To all the sinister qualities gained by way of the naming of Smaug, Tolkien added a multitude of aspects derived from legendary dragons dating back to the ancient Greek Python of Delphi in their role as fierce guardians of treasure: a great serpent; a keeper of arcane knowledge; a monster with an inquiring mind, a terrifying glance and a mesmerizing voice. It is certain that from this hoard of dragon lore, Smaug the Worm of Dread inherited his laser eyes, brilliant intellect, mesmerizing spells, and a few of his other more terrifying qualities.

  Tolkien’s childhood “Green Great Dragon”

  And yet, as Tolkien famously wrote in his lecture “On Fairy-Stories”: “The dragon had the trade-mark of Faerie written plain upon him.” This is perhaps why his dragons appear either in the ancient mythic world of Elves in The Silmarillion or in the children’s fairy-tale world of Hobbits in The Hobbit, but not in the epic high romance world of mortal Men in The Lord of the Rings.

  In the creation of Smaug the Golden, we see the perfect fairy-tale dragon: a villain of great charm, intelligence and fatal vanity. A flying, fire-breathing dragon, whose terrible wrath and vengeance is somehow still admired as one might observe a truly spectacular fireworks display. The reason for this is the playful nature of such creatures in true fairy tales, where one knows that the flying terror, no matter how fearful, will be overcome and that nearly every really good person (or Hobbit) is guaranteed a happy ending.

  And so it is that, betrayed by his own vanity, Smaug the Smug is outwitted by a humble Hobbit – and then ultimately slain by the courageous Bard the Bowman.

  Bard the Bowman slays Smaug the Golden

  THE WAR OF

  THE RING

  Black Riders of Mordor

  BATTLES OF THE WAR OF THE RING

  3019 THIRD AGE

  25 February First Battle of the Fords of Isen

  2 March Second Battle of the Fords of Isen

  March of Ents on Isengard

  3/4 March Battle of the Hornburg

  11 March Invasion of East Rohan

  First assault on Lórien

  13 March Battle of Ships at Pelargir

  Battle under the Trees in Mirkwood

  Second assault on Lórien

  15 March Battle of Pelennor Fields

  17 March Battle of Dale

  Siege of Erebor

  22 March Third assault on Lórien

  25 March Battle before the Black Gate of Mordor

  One Ring destroyed in fires of Mount Doom

  Downfall of Sauron and Mordor

  27 March Siege of Erebor broken

  28 March Destruction of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood

  1 May Crowning of King Elessar

  3 November Battle of Bywater in the Shire

  Final downfall of Saruman

  END OF THE WAR OF THE RING

  BLACK RIDERS IN THE SHIRE

  If we discount the small-scale villainous machinations of the grasping Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, the first truly evil entities to appear in The Lord of the Rings are the mysterious Black Riders who enter into the green and pleasant land of the Shire. The identity of these cloaked and hooded horsemen is not yet revealed, but they soon prove to be the Ringwraiths of Mordor and Dol Guldur: the evil servants of Sauron the Necromancer in search of the One Ring.

  It is only later through the eyes of the Ring-bearer, Frodo Baggins, that the reader is given a glance of the Nazgûl as they appear to the Necromancer and those who inhabit the wraith-world. After slipping the One Ring onto his finger, the Hobbit is suddenly able to see the phantom shapes of the Ringwraiths with their terrible white faces, grey hair, long grey robes and “helms of silver”. They are not unlike the phantom horsemen in John Keats’s ballad “La Belle Dame sans Merci” (1819): a ghostly host of men seduced and enslaved by a succubus – the “beautiful lady without mercy” of the title – and described as “[…] pale kings and princes … / Pale warriors, death-pale were they all.” The “palely loitering” kings and sorcerers who make up the Nazgûl have been similarly seduced, though not by the charms of a beautiful enchantress, but by an overweening desire for power and immortality.

