12: Explain Smaug's clever question in his conversation with Bilbo. Smaug asks Bilbo how he plans on bringing the treasure back with him. Ch. 12: What's Bilbo's big discover during his conversation with Smaug? Bilbo sees Smaug's diamond-crusted underbelly has a hole in the chest, a weak spot.
Towering over the tiny Hobbit, Smaug asks, "Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?" After some stuttering, Bilbo replies, "I come from under the hill... And under hills and over hills my paths lead.
Bilbo regrets giving himself the nickname "Barrel-Rider." The nickname gives Smaug a clue that Bilbo and company had help from the people of Lake Town, and Smaug flies off that way at the end of the chapter.
He represents the wrongful impulse to hoard, to accumulate beyond what one can use and to refuse to share with others. In revenge for the theft of the Arkenstone, he destroys the town of Lake-town (Esgaroth).
Smaug's ability to speak, the use of riddles, the element of betrayal, his enemy's communication via birds, and his weak spot could all have been inspired by the talking dragon Fafnir of the Völsunga saga.
Smaug hardly believes him but asks Bilbo what also did he claim to be and the Hobbit answered that he is the "luck-wearer", "riddle-maker", and "barrel-rider".
Telling Smaug ANYTHING close to the truth is dangerous. He might hate Hobbits, or use that knowledge to follow him back home and destroy him. Bilbo revealing it to Gollum nearly caused the destruction of everything.
He rolls over to show Bilbo the armor he has on his belly, and he reveals his weak point: a spot on his chest where the treasure armor has a gap. Bilbo takes this information back to the dwarves, and Smaug flies off to torch Laketown.
Bilbo baffles Gollum with the question, “What have I got in my pocket?,” which is, of course, not a true riddle at all. A true riddle must contain clues necessary to solve it. Gollum, with his purely ancient sensibilities, cannot even challenge Bilbo's question, let alone answer it.
Smaug is able to detect Bilbo through the Ring's invisibility, but the hobbit does not even need the Ring to survive the meeting with the dragon, relying on his wits to flatter the dragon and eventually escape.
"I kill where I wish and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong, strong strong."
Why does Smaug hoard gold/gems? It is in the nature of dragons to do so. Magpies collect shiny objects, trapdoor spiders build trapdoors, and dragons hoard treasure. Morgoth originally bred the dragons as weapons, but some escaped the War of Wrath and became feral, living in the wastes of the north.
The sungazer (Smaug giganteus, syn. Cordylus giganteus), also known as the giant girdled lizard, giant dragon lizard, ouvolk, or giant zonure, is the largest species of the Cordylidae, a family of lizards from sub-Saharan Africa. This threatened species is endemic to Highveld grasslands in the interior of South Africa.
Smaug had no problem eating Dwarf, and on the day he attacked the great Dwarven kingdom, he likely had enough bodies to last him a long while. But over the decades, the bodies would've decomposed, leaving only whatever meals the Dwarves left behind.
What did Smaug the dragon eat while he occupied the Lonely Mountain? Well, if you read The Hobbit you will find that he himself tells us (the readers) that he willingly at the ponies, knew the taste of dwarf as well as men. So, as most predators, he would eat whatever caught his eye.
To that end, The Hobbit book stated that Smaug was a young dragon when he attacked Erebor. So, even though the "Smaug was a human" theory holds some water, all indication was that Smaug was born a dragon.
Bard the Bowman is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. A Man of Laketown and a descendant of the ancient Lords of Dale, Bard manages to kill Smaug, the dragon, after which he becomes king of Dale.
Peter Jackson certainly makes the assertion in the theatrical and extended editions of the Hobbit movies that Smaug and Sauron are not only well aware of each other, but are planning to ally with each other. Smaug even seems to have detailed knowledge of Sauron's coming plans.
Smaug is a powerful and ancient dragon known as a Fire Drake, or Uruloki. The last of his breed in Middle-Earth, Smaug was famous for his attack on the kingdoms of Erebor and Dale during the Third Age.
