The Hobbit Smaug Died Way to Easy

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The Hobbit discussion

Was anyone else disappointed in Smaug (spoilers)

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SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS!

I always kind of thought Bilbo was supposed to kill Smaug, and I'm a little disappointed that it was some random guy. (I know Bard's not just some random guy, but seriously.)

Anyone else? I would love to hear your thoughts, both if you agree and if you don't.

I never actually expected Bilbo to be able to kill the critter, but, yes, it was a surprise to have someone pretty much pop up and take care of it. On the other hand, it underlined the folly of the dwarves' quest and how they did not care about anyone else's safety when they strove for their own goals.

According to the book, Bard killed Smaug, not Bilbo. I was not at all disappointed knowing that. Although Bilbo is very brave, it took more to kill Smaug. And Bard did it with his great bow.

The Hobbit movies ARE a disappointment.

Michael wrote: "The Hobbit movies ARE a disappointment."

I secound that! I was expecting so much more. Instead of "The Hobbit" we got "Some Random Tale In Middle Earth".

This thread is not about the movie...

I was kind of yelling at the book like "That's IT??" because it felt like a giant anti-climax to me. Then again, The Hobbit doesn't quite fit into our expected and quite frankly, preconceived through Hollywood notion of a modern narrative. So I was more than willing to read on. I was not disappointed in The Hobbit as a book, however. It wrapped up epically.

Actually, Bilbo had a large part in Smaug's death. Without his burglar excursion into the lair, and his examination of the weakness in Smaug's gem-encrusted armor, Bard would not have been successful with his Black Arrow. If I recall, it was the thrush, relaying the conversation Bilbo had with his dwarven companions that passed this vital information to Bard.

Rob is correct while Bilbo was not the one to deal the killing blow it was his discovery of the dragons weak spot that made it possible.
Frankly it would be unrealistic for Bilbo to kill Smaug, despite his bravery and natural stealth he is no warrior.

Bilbo is not a hero in the classical sense, so I don't expect nothing like things as "Bilbo killing Smaug"

No, I can't say I shared in your disappointment.

I didn't find it disappointing. But I read the book when I was too young to get things like narrative structure, so I wouldn't have got that feeling anyway. Nevertheless, I feel Clare's comment ^^^ is right on.

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I just thought it was dumb. I thought there was gonna be like this whole chapter on it and he squeezed it into one little paragraph. And I said: "That's it? He's gone?"

*Wynter Tomlinson* wrote: "I just thought it was dumb. I thought there was gonna be like this whole chapter on it and he squeezed it into one little paragraph. And I said: "That's it? He's gone?""

Action scenes were not Tolkien's strong suit.

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I actually really liked it; it was much more realistic that way. If the dragon was even remotely close to how they describe it to be, then Bilbo would have most definitely been killed. And, like everyone is saying, without Bilbo finding the weak spot, they would never have killed the dragon.

Also, I found the movies perfectly fine. They are a separate piece of art to be judged, well, as a separate piece of art.

Felicia wrote: "SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS!
I always kind of thought Bilbo was supposed to kill Smaug, and I'm a little disappointed that it was some random guy. (I know Bard's not just some random guy, but seriously.)
..."

I liked how the book doesn't go with your expectations. Admit it if you really read that Bilbo fights Smaug and saves the day would you have enjoyed it or would you have found it less so because it was predictable? That was one thing I loved so much about this book. It never headed the direction you were expecting it to go.

I was seriously disappointed at first but Bard was so well introduced that in some point I thought he deserved to kill the dragon and I know he only did it because of Bilbo, since he was the one who found the weak spot.

message 18: by [deleted user] (new)

I wasn't that disappointed although I normally like the main character doing all the work :)

Deeptanshu wrote: "Rob is correct while Bilbo was not the one to deal the killing blow it was his discovery of the dragons weak spot that made it possible.
Frankly it would be unrealistic for Bilbo to kill Smaug, de..."

says the untrained man. natural stealth would have allowed him to come near to him and stab him with a spear and run away.

No, I think the fact that Smaug is defeated in itself is the payoff for the story. Bilbo does amazing things to allow this to happen, but imo it would have been out of character, even for him to kill Smaug, and unbelievable.

I thought from the title of this thread this would be a discussion about the appearance of Smaug..clearly not. From the brief glimpse at the end of the trailer, I thought Smaug looked great and very distinct from the usual dragon-look appearance of other films/television shows i.e. he looks very much the Great Worm described by Tolkien.

