Bilbo Baggins encounters the dragon Smaug in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Smaug is the dragon who seized the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the Dwarves of Erebor. Thorin Oakenshield leads the company that travels to reclaim the kingdom, and Bilbo is recruited as their burglar.
Bilbo’s conversations with Smaug are among the novel’s most famous scenes. Through riddling speech and the use of the name “Under-name,” Bilbo attempts to avoid revealing his identity. He also discovers a bare patch in Smaug’s otherwise armored underside, information that later becomes crucial.
Smaug is not the same dragon as Glaurung, who appears in Tolkien’s earlier legendarium stories, or Ancalagon, a dragon from the First Age. Smaug belongs specifically to the events surrounding Erebor in The Hobbit.