Bilbo Baggins faces Smaug in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Smaug is a powerful dragon who occupies the Lonely Mountain, also called Erebor, after driving the Dwarves from their kingdom. He guards the enormous hoard accumulated by the Dwarves and becomes the central threat of the novel. Bilbo enters the mountain as part of Thorin Oakenshield’s expedition and speaks with Smaug rather than defeating him in direct combat.
Smaug is distinct from Tolkien’s other dragons. Glaurung appears in the First Age stories associated with Túrin, Ancalagon is a dragon of the War of Wrath, and Scatha is a dragon from the history of the Northmen. The name Smaug is connected with the past tense of the Germanic verb “smugan,” meaning to squeeze through a hole, reflecting the dragon’s ability to enter and leave his lair.