  Attack of the Black Riders at the Ford of Rivendell

  Although it is unlikely that Tolkien was familiar with the Native North American mythology of the Wabanaki peoples, their skadegamutc, or ghost-witch, somewhat resembles his Witch-king and the Nazgûl. The ghost-witch is an undead evil sorcerer who, like the Nazgûl, avoids daylight but emerges by night to track down and murder its prey. It has the power to paralyse with terror or enthral with a glance of the eye or the sound of its voice. But also like the Nazgûl – as shown in the attack on the Hobbits and Strider on Weathertop – the ghost-witch appears to be repelled by fire.

  BARROW-WIGHTS OF ERIADOR

  Previous to the near-fatal encounter on Weathertop, the Hobbits have managed to evade the Nazgûl, if only by chance more than calculation. Their first direct involvement is with another, lesser form of wraith, the Barrow-wights. These are evil spirits sent by the Witch-king of Angmar to animate the corpses of entombed men at the Barrow-downs, to prevent the resettlement of the area by Dúnedain in the second millennium of the Third Age.

  These barrows raised in commemoration of ancient kings are akin to the earthworks – known as tumuli – found in many ancient cultures. Neither were these Barrow-wights an original Tolkien creation – they already had a long history, especially in the Norse sagas, which tell of encounters similar to those experienced by the Hobbits in the Barrow-downs.

  Belief in haunted tombs and the cursed treasures of the dead must surely be among the oldest of superstitions. Examples can be drawn from a multitude of cultures, from Egypt to China to Mexico. It was especially significant among the Anglo-Saxons who, not unlike the ancient Egyptians, had elaborate customs concerning the burial of their dead. After all, it is the disturbance of a barrow grave that leads directly to the death of the greatest hero in Anglo-Saxon literature. It was just Beowulf’s bad luck that the guardian of this particular barrow happened to be a fire-breathing dragon.

  Barrow-wight

  In the Norse sagas, the barrow-wights’ victims were often unwary travellers – like Tolkien’s Hobbits – held captive by evil spirits with terrifying luminous eyes and hypnotic voices. A skeletal hand would paralyse the body with a grip as cold as ice and as strong as steel. Once under the spell of the barrow-wight, the victim had no will of his own, as the barrow-wight undertook certain rituals before carrying out their final bloody sacrifice with a sword. This is a fate avoided by Tolkien’s Hobbits through the timely intervention of that strange and powerful spirit Tom Bombadil.

  Monumental earthworks, stone circles and barrow graves have often been the focus of folk tales and legends found across the British Isles. Some of these stories have survived as myths or fairy tales. As the only substantial monuments built by the early Anglo-Saxons (5th–7th centuries), barrow graves and tombs were immediately looked to by archeologists in the hope of discovering artefacts of this little-known and long-underestimated culture. Unfortunately, barrow-grave excavations produced few artefacts of great significance. All that changed, however, in the years immediately before the outbreak of the Second World War.

  Dead Men of Dunharrow

  At about the time J. R. R. Tolkien was writing the opening chapters of The Lord of the Rings, archeologists made an extraordinary discovery in Suffolk, in East Anglia. Three Anglo-Saxon long-barrow graves had been excavated at a site called Sutton Hoo. Sutton Hoo is, to date, the largest and oldest-surviving Anglo-Saxon burial ground to have been uncovered in the British Isles. Covering more than 4 hectares (10 acres), its barrows and tombs had been a burial ground for successive cultures for nearly three millennia.

  The Haunted Barrow-downs

  Of the first three barrows opened, the largest measured 120ft (36.5m) in length and 12ft (3.7m) in height. This contained a 90ft long (27.4m) ship – larger than any previously known ship of the time. It also revealed the richest-ever treasure trove of Anglo-Saxon artefacts. The discoveries at Sutton Hoo revolutionized our understanding of the ancient Germanic world much as the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb revolutionized our understanding of the ancient Egyptian world.

  The Shire

  While Tolkien does not appear to have visited Sutton Hoo, we know that he was familiar with many other long-barrow grave sites. One was a particularly impressive one about 20 miles (32km) from Oxford that Tolkien was known to have visited, known locally as Wayland’s Smithy. Wayland was manifest in Tolkien’s world in the figure of the Dwarf Telchar the Smith, who forged the blade Narsil. Both were master sword-smiths who forged weapons with charmed blades like those discovered by the Hobbits in the Barrow-downs.

