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What was their plan exactly for dealing with Smaug?

posted 9 years ago by Rvrgm
3 replies | jump to latest

They go on this journey to reclaim the mountain - they get there, they go in. And then as soon as they awaken Smaug, they start trying to find a way out, and then once that fails, decide to "make a last stand" against the dragon.

So… did none of them ever discuss all the way there what exactly they were expecting would happen?

This always confused me and made the final act of the film hard to focus on for me.

[–] Otaku-sempai 9 years ago

[The Company of Thorin] debated long on what was to be done, but they could think of no way of getting rid of Smaug -- which had always been a weak point in their plans, as Bilbo felt inclined to point out.

In the films, Thorin and his companions were counting on Gandalf's advice and assistance in dealing with Smaug when they reached Erebor. They had no concrete plan, especially after Gandalf left them at the eaves of Mirkwood. The only plan that they had in the book was to have Bilbo burgle as much of the treasure out of the Mountain as he could before being discovered. There was no plan to deal with Smaug once the thefts were detected.

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." - V

[–] syntinen 9 years ago

In the films, Thorin and his companions were counting on Gandalf's advice and assistance in dealing with Smaug when they reached Erebor. They had no concrete plan

In the prologue to DoS, it's established that Thorin wants to regain Erebor, and Gandalf wants him to do it, but without the Arkenstone Thorin can't call on the seven clans of the Dwarves to support him in a military campaign against Smaug. So as I understand it, the objective of the Quest was simply to steal the Arkenstone, for which purpose they needed a burglar; then Thorin could go back and raise a massive dwarf army to attack and kill Smaug. They never expected that the fourteen of them would be able to kill him.

This is only in the Jackson-Boyens script. When Tolkien started the story it was purely a jolly tale of treasure-hunting, but by the time Tolkien finished it years later it had become about Thorin trying to regain and keep his birthright. So the two ends of the book just don't match, and the Jackson-Boyens prologue is their best shot at making it make sense.

[–] Otaku-sempai 9 years ago

That's true; in the films Thorin hoped to be able to recover the Arkenstone without alerting Smaug. Then he could command the Seven Houses of the Dwarves to evict and or kill the dragon.

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." - V