Correct me if I'm wrong- I've seen the movies and read the book but it has been a while. Smaug not only hoarded the treasure that was already under the mountain but he also collected the treasure of Erabor and Dale. How did he physically (being a young and tender dragon) get all those gold and jewels into one location??
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1You can't get any more answers now that the question has been closed - would you like to accept my answer (green checkmark on the left), or were you looking for more info? :-)– Rand al'Thor ♦Commented Nov 11, 2015 at 13:06
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1 Answer
Unknown.
It's a good question, but as stated in this answer, there is no canon information on this issue. The Hobbit doesn't go into how Smaug gathered all his treasure into one place, and The Lord of the Rings hardly mentions Smaug's hoard at all.
Speculation
Maybe he picked up the gold with his feet and carried it laboriously - possibly piece by piece - into the Mountain. As we can see in this picture from Tolkien, Smaug had four legs with well-defined claws:
The fact that he immediately missed the cup Bilbo stole suggests that he keeps careful account of his treasure, probably by handling it regularly (I think there was a quote to confirm this, but I can't find it now) - so he may well be able to pick up gold ingots etc. with those feet. And he had a lot of years in which to transport the treasure of Dale into the Mountain!
Maybe he had slaves to do the carrying for him. He might have terrorised some passing mortals - perhaps even some of the Dwarves from Dale - into carrying 'his' gold into the Mountain for him. Under the threat of death, they'd be too terrified not to oblige; and then he could always eat them afterwards anyway.
answered Nov 7, 2015 at 18:12
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I'd always assumed that the treasure hoard was that of the Dwarves, and all Smaug did was take it over.– ouflakCommented Jun 11, 2019 at 14:59
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1@ouflak Most of it was, but he also moved the treasure of Dale inside the mountain. Bard claimed one-twelfth if I remember right, though he was satisfied with Bilbo's fourteenth as a ransom for the Arkenstone.– NolimonCommented Jun 11, 2019 at 15:40