Michael wrote: "I thought from the title of this thread this would be a discussion about the appearance of Smaug..clearly not. From the brief glimpse at the end of the trailer, I thought Smaug looked great and ve..."
This is a book forum, mainly, so obviously many of the topics deal with the book, rather than the film...

I can honestly say that I never expected Bilbo to kill the dragon, because it's not in his nature. And, even though he is stealthy enough, one poke with any knife or sword would have ended up in Bilbo getting killed off.
It's only fitting that Bard killed Smaug, he lived in the village that was being terrorized by the dragon, so why not...
Tolkien is great in not doing what you expect as reader.

I have not yet seen the movie only the trailer so it would call it a bit early to shouting dissapointment. I do get a bit tired by the lads and lassies that seem to base their opinion on a short trailer, they are a bit like a premature release (biological then)

Mark wrote: "I have not yet seen the movie only the trailer so it would call it a bit early to shouting dissapointment. I do get a bit tired by the lads and lassies that seem to base their opinion on a short tr..."
Did you _read_ the thread?

Yes, for me (and I read this for the 1st time as an adult) the dead of Smaug was kind of anticlimatic, like too easy to kill the mighty dragon. But, as someone said earlier, Tolkien does know how to surprise me every time. I would like the battle to be a little more intense or long, but I still love the book as a whole.

I agree with karel. The battle with smaug was too short. While I wasn't disappointed that bilbo didn't take him down but I was expecting one of the dwarfs to. Or at lease have the dwarfs more involved with fighting smaug.

message 28: by [deleted user] (new)

Kinda thought Bilbo was going to seal Smaug's fate, for some reason I was sad when all the riddling between Baggins and the Dragon was over.

I didn't think about it much, but it wasn't what I expected, so yes I was disappointed. I was kinda happy that Bilbo didn't have to face Smaug, though.

Michael wrote: "The Hobbit movies ARE a disappointment."

As there is but one of the movies out to date you can not have been disappointed by the movies. You may certainly have an expectation of being disappointed, but then I expect you will find exactly what you are looking for . . . troll.

Bilbo was hired to be the thief, not the Dragon Slayer. It was actually fairly clear to me throughout the book that the Dwarves would have to figure that one out themselves. :-)

Sunleister wrote: "Michael wrote: "The Hobbit movies ARE a disappointment."
I secound that! I was expecting so much more. Instead of "The Hobbit" we got "Some Random Tale In Middle Earth"."

I am confused by your statement. What you got WAS, and is, the Hobbit.

Rob wrote: "Actually, Bilbo had a large part in Smaug's death. Without his burglar excursion into the lair, and his examination of the weakness in Smaug's gem-encrusted armor, Bard would not have been success..."

Yep. Bilbo, who was hired to be the "thief", and to whom at was at one point was told he should try to find a way to defeat Smaug (note, not kill Smaug) does exactly that. :-)

♥Wynter~Tomlinson♥ wrote: "I just thought it was dumb. I thought there was gonna be like this whole chapter on it and he squeezed it into one little paragraph. And I said: "That's it? He's gone?""

That is because Smaug was not intended to be the stories climax, but rather a foil to get us to the end of the story. The Battle of Five Armies was the great climax . . .

Flora Doutzen wrote: "I was kind of yelling at the book like "That's IT??" because it felt like a giant anti-climax to me. Then again, The Hobbit doesn't quite fit into our expected and quite frankly, preconceived throu..."

I totally agree with you

Marko wrote: "I never actually expected Bilbo to be able to kill the critter, but, yes, it was a surprise to have someone pretty much pop up and take care of it. On the other hand, it underlined the folly of the..."

i agree

I actually expected Thorin to kill Smaug. I can't say I was disappointed that Bard killed Smaug but I think it would have been better if Thorin did it.

smaug's voice is awesome.

I was also disappointed to see that Bilbo and the dwarves do not kill the dragon. I feel that it is their quest and that it is rather unheroic that they do not kill the dragon themselves.
I was expecting Bilbo to come up with a plan, as he is the brains of the operation at that point, in combination with the strength of the thirteen dwarves.

Have you people read the book I think it takes an interesting turn when bard kills smaug

I never expected Bilbo to kill Smaug but I was definitely disappointed at how quickly he died. I mean, the whole book led up to the dwarves retaking their treasure from the dragon and then Smaug just flies out and gets killed off out of nowhere. I actually told my wife that I thought it was pretty lame.

