of every holt,
I am the blaze: on every hill,
I am the queen: of every hive,
I am the shield: for every head,
I am the tomb: of every hope.

I suspect this is a deliberate parody - any thoughts?

[Aiwendil]

Bethberry wrote:

There is one final passage I find particularly intriguing. It begins the description of Bilbo's coming under the spell of the treasure hoard.

One interesting note on the bit you quoted - Douglas Anderson (editor of The Annotated Hobbit) speculates that this passage might relate to Owen Barfield's notion of "ancient semantic unity", with which Tolkien was quite impressed. To put it briefly, Barfield's idea is that over the course of history and linguistic evolution, there has been a fragmentation of concepts in human thought. He claims that, for example, the word spiritus in Latin was not a single word with various meanings (breath, air, spirit), but rather that the various meanings that we now distinguish were not then distinguished - so to the Romans "breath" and "spirit" were the same concept. So certain uses of words that we now see as metaphorical were not originally so; language, he claims had a pre-metaphorical stage.

Tolkien's statement that:

To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.

. . . could then mean that his breath was literally taken away, but that this is something that cannot be said anymore, since the statement "his breath was taken away" is now (post-fragmentation) automatically assumed to be metaphorical.

[Formendacil]

Esty, you must be a saint, keeping up this task week after week, with so little public response...

As one of the tardy, I can only seek forgivenes.

And post.

Which I shall do now.

Anyway, this chapter, with the dialogue of Bilbo and Smaug, is the true high point of the story- for me. Dragons in general fascinate me, and dragons as Tolkien painted them in particular. Glaurung is probably one of my favourite characters in the Silmarillion, and I really have to thank and commend Aiwendil for his comparisons between Glaurung and Smaug.

Alas, but I still itch for more... what was the tale of Scatha? What of the other dragons, who drove Thrór and his kin out of the North? What, indeed, of Ancalagon the Black?

Ah well... at least there's Chrysophylax in Farmer Giles of Ham...

The dialogue, of course, is what makes the chapter. Smaug is probably the most entertaining character in the entire Hobbit. I would love to see him in conversation with other characters, like Thorin, Gandalf, Elrond, or someone from elsewhere in the Legendarium. Saruman would be particularly interesting, I think. Imagine the seductive power of his voice pitched against that of Smaug.