Hobbit2 - Chapter 12 - Inside Information

[Estelyn Telcontar]

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:

His heart was filled and pierced with enchantment and with the desire of dwarves...

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.