“ | Revenge?! Revenge?! I will show you revenge! I am fire! I am… death! | „ |
~ Smaug's most famous quote. |
Smaug The Dragon is major antagonist in Peter Jackson's Middle-earth film series.
He is one of two main antagonists the film trilogy adaptation of The Hobbit (alongside Azog), serving as one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside Sauron) of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the titular main antagonist of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and the opening antagonist of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies.
He was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hobbit trilogy, who also played Sauron in the same trilogy and Dormammu in Doctor Strange.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Before the events of the film, he allied with Sauron to bring destruction to Middle-earth, and had he lived during the events of The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings, it would have been detrimental for the heroes to stand a chance in destroying the one ring, giving how powerful of an ally Smaug would be for Sauron and his army.
- He went to Dale and killed thousands of people mainly by eating them and breathing fire on them.
- He took over the Lonely Mountain, forcing King Thror, and his sons Prince Thráin II and Prince Thorin as well as all their subjects out of the Mountain. He sleeps there with all their gold and jewelry.
- Thráin would discover Smaug and Sauron were allies and was tortured and horrifically mutated by Sauron. When Gandalf arrives in Dol Guldur and frees Thráin, he explains that Smaug and Sauron are allies and that Smaug is waiting for Thorin.
- Smaug would sleep in the Mountain's halls of Gold till Bilbo Baggins arrives and tries to take the Arkenstone on behalf of Thorin Oakenshield. Smaug wakes up when Bilbo disturbs the gold in the hall. Bilbo and Smaug talk with each other about tales and songs about Smaug and his glory and majesty.
- Bilbo tries to flatter Smaug, stating how the songs and tales didn’t capture the latter’s magnificence and with the former's titles. Smaug pieces together why Bilbo is in his halls, stating how Thorin and the Dwarves left Bilbo to sneak in and grab the Arkenstone and how Smaug secretly knew how the Dwarves would come to the mountain to reclaim their gold. Explaining their fascination to be like "flies drawn to dead flesh".
- He boasts to Bilbo about how he killed the king's men and kills where he wishes when he wishes. He also boasts about how his armor is like iron and no blade can pierce it, he calls Thorin a "filthy Dwarvish usurper".
- Smaug states how Oakenshield's quest will fail and how darkness will spread to every corner of the land.
- He states how Oakenshield believes Bilbo's life is disposable, though Thorin's subsequent behavior suggests he was right. Smaug exclaims that he won't part with a coin, boasting that his "teeth are swords, claws are spears, wings are a hurricane".
- When Bilbo whispers how the Black Arrow found its mark, Smaug yells to Bilbo about what he said while Bilbo glimpses the Arkenstone. Smaug taunts Bilbo about how he is tempted to let Bilbo give the Arkenstone to Thorin to watch it corrupt him.
- Smaug attempts to kill the Dwarves numerous times while they were making a giant statue of Thrain. The Dwarves lead him into the Gallery of the Kings, there he recognizes the scent of the people of Lake Town and attempts to kill them all before they tell Smaug to come to the statue of Thrain, which explodes covers Smaug in melted gold.
- When Bilbo begs him not to go to Lake Town, Smaug realizes that Bilbo cares for the people there. Knowing this, he keeps Bilbo alive so he can make him watch as he burns the town to the ground and kills everyone there.
- Smaug escapes the gold and goes to destroy Lake Town, there Smaug kills of numerous people and covers the entire town in fire.
- Smaug sees Bard the Bowman and attempts to kill him and his son. However, Bard shoots the Black Arrow that his son, Bain, had given him. The arrow flies into Smaug's weak point and kills him, dropping into the Master of Lake Town.
- Smaug's influence remained for a while as Thorin would become obsessed with the gold and avoid anyone taking any of it. Thorin would also forsake going into the Battle of the Five Armies. Thorin would eventually overcome his sickness in the Gallery of the Kings and go to battle and die.
- Unlike the book version who was told to be lonely and that was why he took over Erebor, this one wanted it because it was greedy for the gold and other mithrils the Dwarves mined on their own. By kicking them out of their home as well as burning many dwarves for that reason, this made clear difference between the film trilogy and the book version.
Trivia[]
- This version, along with his Rankin/Bass incarnation, are the only versions of Smaug that qualifies as Pure Evil,
- His book version doesn't qualify to be Pure Evil because it was never shown he would help Sauron in his conquest of Middle-Earth, which means he would only have killed the people of Dale and Lake-town, which makes him fail the Heinous Standards massively to more villains with similar and/or lower resources.
- In the books, Gene Deitch short film, graphic novel and 2003 game, Smaug doesn't count either as he doesn't go beyond standard dragon villainy and it's only implied he is in an allegiance with Sauron in the books.
- He is the only Pure Evil in the Middle-earth film franchise to be neither an Ainu nor an Orc.
External Links[]
- Smaug on the Villains Wiki
- Smaug at Wikipedia
- Smaug on the Lord of the Rings Wiki
- Smaug on the Tolkien Gateway
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