In fact, the entire book was pretty much a disappointment to me and I hope the LOTR series is better. The LOTR movies are some of my favorites of all time, but the Hobbit movie, I thought was terrible. So hopefully the books follow that theme for me.

I didn't think Bilbo could kill Smaug. Frankly I'm glad he didn't. He was the groups burglar not assassin.Bard shouldn't have killed Smaug though, that I will agree too. To me Thorin should have killed Smaug because he was the one that wanted to take back the mountain in the first place.That would have made such a better fight than Bard aiming an arrow at a small spot on Smaug's belly and killing him. THAT WAS THE LAMEST DEATH EVER! When Smaug died it was like a smack in the face. Like for real, who wants to kill a dragon like Smaug in a total of, oh i don't know a paragraph and a half. Lets just hope the producers find a way to make it more interesting.

well I found the death of smaug actually good. you see the point of just some random dude killing it with an arrow gives a message. He was a nobody and smaug was the most feared dragon in the whole middle earth. so you can see that even the biggest of scares can be defeated with some thinking and allot of courage.
and I don´t think that the death of smaug should expand allot of pages. since it is the journey that counts and not the goal just like in lord of the rings where the journey to the mountaint of doom was the point and not the tossing of the ring. so I was rather pleased with the whole ending

Have you people read the book I think it takes an interesting turn when bard kills smaug

I think there are two levels--or stages--of reaction to the story. While actually reading it, most readers anticipate the story and may have a "what the...?" reaction when it doesn't go in the expected direction. I do remember at the moment of reading that outcome that I felt, well, maybe not disappointed, but something akin to it because I was expecting a story where the main character was always the hero. But by the time I got to the next paragraph or two, I thought Bard was the right Man for the job and was happy for him to have accomplished this feat.

Then comes the second stage, and I looked back on the story in its entirety. It was then that I was able to appreciate what Tolkien had done. Bilbo was a hero according to his abilities and inclinations, making an important contribution to the defeat of Smaug, but it wasn't in his nature to do the deed. Instead, Tolkien elevated a man of worth to a heroic level to do a deed that was within his nature and scope. It actually turned out well because the people of the town needed a hero to follow in the rebuilding of their town and the Bardings were born.
It was also during this later reflection that I saw how Bilbo's "Unexpected Journey" was unexpected at every step of the journey, going against the reader's expectations of how the classical hero always does the impossible and receives the laurels in the end. Bilbo went home unheralded and unappreciated among his kind, but that didn't make him any less of the kind of hero it was within him to be.

Still, at that moment when Tolkien upended my expectations with the death of Smaug, a small amount of disappointment was in the mix of emotions. But it was also part of what made the story great rather than good and why we still talk about it 75 years later.

Way too much analyzing going on. I personally don't really care what Tolkien's idea behind it was or how it represents that "even the biggest scares can be defeated by anyone" if it makes the book less enjoyable. And for me, I kept waiting for something grand to happen to make the book worth the hype and nothing ever did. I was very bored with the whole thing.

I had a similar feeling when reading Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. Supposed to be an epic classic and it just fell short.

Maybe if I was 13 and reading these books back in the 30s I would have felt differently, but in today's age, I want more.

Meghan wrote: "...THAT WAS THE LAMEST DEATH EVER! ..."

HAHAHA I know exactly what you mean HAHAHA. And I am SURE that Jackson will find an exciting way to kil Smaug!

I was rather disappointed with how fast this Smaug quest went. Few pages, one arrow and BAMM! Dragon's dead.

Except there was no BAM since there was no drama. It just happened and you're like "ok".

I agree KryZad...death in life is often sudden and over with. Your friends are there one minute and gone the next.
And another thing. Smaug was, in a sense, dead already, living only for his gold and having no soul to appreciate anyone but himself.
Also, the arrow that killed him was destined for him. This idea of dragging out death and making it bloodier and messier is sick in my view. The death of Thorin was beautifully rendered and added to the story.

It just occurred to me that people might be referring to the movie and not the book? If so, the book (of course) lets you see exactly why Thorin couldn't kill Smaug; he was suffering from the same disease of gold fever that Smaug was, although he had also more "lofty" motives. And as someone above has pointed out, the reason for the Bard killing Smaug was part of a much bigger picture, and was very very apt.

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