Smaug is the dragon that guards the treasure in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Smaug occupies the Lonely Mountain, also called Erebor, after driving out the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk. He lies on their accumulated treasure for many years. Thorin Oakenshield returns with a company of Dwarves, Bilbo Baggins, and Gandalf to reclaim the mountain and its hoard.
Bilbo’s conversation with Smaug is one of the book’s best-known episodes. Bilbo notices a bare patch in the dragon’s jewel-covered underside, information later used by Bard the Bowman. Smaug should not be confused with Glaurung, the dragon in The Silmarillion’s Túrin story, or Ancalagon, a much larger dragon from the First Age.