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Bard, Bilbo and the Slaying of the Dragon

The magical thrush   The thrush (© Alan Lee)

The killing of Smaug is a major climax in The Hobbit plot. In the book a magical thrush overhears Bilbo talking about Smaug’s weakspot. When Smaug attacks Esgaroth the character of Bard the Bowman is suddenly introduced. We learn that because Bard is of the race of Dale he can understand the speech of thrushes, and the thrush tells him of the dragon’s weakspot. Bard then produces the handy magical black arrow and slays the dragon.

There are a number of problems with this plot for the movie as it stands. Too many elements are suddenly introduced, and occur in a contrived fashion that would make this key scene unconvincing. To an extent these can be solved by introducing Bard's character and the black arrow earlier on, but there are more fundamental problems with this scene, regarding the consistency of the fantasy world, and the themes of the story.

An intelligent songbird that can speak and be understood by Bard really pushes credibility in Tolkien’s fantasy world. Bard is no wizard, and having an ancient breed of magical thrushes seems childish. Maybe if The Hobbit is told as an entirely children’s tale then this could be acceptable, but if the intention is to set The Hobbit within the same Middle Earth as Lord of the Rings then this scene really would not work.

There are also thematic problems to do with Bilbo’s role in slaying the dragon. A major theme of The Hobbit is luck and fate. Just like as in Lord of the Rings where Tolkien explores the balance between evil as an external force and as internal temptation; Tolkien strikes a fine balance between luck as an external force, and luck as a result of courage and self belief- ‘making your own luck’. In the slaying of the dragon Tolkien seems to upset this balance: the link between Bilbo discovering the dragon’s weakspot and telling Bard is entirely fortuitous and accidental. Bilbo makes no attempt to tell Bard of the dragon’s weakspot. Bilbo could be argued to be the cause of Smaug attacking the Lakemen, should the hero not have an active role in saving Esgaroth?

In my proposal I have altered the plot with the intention of making this scene more believable and giving Bilbo a more active role (whilst trying to avoid significantly changing the story). Bilbo deliberately acts to tell Bard that the dragon has a weakspot. When Bilbo tricks Smaug into rolling over, a loose dragonscale falls off and is picked up by Bilbo. Bilbo gives the dragonscale to the thrush, along with marking the bird’s breast, as a signal to tell Bard of Smaug's weakness, without the need for the bird to talk.

Bilbo would have to know that the bird is in communication with Bard. I propose that Bilbo and Bard meet in Laketown. Bard, as heir of Girion, is more aware than any of the danger of the dragon attacking the Lakemen and would want to know more about the dwarves’ intentions. Bilbo is described in the story as staring mournfully at the mountain, and Bard identifies him as a possible ally. The thrush arrives while they are talking and is tame to Bard's hand.

View my Hobbit Film Adaptation in pdf format.

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