I was reading about Smaug and The Lord of the Rings in general, when I came across this amusing, and I think spot-on, quote from Tolkien, near the end of the paragraph when Tolkien is describing Smaugs rage: From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, and a prominent critic of and expert on Beowulf — on which he gave a lecture at the British Academy in 1936 and which he described as one of his most valued sources for The Hobbit. Many of Smaugs attributes and behaviour in The Hobbit derive directly from the unnamed old night-scather in Beowulf: great age; winged, fiery, and reptilian form; a stolen barrow within which he lies on his hoard; disturbance by a theft; and violent airborne revenge on the lands all about. Smaug was intimately familiar with every last item within his hoard, and instantly noticed the theft of a relatively inconsequential cup by Bilbo Baggins. Tolkien writes that Smaugs rage was the kind which is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy lose something they have long had but never before used or wanted. This theft of a cup, Smaugs knowledge of every item in the hoard, and the dragons ensuing rampage, all echo the story of Beowulf. ---Snip--- Peter Jackson did a good job depicting Smaug, I think. When watching the film I thought it was odd that Smaug instantly knew Bilbo had thieved from his hoard, but in this context its a great detail.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 08:18:01 +0000
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