Timeline for Why didn't Sauron go looking for other dragons after Smaug died?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Dec 11, 2017 at 7:26 | comment | added | cometaryorbit | 3) Yes, Smaug's underbelly was probably less armored when he drove out the dwarves, but Tolkien's dragons are basically serpentine in form despite wings and legs - you're not going to have a good shot at the underside when you're fighting a snaky monster in underground halls/tunnels. Bard got a good shot while Smaug was flying high breathing fire down at the town. | |
| Dec 11, 2017 at 7:22 | comment | added | cometaryorbit | I dunno. 1) Saruman was a Maia, at least equal in 'power level' to a Dragon one would think, yet he got killed by Grima using an ordinary knife. Being a powerful sort of being doesn't necessarily make you invulnerable to 'lesser beings' in Tolkien. 2) Bard's arrow was special, though not the giant thing in the movie. It's not as if Smaug fell to the first shot - "A hail of dark arrows leaped up and snapped and rattled on his scales and jewels"; "down he swooped straight through the arrow-storm, reckless in his rage, taking no heed to turn his scaly sides towards his foes". | |
| Dec 6, 2017 at 16:23 | comment | added | Kai Qing | @cometaryorbit - Maybe so but it does substantially reduce the worth of the word "mighty" - Even if he was skilled, Bard killing Smaug with a lucky shot all by himself makes one wonder exactly what kind of failures lived in the mountain hundreds of years ago where they as a collective weren't able to thwart a single dragon, no matter how mighty. The soft spot Bard hit was supposedly a portion where the gems and treasure hadn't encrusted or something. He didn't have a small weakness back in Thrain's day. All I'm saying is he didn't last very long for being painted with such glory. | |
| Dec 6, 2017 at 4:16 | comment | added | cometaryorbit | @KaiQing: The fact that he could be killed by a single Man (with a hit in a soft part of the underbelly, which is a specific weakness of Tolkien's dragons) doesn't disqualify him from being the greatest Dragon of his time, as all Tolkien's named dragons were killed by Men - Scatha by Fram, Glaurung by Turin (another underbelly hit), and Ancalagon by Earendil (OK, Earendil was half-Elven, and had Eagles helping him, but then Ancalagon had other dragons on his side...) Tolkien's dragons are less invulnerable than those found in some modern fantasy. | |
| Dec 5, 2017 at 16:01 | comment | added | Kai Qing | @Bergi - I would need none. I have kids so I haven't slept in years. Smaug was very lucid. Nothing about his behavior suggested he was caught off guard. He smelled the dwarves fine. He was tricked by their puny taunts and basically demonstrated complete incompetence. Not unlike Boba Fett. Hyped up for no reason. I forgot to mention he was also separated from his treasure that he couldn't shut up about. He has no excuse. Hell, he was defeated by a pack of homeless guys! Come on! | |
| Dec 5, 2017 at 14:22 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @Todd: Sure; most things in Middle Earth ain't what they used to be, according to Tolkein's philosophy. But the next line shows that dragons have always had their limitations: "nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself." | |
| Dec 5, 2017 at 12:13 | comment | added | PlasmaHH | @KaiQing: I want to see you fighting of a bunch of stubborn mammals after waking up from trying to sleep out your hangover... ^^ | |
| Dec 5, 2017 at 11:04 | comment | added | Bergi | @KaiQing How many hours do you think would you need to become alert (without coffee!) when being woken from a few years of sleep? | |
| Dec 5, 2017 at 9:26 | vote | accept | JamesD | ||
| Dec 5, 2017 at 6:03 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | From the chapter “Shadow of the Past” in The Fellowship of the Ring: “...it is said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough...” So Gandalf is basically saying dragons ain’t what they used to be. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 22:58 | comment | added | jpmc26 | @KaiQing Dragons are nothing compared to the will of Eru Ilúvatar. Much like the most powerful ring in existence. ;) The weak and foolish confounding the strong and wise is a core theme in Tolkien. | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 21:59 | comment | added | Kai Qing | Lol. Plus one but the mightiest? Man he was a weakling for being so mighty. He was woken up by a few tiny men, managed to kill exactly none of them, then burnt a relatively defenseless village but died in the process by a single guy with a broken bow. All in the span of like an hour or two. If there are other dragons it's no wonder they're not mentioned in the books. They must be astoundingly pathetic... come to think of it, I don't remember if the bow was broken in the books. Probably not but still... single guy with a bow | |
| Dec 4, 2017 at 19:39 | history | edited | DJClayworth | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Dec 4, 2017 at 18:27 | review | First posts | |||
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| Dec 4, 2017 at 18:26 | history | answered | Victim of Circumstance | CC BY-SA 3.0 |