  DURIN’S BANE: THE BALROG OF MORIA

  Watcher-in-the-Water

  After a ferocious attack by Wargs in Hollin, and a close escape from the Watcher-in-the-Water outside the Westgate of Moria, the Fellowship of the Ring takes refuge within the Dwarf-kingdom, where, however, they are confronted by even greater perils. Within the great maze of Moria’s mines, Gandalf drives off Orcs and huge Stone Trolls with lightning flashes from his Wizard’s staff. In this, Tolkien is drawing on a Scandinavian folk tradition that lightning frightens and repels trolls. It is a belief that has its origin in Norse myths in which the god Thor makes war on the frost and stone giants by striking them with his thunderbolt, the “Hammer of Thor”.

  And yet, Orcs and Stone Trolls, however numerous, are by no means the greatest threat in the mines of Moria. And even Gandalf’s power is sorely tested to keep the Fellowship safe from “Durin’s Bane”, the terror that, over a thousand years before, drove has driven the Dwarves from their ancient kingdom of Khazad-dûm. As we have seen, Tolkien’s source of inspiration for this monster was the fire giants of Muspelheim, the Norse subterranean “region of fire”. This was one of the mighty Balrogs of Morgoth of the First Age that survived the War of Wrath. For millennia, the Balrog hid itself deep beneath the Misty Mountains, until, by chance or fate, it was awoken by the deep-delving Dwarves of Khazad-dûm.

  Balrog of Moria

  In Norse myth, we hear that, on the border of Muspelheim, there crouched a giant guardian who was armed with a great sword of flame. Early Christians saw this guardian of the gates of Muspelheim – known as Surt, lord of the fire giants – as the Satanic antithesis to the biblical Archangel Michael, with his righteous sword of flame. However, the battle on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm between Gandalf and the Balrog of Moria in The Lord of the Rings has a specific mythological precedent in the Norse battle on the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard between the god Freya and Surt, which will take place on the last day of Ragnarök.

  Gandalf the Grey

  Both battles begin with a blast of a battle horn. In Tolkien’s tale, Boromir blows the Horn of Gondor, while in the Norse tale the god Heimdall blows Gjall, the Horn of Asgard. Like the Balrog of Moria who fights Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Surt the Lord of Muspelhiem fights Freya, the god of the sun and rain, on the Rainbow Bridge linking Midgard and Asgard. Tolkien’s Bridge of Khazad-dûm and the Norse Rainbow Bridge both collapse in the conflict, and the combatants in both battles topple into the abyss below. Surt and Freya are entirely destroyed in this battle, while the Balrog and Wizard continue their struggle until the Balrog is slain, although at the cost of Gandalf’s bodily form as the Grey Wizard.

  Sméagol–Gollum in his cavern beneath Goblin Town

  SMÉAGOL–GOLLUM AND THE RING

  Sméagol–Gollum is among the most complex of the villains portrayed in The Lord of the Rings. He is very far from the pure evil of out-and-out villains such as Sauron and the Ringwraiths, but is instead shown as deeply riven between his better and worse natures.

  When Sméagol–Gollum first appears in The Hobbit, readers often assume he is some sort of murderous, cannibalistic breed of Goblin that even other Goblins fear. It was only later, in The Lord of the Rings, that Tolkien revealed Sméagol to be in origin a Stoorish Hobbit, who has long been banished from his people and corrupted by the One Ring. In The Hobbit, Gollum is merely one of a number of Bilbo Baggins’s obstacles and trials on his quest to reach the Lonely Mountain. The discovery and acquisition of a magic ring was a simple plot device to give the crafty Hobbit hero enhanced powers comparable to those described in Plato’s ancient Greek legend of the ring of Gyges, which similarly bestowed invisibility on its wearer.

  It was not until Tolkien began to write The Lord of the Rings, however, that the author himself discovered the significance of this particular ring. And with this discovery, it became clear to the writer that the character of Sméagol–Gollum was the embodiment of the struggle between good and evil that is crucial to the narrative of this epic tale.

