What if Smaug the dragon lived? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lost One · 01-23-2004, 05:43 PM

Back in the First Age the non-flying Glaurung demolished Nargothrond, by anyone's reckoning a harder job than Rivendell or Lorien. True, it was as part of an assault by Morgoth, but he was the crucial, major weapon. If Smaug had attacked Lorien along with the forces from Dol Guldur, say, the Golden Wood would have been charred ruins. Tolkien has Gandalf assert that the dragon was a huge threat to Rivendell, and Gandalf does not say exaggerated or unlikely things (to put this moderately). Also, as has been pointed out, the knowledge of Smaug's weakspot was very limited, and only a unique chain of events allowed Bard to succeed: it was HIS fate to do this - like Frodo, or like Merry and Eowyn against the Witch-king. People are probably overstating elvish eyesight: Legolas can see and hit the Nazgul's steed - hitting a specific spot on it would be another matter. And noticing a slightly different looking spot, realising it just might be a bit weaker (rather than a bit stronger) than the rest, and then hitting it would have been even harder in the time available. With hindsight, while writing LOTR and integrating it with the Hobbit, Tolkien charaterised Smaug as potentially a mighty threat to the forces of good. It seems a bit perverse to ignore this.

01-23-2004, 05:43 PM	#32
Lost One Haunting Spirit Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 67	Back in the First Age the non-flying Glaurung demolished Nargothrond, by anyone's reckoning a harder job than Rivendell or Lorien. True, it was as part of an assault by Morgoth, but he was the crucial, major weapon. If Smaug had attacked Lorien along with the forces from Dol Guldur, say, the Golden Wood would have been charred ruins. Tolkien has Gandalf assert that the dragon was a huge threat to Rivendell, and Gandalf does not say exaggerated or unlikely things (to put this moderately). Also, as has been pointed out, the knowledge of Smaug's weakspot was very limited, and only a unique chain of events allowed Bard to succeed: it was HIS fate to do this - like Frodo, or like Merry and Eowyn against the Witch-king. People are probably overstating elvish eyesight: Legolas can see and hit the Nazgul's steed - hitting a specific spot on it would be another matter. And noticing a slightly different looking spot, realising it just might be a bit weaker (rather than a bit stronger) than the rest, and then hitting it would have been even harder in the time available. With hindsight, while writing LOTR and integrating it with the Hobbit, Tolkien charaterised Smaug as potentially a mighty threat to the forces of good. It seems a bit perverse to ignore this.