Smaug the Dragon - a moral warning?

[Moutheh]

So we all know Smaug as the big bad guy dragon from The Hobbit who was stopping the dwarves from having their gold and rubies and other precious stones but do you feel that he served a moral warning as well.

We all know that he was greedy, a hoarder and proud and believed himself as indefeatable. It was this that lead to his eventual defeat afterall.

So to me that says that he is a moral warning as well as there to be the 'bad guy'. A warning to all of us about the result of being like Smaug. No one wants to be around someone who's greedy or a hoarder - indeed people who share often have many more friends. This is shown I feel with how Smaug is alone and isolated from the rest of the world.

Then we have his pride issue. Smaug believed himself invunerable not knowing about the hole in his armour that allowed Bard to kill him. This to me acts as a warning about being so prideful we believe ourselves indefeatable and without weakness. That's when someone is most likely to strike in your weakest spot afterall - which is exactly what happened to Smaug.

What is your view point on this?

[The Count]

Never really thought about it. I always just thought Smaug was an awesome character.
I suppose you're right.

[Moutheh]

Well he is an awesome character, he's a dragon. But there's also multiple ways you could see him as when it comes to what he signifies. Being a dragon and dragons being monsterous things with how Tolkien viewed industrialisiastion taking over the world Smaug could also be a representative of that. Personally I always felt though that Tolkiens fear of industrialisastion and the loss of the countryside.