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Smaug Par David Demaret
Smaug () is a dragon and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', his treasure and the mountain he lives in being the goal of the quest. Powerful and fearsome, he invaded the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor 150 years prior to the events described in the novel. A group of thirteen dwarves mounted a quest to take the kingdom back, aided by the wizard Gandalf and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. In ''The Hobbit'', Thorin describes Smaug as "a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm". Critics have identified close parallels with what they presume are sources of Tolkien's inspiration, including the dragon in ''Beowulf'', who is provoked by the stealing of a precious cup, and the speaking dragon Fafnir, who proposes a betrayal to Sigurd. A further source may be Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 poem ''The Song of Hiawatha'', where Megissogwon, the spirit of wealth, is protected by an armoured shirt, but whose one weak spot is revealed by a talking bird. Comme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragons (Tolkien)
J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium features dragons based on those of European legend, but going beyond them in having personalities of their own, such as the wily Smaug, who has features of both Fafnir and the ''Beowulf'' dragon. Dragons appear in the early stories of ''The Book of Lost Tales'', including the mechanical war-dragons of ''The Fall of Gondolin''. Tolkien went on to create Smaug, a powerful and terrifying adversary, in ''The Hobbit''; dragons are only mentioned in passing in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Tolkien's conception of the dragon has been adopted both in games loosely based on his Middle-earth writings, and by other fantasy authors. Several taxa have been named after Tolkien's dragons, including both extinct and living species. Several taxa, including girdled lizards, shield bugs, and ants, carry the name ''Smaug''. Development Dragons are already present in ''The Book of Lost Tales''. Tolkien had been fascinated with dragons since childhoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigurd
Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, with Sigebert I being the most popular contender. Older scholarship sometimes connected him with Arminius, victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. He may also have a purely mythological origin. Sigurd's story is first attested on a series of carvings, including runestones from Sweden and stone crosses from the British Isles, dating from the eleventh century. In both the Norse and continental Germanic tradition, Sigurd is portrayed as dying as the result of a quarrel between his wife ( Gudrun/Kriemhild) and another woman, Brunhild, whom he has tricked into marrying the Burgundian king Gunnar/Gunther. His slaying of a dragon and possession of the hoard of the Nibelungen is also common to both traditions. In other respect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beowulf And The Dragon
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. Scholars call the anonymous author the "''Beowulf'' poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bard The Bowman
Bard the Bowman is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit''. A Man of Laketown and a descendant of the ancient Lords of Dale, Bard manages to kill Smaug, the dragon, after which he becomes king of Dale. Tolkien created the character specifically to kill Smaug, since none of the other protagonists of the story were able to fulfill this role. Bard the Bowman may have been inspired by the warrior Wiglaf in the Old English poem ''Beowulf''. Fictional history Bard is a descendant of Girion, the last lord of the city of Dale, which had been destroyed by the dragon Smaug two centuries before the events of ''The Hobbit'', which takes place in year 2941 of the Third Age. He is the captain of a company of archers in Esgaroth (also known as Lake-town). His friends accused him of prophesying floods and poisoned fish, but they knew his worth and courage. He is described as tall and grim with black hair., Chapter XIV. When Smaug attacks Lake-town, Bard is the last of the archers to stan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Ring
The One Ring, also called the Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane, is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954–55). It first appeared in the earlier story ''The Hobbit'' (1937) as a magic ring that grants the wearer invisibility. Tolkien changed it into a malevolent Rings of Power, Ring of Power and re-wrote parts of ''The Hobbit'' to fit in with the expanded narrative. ''The Lord of the Rings'' describes the hobbit Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the Ring. Critics have compared the story with the ring-based plot of Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''; Tolkien denied any connection, but at the least, both men drew on the same mythology. Another source is Tolkien's analysis of Nodens, an obscure pagan god with a temple at Lydney Park, where he studied the Latin inscriptions, one containing a curse on the Ring of Silvianus, thief of a ring. Tolkien rejected the idea that the story was an allegory, saying that applicability t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of The Hobbit Characters
