J.R.R. Tolkien named the dragon in The Hobbit Smaug.
Smaug is the dragon who occupies the Lonely Mountain and guards the treasure taken from the dwarven kingdom of Erebor. Thorin Oakenshield and his companions set out to reclaim that homeland, with Bilbo Baggins acting as the company’s burglar. Bilbo’s conversations with Smaug reveal both the dragon’s intelligence and his dangerous pride.
Smaug is not Tolkien’s only dragon. Glaurung appears in the First Age story later associated with The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin, while Ancalagon the Black belongs to the War of Wrath. Scatha is another dragon from Tolkien’s wider mythology and history.
The name Smaug is connected to the Germanic verb smugan, meaning to squeeze through a hole. Tolkien explained that this linguistic association suited a creature able to enter a small opening, although the dragon’s physical size makes the image deliberately striking.