  The creation and evolution of the character of Sméagol–Gollum draws on a considerable body of mythology related to ring legends. In the Völsunga saga, the most famous ring legend in Norse mythology, we have Fáfnir, the son of the dwarf-king Hreidmar, who murders his own father in his desire to possess a cursed ring and its treasure. This is comparable to Sméagol’s murder of his cousin Déagol as he covets the One Ring. Retreating like Sméagol to a mountain cave, Fáfnir broods over his ring and eventually transforms into a monstrous dragon. Similarly, Sméagol, who through the power of the One Ring is able to live for centuries, transforms into a ghoul twisted in mind and body – the cannibalistic Gollum brooding over his “precious”.

  Gollum

  Gollum guides the Hobbits through the Phantom haunted Dead Marches

  HISTORY OF SMÉAGOL–GOLLUM

  The Icelandic narrative poem Völundarkvitha reveals another similar ghoul – Sote the Outlaw, who steals a cursed ring that he so fears may be taken from him that he has himself buried alive with it, sleeplessly guarding it with his weapons drawn.

  In Sméagol–Gollum, we have a classic case of a split personality, as portrayed in Charles Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) and, most famously, in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). When Sméagol is in control, he has pale eyes and refers to himself as “I”. When Gollum is at the helm, however, he speaks as “we”, perhaps referring to himself and the Ring collectively (as well as indicating his “split personality”). Just as in Stevenson’s tale, this evil aspect of his being is in perpetual conflict with the good in him.

  Whatever Gollum’s obvious defects, one has to admire his ability to survive over a span of nearly six centuries. Even taking into account the legendary renown of Hobbits for stubbornness, Sméagol–Gollum is remarkably enduring. Furthermore, Sméagol–Gollum retains other aspects of his Hobbit nature that likely save him many times from his foes. As a Hobbit, he is almost totally lacking in any ambition or desire for power, and so never uses the power of the Ring to any great extent or for any great purpose. Gollum’s desire seems limited to that of a miser with his gold. Being alone in the darkness with his “precious” is as close to contentment as the tortured soul of Gollum ever comes. Yet, Gollum’s insistence on his ownership of the One Ring is a delusion. Gollum no more possesses the One Ring than an addict possesses a drug. The Ring, indeed, is his addiction – the Ring possesses Gollum.

  It is the complex nature of Sméagol–Gollum’s villainy that leads him to play such an ambivalent role in the Quest of the Ring, alternately treacherous and eager to please and ultimately causing good even in his evildoing.

  SARUMAN, THE WIZARD OF ISENGARD

  If anything, Saruman is an even more complex figure than Gollum, a once-good entity who, in his lust for power and knowledge, is shown descending into the “nothingness” of evil.

  Saruman the White is one of the five Maiar emissaries sent by the Valar to Middle-earth at the end of the first millennium of the Third Age. Saruman is the highest ranked of the order of the Istari (meaning “Wise-ones”) and, like his peers, is very much in the tradition of Merlin and other Arthurian wizards. Like Merlin – and, indeed, the Norse god Odin or Greek god Hermes, who also travelled the world in mortal guise – the Istari appeared as ancient travellers with long white beards, great cloaks and staffs – emblematic of their magical power.

  Saruman the White’s name in Valinor – where, like Sauron, he is a Maia of Aulë the Smith – was Curumo, meaning “Cunning One”. Among the Elves, he is known as Curunír, “Man of Skill”, while, among Men, he is known as Saruman. This is a linguistic construct Tolkien derived from two Old English words: searoman, meaning “man of skill” (a good name for a “white” wizard) and saroman, meaning “man of pain” (a good name for a “black” wizard). As ever, the hidden meanings of Tolkien’s characters’ names reveal hidden aspects of their personality.

  Saruman of Isengard

  Upon arrival in Middle-earth, Saruman is the chief and greatest of the five Istari. However, in seeking to overcome the evil power of Sauron, he is seduced by the quest for power itself. Ultimately, his secret desire is to take possession of the One Ring himself, and supplant Sauron as the Lord of the Rings. Saruman’s tragic tale has much in common with an old German legend of the magus Faust (based on the real-life figure Johann Georg Faust [c.1480–1540]), who was the subject of Christopher Marlowe’s tragedy Doctor Faustus (c.1592) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s two-part drama Faust (1808 and 1832).