The Hobbit Research Paper

1453 Words3 Pages

Nathan Dennis
Miller
English 12
3 January 2017
The Power of a Dragon
“My armor 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!” (― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit) These words were the beginnings of an old era starting anew; this was the rebirth of the ancient dragon. Many say that Smaug was the last of the ancient dragons. Dragons throughout time have been seen as the greatest foe a hero could face. Then, during the 1800’s dragons lost their power and turned into something like the 1999 show “Dragon Tales.” They were small, kind creatures that would rather have tea with you then burn you to a crisp. From the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Hobbit” Smaug, …show more content…

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. After his father's death on February 15, 1896 he moved to England with his mother Mabel and younger brother. Then in 1904 Mabel Tolkien was diagnosed as having diabetes, usually fatal in those days. She passed away on 14 November of that year leaving the two orphaned boys more or less destitute. After this Father Francis took charge, and made sure of the boys had what they needed. Throughout all this he was introduced to many forms of literature including myths and poems about dragons and because of myths and poems from these cultures he began to fall in love with dragons. He fell so much so in love with dragons he started writing a book when he was only 7 years all about dragons. It is unknown whether the book was named or even finished but this book started him on a new path that would shape the rest of his …show more content…

Tolkien, dragons were nothing close to their true potential. So to find dragons that had the power he needed he looked back in time a century, back to the dark ages, when stories of dragons ran rampant. There he found the two dragons that would help build his dragon, Smaug, the first being the unnamed dragon from Beowulf. Beowulf was written between the 8th and 11th century, but it existed a great deal longer in oral from. The Beowulf dragon is more of a dangerous beast, there is no talking to it, there is no negotiating with it, it is just a pure force of nature. What wakes it up is a thief as it sleeps on a pile of gold. A golden cup is taken and that's what arouses it to anger. When it is awakened it fights with jets of flame and burns the world around the down to the ground, everything burned, towns, villages and even

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