Smaug is the dragon known as the Dragon of Erebor in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Smaug attacks the Dwarven kingdom beneath the Lonely Mountain, also called Erebor, and drives its people into exile. He then occupies the mountain and guards its enormous treasure for generations. His presence is the central danger that Thorin Oakenshield and his company hope to overcome.
Tolkien presents Smaug as intelligent, proud, suspicious, and highly skilled with language. Bilbo’s conversation with him is one of the book’s best-known episodes. During their exchange, Bilbo uses the riddle-like name “barrel-rider,” while secretly learning about a vulnerable patch in the dragon’s armor.
Smaug is not the same dragon as Glaurung, Ancalagon, or Scatha. Those creatures belong to other stories and periods in Tolkien’s mythology. Smaug’s defining location is Erebor, and his defeat occurs during the events leading to the Battle of the Five Armies.