Where Did Smaug Come From?

Q: Where Did Smaug Come From?

ANSWER: Smaug was one of the dragons of the Withered Heath, a desolate region north of Wilderland/Rhovanion. J.R.R. Tolkien did not write any passage (that has been published to date) which specifically states “Smaug was born on [such-and-such date] in [some place name]”. However, it is made apparent that he was not quite fully grown when he attacked Erebor and Dale; hence, by comparing Smaug’s career with Glaurung’s, we can infer that he was probably born within 2-300 years prior to his assault.

Glaurung’s birth is not given but he did emerge from Angband while still young in First Age year of the Sun 260 and well before Morgoth was ready to deploy him against the Eldar of Beleriand. It would not be for another 200 years that Glaurung would be seen again, this time in his full growth and accompanied by his descendants (at the very least his children and perhaps his children’s children).

Because Turin slew Glaurung within a generation after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad we don’t know how much longer Glaurung might have lived. But he had achieved his full growth by that time and was a formidable dragon.

Ancalagon the Black, greatest of the winged dragons (presumably Glaurung’s descendant), emerged about 100 years after Glaurung was slain so he may not have been much younger than Glaurung. That is, the reader is free to infer that a very young Ancalagon may have been waiting in Angband while Glaurung was rampaging across Beleriand.

Some people speculate that Smaug may have been as ancient as the winged dragons of Ancalagon’s brood; however, Tolkien never connects Smaug with the ancient dragons of the First Age. The original name for the dragon in the Hobbit adventure was Pryftan, which bears no similarity to Glaurung and Ancalagon. The Hobbit originally included several connections to the story of Beren and Luthien, but Tolkien eventually excised most of those connections and placed the story later in Middle-earth’s history. Thus, some people may feel justified in arguing that Smaug could be quite ancient, but it would be very contradictory of Tolkien to require that Smaug wait several thousand years before he achieved his full growth, whereas Glurung and Ancalagon seem only to have required a few centuries at most.

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