How Smaug the Dragon reflects the Serpent in the Garden

“It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown     into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’” (Mark 9:47b-48).

Though intended for a juvenile audience, with an extra dollop of whimsy mingled with eucatastrophic reality, The Hobbit presents an adventure whose protagonist is motivated by moral reasoning, rather than by hubris.

Thrust into an unforgiving and unknown landscape, Bilbo Baggins gets perhaps a bit full of himself when he realizes, once he’s got the Ring, that he has something to contribute to Thorin and Company. Now he’s a team player. Nevertheless, while relishing in the newfound respect the dwarves start showing him, the Hobbit does not forget his smallness.

Rather, it’s his smallness that prompts many of his precautions. The Ring provides cover for his insecurity. It seems particularly handy when confronting the most dreaded foe of the whole story: Smaug the terrible.

Smaug the dragon, via comparison, possesses everything Bilbo lacks. Smaug is physically daunting, ruthless, and treasure-lusting. His persona is one characterized by self-importance, greed, and power. The dragon knows his own strengths. However, he is preoccupied with his size and abilities to the point that he neglects his weaknesses. This defect in humility would inevitably be his downfall.

In crafting the dialogue and mannerisms of Smaug, J.R.R. Tolkien rendered a malignant character who showcases a number of parallels with that ancient serpent, the tempter who came to seduce Eve and Adam in Eden, the devil.

On a generic level, the reptilian imagery which Tolkien bestows on Smaug and which the authors of Scripture (in collaboration with God) give for the evil one are markedly similar.

The Dragon and the Serpent

In Genesis, the spiritual enemy is distinguished via the speaking serpent whose words move the minds of our first parents to seek a perceived good apart from God. After the Fall of humankind, among the punishments God ordains on His sinful creatures is a decree to the serpent that, “on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14). Please note: this imagery is evocative of worms just as much as it can be of snakes. In The Hobbit, Smaug is referred to on occasion as “worm,” bringing to mind the rather serpent-like image of an elongated reptile.

Much later, nearing the Bible’s closure, the Book of Revelation describes the enemy of life as a seven-headed red dragon ready to devour the newborn Son of the heavenly Woman, whom we can identify as the Virgin Mary (see Revelation chapter 12).

In way of physical traits, Revelation not only features a demonic “dragon,” but also adds that it is red. Smaug’s countenance is often depicted in art featuring a scarlet, albeit rather gold-encrusted, hide. Tolkien himself describes a “red glow” that Bilbo can make out as he is about to enter the dungeon-hall where the dragon is resting. At long last, the sleeping monstrosity himself is, upon Bilbo’s analysis, found to be a “red-golden dragon.” And while Revelation’s dragon possesses seven diadems, practically all of Smaug’s body is bedecked in gold and jewels.

But the resemblance between Smaug the “worm” and the apocalyptic dragon of Scripture goes beyond skin-deep. As it turns out, Smaug – like Satan – shows himself a master at weaving doubt, deceit, and despair.

All one need do is examine the dialogue carried on between Smaug and Bilbo and juxtapose that with what the serpent tells Eve in Genesis.

Deception

Following his initial glimpse of the dragon, during which visit he also burgles some treasure, Bilbo returns after the great brute has gone marauding around the mountainside in search of the thieves responsible for whisking away a single cup from his vast hoard.

There the dragon lay asleep, tuckered out from the vigilant search he had just undertaken – or so the little Hobbit assumed. However, the scene sets the tone for an introduction to Smaug’s personality by showcasing one of his chief traits: deceit.

Smaug is, in fact, quite awake when poor Bilbo (invisible though he be – with the aid of the Ring) makes his second uninvited entrance into the dungeon-hall. When dealing with a dragon, one can never trust in appearances. (This goes for the activities that align with the demonic rebellion as well; sin can look safe or attractive to some degree but ultimately leads to a further break in our relationship with Christ.) With dragons, things are never altogether what they might seem. This is a bit of advice Bilbo soon discovers for himself.

Doubt

When analyzing the element of doubt which the dragon tends to inculcate in his victims, it is particularly helpful to revisit the ever-relevant Genesis narrative:

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1b-5).

We all know how this pans out. Adam and Eve disobey God, ushering sin into the world, planting the seeds of the fallen human nature we grapple with on a daily basis. But observe more closely the tactic employed by the enemy. He poses an idea: What if God is wrong? What if He is not being truthful? What if Adam and Eve could do everything better?

The serpent has inserted doubt into the human mind. Similarly, Smaug attempts to undermine Bilbo’s trust in Thorin and Company, the band of misfit dwarves he has come to care for so dearly, regardless of how bothersome and rude they can be at times.

