While The Lord of the Rings was Tolkien’s magnum opus, The Hobbit was essential to the narrative of Middle-earth. If Gandalf hadn’t convinced Bilbo to go on an adventure, he would never have found Sauron’s One Ring and the Dark Lord might have triumphed in the end. Yet that was merely fate working its hand. Gandalf’s real reason for backing Thorin’s quest was to get rid of Smaug. He knew that Sauron was on the rise, and he knew that the Dark Lord would use a dragon to terrible effect. Even if the dragon didn’t formally ally himself with Sauron, he could destroy an entire army more or less on a whim, which the forces of good simply couldn’t afford in their last desperate stand against the Dark Lord. The Hobbit is essentially about how Gandalf took Smaug off the board in the run-up to the War of the Ring, thanks to his faith in the seemingly innocuous Bilbo. With Smaug out of the way, there was one less problem for Gandalf and the Fellowship to worry about in The Fellowship of the Ring.However, Gandalf hadn’t been able to foresee everything. They were unexpectedly assailed by the Durin’s Bane Balrog in Moria, and Gandalf had to sacrifice himself to protect Frodo and the Ring. The thing is, those events raise an interesting question. Gandalf was able to kill the Balrog, but he never considered fighting Smaug. Instead, they sent Thorin and his company of dwarves to do the job while he dealt with the Necromancer in southern Mirkwood. That leads to an understandable, though false presumption: that Smaug was the more powerful of the two monsters. But looking more deeply at their backgrounds shows that this is not the case. Had he been called upon, Gandalf could have handled Smaug far more readily than he handled the Balrog.Most Tolkien fans seem to believe that Smaug would have the upper hand. After all, he was much larger than Durin’s Bane. Plus, he could fly, while the Balrog (whether he had wings or not) could not take to the air. Unfortunately, that opinion seems to have been swayed by popular dragons like Balerion in Game of Thrones. In most fantasy stories, dragons are the epitome of power. Their fire, strength, speed and ability to fly put them on a different level from most monsters, as does their intelligence and erudition. Tolkien was somewhat vague about the nature of their origins as well, which has caused considerable debate among his fans, but also leaves the door open as to the extent of their power.
While The Lord of the Rings was Tolkien’s magnum opus, The Hobbit was essential to the narrative of Middle-earth. If Gandalf hadn’t convinced Bilbo to go on an adventure, he would never have found Sauron’s One Ring and the Dark Lord might have triumphed in the end. Yet that was merely fate working its hand. Gandalf’s real reason for backing Thorin’s quest was to get rid of Smaug. He knew that Sauron was on the rise, and he knew that the Dark Lord would use a dragon to terrible effect. Even if the dragon didn’t formally ally himself with Sauron, he could destroy an entire army more or less on a whim, which the forces of good simply couldn’t afford in their last desperate stand against the Dark Lord. The Hobbit is essentially about how Gandalf took Smaug off the board in the run-up to the War of the Ring, thanks to his faith in the seemingly innocuous Bilbo. With Smaug out of the way, there was one less problem for Gandalf and the Fellowship to worry about in The Fellowship of the Ring.
However, Gandalf hadn’t been able to foresee everything. They were unexpectedly assailed by the Durin’s Bane Balrog in Moria, and Gandalf had to sacrifice himself to protect Frodo and the Ring. The thing is, those events raise an interesting question. Gandalf was able to kill the Balrog, but he never considered fighting Smaug. Instead, they sent Thorin and his company of dwarves to do the job while he dealt with the Necromancer in southern Mirkwood. That leads to an understandable, though false presumption: that Smaug was the more powerful of the two monsters. But looking more deeply at their backgrounds shows that this is not the case. Had he been called upon, Gandalf could have handled Smaug far more readily than he handled the Balrog.
Most Tolkien fans seem to believe that Smaug would have the upper hand. After all, he was much larger than Durin’s Bane. Plus, he could fly, while the Balrog (whether he had wings or not) could not take to the air. Unfortunately, that opinion seems to have been swayed by popular dragons like Balerion in Game of Thrones. In most fantasy stories, dragons are the epitome of power. Their fire, strength, speed and ability to fly put them on a different level from most monsters, as does their intelligence and erudition. Tolkien was somewhat vague about the nature of their origins as well, which has caused considerable debate among his fans, but also leaves the door open as to the extent of their power.
#Balrog #Demolish #Smaug #LOTR #Death #Match
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