Smaug is the powerful black dragon in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Smaug occupies the Lonely Mountain, also called Erebor, after driving out the Dwarves of the kingdom under the mountain. He sleeps on their vast treasure and guards it for decades. Thorin Oakenshield’s company sets out to reclaim the mountain, with Bilbo Baggins serving as burglar.
Bilbo discovers that Smaug has a vulnerable patch on the underside of his body. During the later attack on Lake-town, Bard uses a black arrow to shoot the dragon in that exposed area. Smaug falls onto Lake-town, and his death changes the balance of power around the mountain.
Smaug is sometimes confused with Tolkien’s other dragons. Glaurung and Ancalagon belong mainly to the First Age stories later published in The Silmarillion, while Smaug is the central dragon of The Hobbit.