Smaug Attacks the Mountain

Smaug Attacks the Mountain is the violent aftermath of Bilbo Baggins's theft of a golden cup from the dragon's hoard, in which Smaug, enraged by the discovery of the theft, erupts from the Lonely Mountain in a fury of fire and destruction, forcing the dwarves to flee into the secret tunnel and sealing their fate as besieged fugitives within the mountain. The event marks the moment when the dwarves' quest shifts from stealthy burglary to open survival, as the dragon's wrath transforms the mountain itself into a trap and sets in motion the chain of consequences that will lead to the destruction of Lake-town and the Battle of Five Armies.

The Theft and the Awakening

The crisis begins when Bilbo, having crept into the dragon's lair and taken a great two-handled cup, returns to the dwarves with his prize. The dwarves pass the cup from hand to hand, talking delightedly of the recovery of their treasure, when suddenly a vast rumbling wakes in the mountain underneath, as if an old volcano had made up its mind to start eruptions once again. The door behind them is pulled nearly to and blocked from closing with a stone, but up the long tunnel come the dreadful echoes of a bellowing and a trampling that makes the ground beneath them tremble. The dwarves forget their joy and their confident boasts and cower down in fright. Smaug, having passed from an uneasy dream to wide waking, sniffs the strange air in his cave, misses the cup, and his rage passes description—the sort of rage seen only when rich folk who have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something they have long had but never before used or wanted.

The Dragon's Rampage

Smaug's fire belches forth, the hall smokes, and he shakes the mountain-roots. He thrusts his head in vain at the little hole, then coiling his length together, roaring like thunder underground, he speeds from his deep lair through its great door, out into the huge passages of the mountain-palace, and up towards the Front Gate. His one thought is to hunt the whole mountain till he has caught the thief and torn and trampled him. He issues from the Gate, the waters rise in fierce whistling steam, and up he soars blazing into the air, settling on the mountain-top in a spout of green and scarlet flame. The dwarves hear the awful rumour of his flight and crouch against the walls of the grassy terrace, cringing under boulders, hoping somehow to escape the frightful eyes of the hunting dragon.

The Desperate Rescue and Flight

Roused by Bilbo's cry of "Quick! Quick! The door! The tunnel! It's no good here," the dwarves are about to creep inside when Bifur gives a cry: "My cousins! Bombur and Bofur—we have forgotten them, they are down in the valley!" Thorin, recovering his dignity, orders the others inside while he and a few others haul up the missing dwarves with ropes. The horrible sounds of Smaug's anger echo in the stony hollows far above; at any moment he might come blazing down or fly whirling round and find them there, near the perilous cliff's edge hauling madly on the ropes. Up comes Bofur, and still all is safe. Up comes Bombur, puffing and blowing while the ropes creak, and still all is safe. Up come some tools and bundles of stores, and then danger is upon them. A whirring noise is heard; a red light touches the points of standing rocks. The dragon comes. They have barely time to fly back to the tunnel, pulling and dragging in their bundles, when Smaug comes hurtling from the North, licking the mountain-sides with flame, beating his great wings with a noise like a roaring wind. His hot breath shrivels the grass before the door and drives in through the crack they had left, scorching them as they lie hid. Flickering fires leap up and black rock-shadows dance. Then darkness falls as he passes again. The ponies scream with terror, burst their ropes, and gallop wildly off. The dragon swoops and turns to pursue them, and is gone.

Aftermath and Entrapment

Thorin declares that nothing can escape Smaug once he sees it, and that they will have to stay where they are, unless anyone fancies tramping the long open miles back to the river with Smaug on the watch. They creep further down the tunnel and lie shivering, though it is warm and stuffy, until dawn comes pale through the crack of the door. Every now and again through the night they hear the roar of the flying dragon grow and then pass and fade, as he hunts round and round the mountain-sides. He guesses from the ponies and from the traces of the camps that men have come up from the river and the lake, but the door withstood his searching eye, and the little high-walled bay kept out his fiercest flames. Long he hunts in vain until the dawn chills his wrath and he goes back to his golden couch to sleep and gather new strength. He will not forget or forgive the theft, not if a thousand years turn him to smouldering stone, but he can afford to wait. The dwarves are now trapped inside the mountain, their ponies lost or killed, their stores limited, and the dragon's watch keeping them from any escape. The event transforms the quest from a secret burglary into a siege, and the dwarves' grumbling turns against Bilbo, blaming him for stirring up Smaug's wrath so soon—a complaint that Bilbo angrily rebuts, pointing out that he was hired as a burglar, not a dragon-slayer.