This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book ''The Hobbit''. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from ''The Hobbit''. Hobbits * Bilbo Baggins of Bag End, the protagonist and titular hobbit of the story.''The Hobbit'', ch. 1 "An Unexpected Party" * Bungo Baggins, Bilbo's father. (mentioned only) * Belladonna Took, Bilbo's mother. (mentioned only) * The Old Took, Bilbo's maternal grandfather. (mentioned only) * Grubb, Grubb, and Burrowes, auctioneers managing the liquidation of Bilbo's effects.''The Hobbit'', ch. 19 "The Last Stage" Both names are connected with digging. * The Sackville-Bagginses, acquisitive cousins to Bilbo. * Bullroarer Took, a historical figure mentioned as the Old Took's great grand-uncle, and therefore Bilbo's great great great grand-uncle. However, according to the family tree published in Appendix C of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Bullr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauron
Sauron (pronounced ) is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth. In the same work, he is identified as the "Necromancer" of Tolkien's earlier novel ''The Hobbit''. ''The Silmarillion'' describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the "angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". Sauron appears most often as "the Eye", as if disembodied. Tolkien, while denying that absolute evil could exist, stated that Sauron came as near to a wholly evil will as was possible. Commentators have compared Sauron to the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula'', and to Balor of the Evil Eye in C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esgaroth
Esgaroth, or Lake-town, is a fictional community of Men upon the Long Lake that appears in the 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'' by J. R. R. Tolkien. Constructed entirely of wood and standing upon wooden pillars sunk into the lake-bed, the town is south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. The town's prosperity is apparently built upon trade between the Men who inhabit it, and the Elves and the Dwarves of northern Middle-earth. The chief mode of transport of the people of Esgaroth is stated to be their boats. At the time in which ''The Hobbit'' is set, Esgaroth appears to be a city-state, and a republic with no king (the only real republic shown in Middle-earth). The Master of Lake-town was said in-universe to be elected from among the "old and wise"; scholars have noted that all the same, he was trapped by his greed. Tolkien modelled the town closely on the real neolithic pile dwellings that were discovered near the Alps in the 19th century. Fictional role Geography Esgarot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Withered Heath
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is the human-inhabited world, that is, the central continent of the Earth, in Tolkien's imagined mythological past. Tolkien's most widely read works, ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'', are set entirely in Middle-earth. "Middle-earth" has also become a short-hand term for Tolkien's legendarium, his large body of fantasy writings, and for the entirety of his fictional world. Middle-earth is the main continent of Earth (Arda) in an imaginary period of the Earth's past, ending with Tolkien's Third Age, about 6,000 years ago. Tolkien's tales of Middle-earth mostly focus on the north-west of the continent. This part of Middle-earth is suggestive of Europe, the north-west of the Old World, with the environs of the Shire reminiscent of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hobbit (film Series)
''The Hobbit'' is a series of three epic high fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. The films are subtitled '' An Unexpected Journey'' (2012), ''The Desolation of Smaug'' (2013), and ''The Battle of the Five Armies'' (2014). The films are based on the 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'' by J. R. R. Tolkien, with large portions of the trilogy inspired by the appendices to ''The Return of the King'', which expand on the story told in ''The Hobbit'', as well as new material and characters written especially for the films. Together they act as a prequel to Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy. The screenplays were written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, who was originally chosen to direct before his departure from the project. The films take place in the fictional world of Middle-earth sixty years before the beginning of ''The Lord of the Rings'', and follow hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is convinced by the wizard Gand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama ''Heavenly Creatures'' (1994), the horror comedy ''The Frighteners'' (1996), the epic monster remake film ''King Kong'' (2005), the World War I documentary film ''They Shall Not Grow Old'' (2018) and the documentary '' The Beatles: Get Back'' (2021). He is the third-highest-grossing film director of all-time, his films having made over $6.5 billion worldwide. Jackson began his career with the " splatstick" horror comedy ''Bad Taste'' (1987) and the black comedy ''Meet the Feebles'' (1989) before filming the zombie comedy '' Braindead'' (1992). He shared a nomination for Academy Award for Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award. He has also been nominated for two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2014, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2015, he was appointed a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to the performing arts and to charity. Cumberbatch studied drama at the Victoria University of Manchester and obtained a Master of Arts in classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He began acting in Shakespearean theatre productions before making his West End debut in Richard Eyre's revival of ''Hedda Gabler'' in 2005. Since then, he has starred in Royal National Theatre productions of '' After the Dance'' (2010) and ''Frankenstei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
