Smaug the Golden (His Place in the Lore & True Role) - Epic Character History

Smaug was the most famous dragon from Tolkien’s works, yet he has far greater implications in the lore and for what he did in the lore. Thank you all for watching, let me know your thoughts on Smaug in the comments below! As always, a great thanks to the online artists whose visual works made this video possible! If you are one of the artists, please let me know and I will post your name and a link to your work in this description!

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[spyrofrost]

Smaug either dies a villain, or lives long enough for Saruman to call him a "lesser son of greater sires".

[CoolDude-ujob]

I just finished reading "The Hobbit" (better late than never), so great timing on this upload. This is my favorite LOTR channel, awesome stuff!

[DamonNomad]

As one who has been a Tolkien enthusiast since first having "The Hobbit" read to me at age 6 in the late 1980s, I'll admit it never occurred to me that Smaug wasn't simply the greatest of the dragons who were bred at the great dragon breeding ground at the Withered Heath at the eastern end of the Grey Mountains during the Third Age. I never even considered the possibility that Smaug might have been a First Age survivor like Durin's Bane. While the idea that he might have been much older is intriguing, there is at least one passage in "The Hobbit" that strongly implies that Smaug was "only" a few centuries old.

During Smaug's boast to Bilbo during their conversation, the dragon describes himself at the time he took the Lonely Mountain and Dale as "then I was but young and tender", immediately followed by boasting that as of that present time "Now I am old and strong, strong, strong!" Smaug had seized the Mountain in the year 2770 of the Third Age and was speaking to Bilbo in 2941, "only" 171 years later, still within the lifetimes of Thorin and Balin in the company of the dwarves. If Smaug had been one of Morgoth's original dragons bred in the First Age, that 171 years would have been a mere blink to him, and he would hardly have made the contrast about growing from "young" to "old". Therefore, it is doubtful that Smaug was more than a couple of hundred years old at the time he stole his treasure.

[otaku-sempai]

Smaug doesn't seem to be more than a few hundred years old since he was, according to 'The Hobbit' notably smaller when he took control of Erebor than he was when Bilbo met him. Smaug even comments that he was still young when he drove the dwarves out of the Mountain, 171 years before the Quest of Erebor.

The dragons were probably bred from some other base creature, perhaps infused with elemental fire spirits. They do seem to be able to breed.

[Comicnut]

Awesome vid yoystan dragon history let’s go

[bigotis]

I love all of Tolkien's writings but the Hobbit holds a special place in my heart

[thebatmary]

I always got the impression that Smaug was not very old based on this quote: “Then [when Erebor was taken] I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, ” which he says to Bilbo when they have their conversation. He’s talking of a time when he was “young, ” but it was only about 171 years (?) before. If he were thousands of years old, that’s a pretty negligible amount of time to consider himself now old.

Edit: fixed typo

[paulyv]

I remember checking out The Hobbit from the public library when I was a little kid. I have multiple copies of the book. I love Tolkien’s writing. Smaug from the old animated Hobbit movie is the best.

[shannonjulie]

Thanks for this video! I’ve had quite a bit of interest in Smaug and his story and have asked myself the questions in this video. It would be interesting to know the answers for sure! Thanks for exploring it. 😊 I’m definitely interested in the video about possible links between Smaug and Sauron too. 😊

[orrointhewise]

"I am king under the mountain"

Sounds like am origin story is needed on this classic dragon. Seeing him as a hatchling would b hilariously cute.
But if the story had changed and Smaug had killed and eaten the Ring? There's a theory worth exploring....

[Jakblade]

Amazing video as always!!!!


Much love 🤘😌🤘

[CryptidRenfri]

I cant remember the name of the channel, but one similar in quality of research (that is to say, excellent) to yours had a video discussing the likely age of Smaug.

They came to the conclusion that he was probably quite young as dragons go, no more than 200 or 300 something years old, if i remember correctly.

What little there is in the lore that gives us clues to Smaug's age seem to support this.

[radagast]

Do you think the people around the area ate Smaug after he died? Its normally a meal reserved for kings, according to Charlie Kelly, so they would have been quite lucky.

[Airehcaz]

Great job, as always. Thank you for the video friend!

[rowsdower]

I've always thought of a crazy "what if?" in that if Smaug had not been slain at the end of The Hobbit (maybe driven away from Erebor somehow?) and in a crazy twist Smaug would later side with the heroes of Middle Earth against Sauron during the War of The Ring but only because Smaug would understand that if Sauron reclaimed The One Ring, Sauron would use The One Ring to subjugate and control him.

[DraconimLt]

My take: Morgoth 'created' the dragons from some lizard-like creature that already existed, powered them up with magic and infused spirits making them far stronger. Then used the template of something like the fell beasts to make the winged dragons. Cos Smaug, Glaurung etc definately made their own decisions and they'd need to be truly sapient for that - Glaurung actually went against Morgoth's plans/orders a couple of times, if he was part of Morgoth's essence he wouldn't have been able to surely?

[kennkoala]

Listening to this I just realised, from the movie, that residential toilets let directly into the Lake, one which they fished from, and presumably got their drinking water from unless the lake was salty. Recurrent outbreaks of cholera would be a thing. There would have to be a major current under the surface to keep waste from piling up, and it would have to be nearby for a source of drinking water.

[sageofcaledor]

Great video! Smaug is one of my favorite characters. Yes cause he is a dragon.

From my limited understanding of English lore, there are stories of dragons that were not evil, they were just top predators that attacked humans. The ancestors of the dragons might have been like that. Hence why they could breed. I believe Smaug was a hatchling of a couple who survived the thrid age, he mentioned he was young when he attacked ERabor, likely to avenge the deaths of his kin against the dwarves.

I know Evil can not create and only corrupt, but what if dragons are a sort of fire spirit like balrogs? Fire spirit merged with some draconic creature?

Anyway, that is my thoughts. Again, great video!

[AdventuringJD]

Bilbo exemplified the fact that it takes great courage to stand up to great evil... but it takes courage too, to stand up to those you know and hold them accountable.

[timw]

I don't know about his origins but I agree that from the writing, Smaug is most likely a younger dragon. As far as an alliance with Mordor, I think that Sauron just hadn't gotten around to it yet.