After some slick conversation, Smaug extracts confirmation from Bilbo of his assumption that the Hobbit is in the company of dwarves. Once he knows it, the dragon scoffs at the poor reasoning practiced by the burglar from Bag-End. His wicked laughter and sharp words begin to turn Bilbo’s mind – at least momentarily – against the dwarves. The dragon sneers at the Hobbit:

“I don’t know if it has occurred to you that, even if you could steal the gold bit by bit – a matter   of a hundred years or so – you could not get it very far? Not much use on the mountain-side? Not much use in the forest? Bless me! Had you never thought of the catch? A fourteenth share, I suppose, or something like it, those were the terms, eh? But what about delivery? What about cartage? What about armed guards and tolls?” And Smaug laughed aloud…

You will hardly believe it, but poor Bilbo was really very taken aback…Now a nasty suspicion began to grow in his mind – had the dwarves forgotten this important point too, or were they laughing in their sleeves at him all the time? That is the effect that dragon-talk has on the inexperienced. Bilbo of course ought to have been on his guard; but Smaug had rather an overwhelming personality (The Hobbit, 214-215).

Suspicion. Anxiety. Hurt. In a word, doubt. And it has crept into the little hero’s mind at the suggestion of Smaug the terrible. The Hobbit, however, inevitably remains faithful to his friends the dwarves as well as to a moral standard of peace over bloodshed.

Despair

Yet another tactic employed by Smaug, which reflects the tendencies of the devil, is how he inflicts terror in the hearts of men – and dwarves, Hobbits, and others.

One of the classical egocentric lines from Smaug reads:

“My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!” (The Hobbit, 216).

Not only does this line exude the dragon’s self-centeredness, it also shows that he tends to use fear to control his victims. The devil can use fear in our lives too: the daily anxieties, fear of daunting decisions, of spiritual defeat, and even of himself. The evil one would enjoy seeing us driven to despair.

That said, God is already triumphant over the devil. Throughout Scripture, the Lord tells us repeatedly not to fear. In the Book of Joshua, we read:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Dragon Sickness

Sin is, as Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick (an Orthodox Catholic priest and Tolkien aficionado) says, partaking in the “demonic rebellion.” When we sin, we reiterate the demonic stance that says “No” to God. Through the devil’s interference with mankind, and Adam and Eve’s consent, sin entered the world. The devil continues to try to make us stumble and fall into sin. He often does so by making sin look appealing; it is like a vast hoard of treasure awaiting our enjoyment of it, or so it often appears.

In The Hobbit, some of the characters succumb to “dragon sickness,” an unhealthy obsession with the treasure which Smaug has brooded over for decades. Some of the dwarves, and Thorin in particular, become utterly fixated on the gold piled high in the mountain hoard. It’s as of they became little Smaugs themselves, now likewise lusting after those same things the dragon had so desperately longed to keep to himself. This mirrors what happens when human beings sin against God.

When we sin, our vices resemble the choice taken by the devil: declining to obey the divine Will. On a side note, sinning against God always harms others as well. Similarly, in The Hobbit, we see how the insanity of the dragon sickness damages the relationship between Thorin, who is consumed with lust for the Arkenstone, and Bilbo Baggins.

Yet, Tolkien’s novel ends on a bittersweet note in which the dragon is vanquished, the goblin armies defeated. There has been loss of life, yes, but those who passed away in the Battle of Five Armies have been redeemed. And Thorin apologizes for the anger he earlier displayed toward Bilbo. Good triumphs over evil – so cliched to this point is this statement that perhaps it loses its profundity. Nevertheless, it remains true.

What is the chief difference between Satan and Smaug? Simply this: the devil is real, and Smaug is a fabrication of Tolkien’s imagination. The devil prowls about like a roaring lion, as the inaugural Pope tells us (1 Peter 5:8). It’s true.

But there’s another reality that is even more powerful, more demanding, more tremendous – and that is the reality that Jesus Christ came to redeem us from our sins, from our own “dragon sickness.”

In Matthew chapter 4, the devil tempts Jesus to test the mercy of God and quotes Psalm 91, “’He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, less you strike your foot against a stone.’”

The devil was quoting from verses 11 and 12 of Psalm 91. However, the very next verse relates how the servant of God will be triumphant. Note the particular imagery that the Psalmist uses:

“You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot” (Psalm 91:13).

Years before the devil tried to tempt God the Son, the inspired Word of God reflected the unequivocal victory of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus came and conquered the roaring lion; He trampled the ancient serpent.

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

*Dedicated to St. Michael and the Angels.