# How exactly did Smaug stay fed all of those years?



## BalrogRingDestroyer (Oct 27, 2022)

I mean, he's a dragon, though I don't know if he was super huge, but he even admitted that he was young when he first came and is now older, so he should need a lot of food. Problem is, he seems to have decimated the countrside such that little was around, save some unsavory crows plus a thrush or two and some old ravens. (It's called the Desolation of Smaug for a reason.) However, given that, save maybe, just maybe, the oldest greybeards, nobody in Laketown had even SEEN him, let alone been raided by him for horses, cows, or even maidens. And, though not outright stated in The Hobbit, like it was, more or less with Laketown, I'm guessing that the Elvish realm of Mirkwood was also pretty goblin free, as was Dain's area of Iron Hills. 

Unless he's eating all the fish in the River Running (and I think he'd have depleted that by now in his 100 year reign of king of the mountain), you'd think he'd be pretty famished by now.


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## Ent (Oct 27, 2022)

It is very likely his sleeps were very long.
Clearly when he hadn't been seen for many years, animals and such would have crept back in.
Let's face it... it took quite some time for Lake Town to be built, and there's no doubt he would have made a tasty meal of all the peoples there if he had been awake and hungry.
So... best guess... dragons don't need much food, sleep a lot, and emerge every now and again to feast on whatever's been incautious enough to move back into the area. 
One thing's sure, he didn't have any trouble getting what he wanted, because "nothing can escape Smaug once he sees it...." (Thorin to the group when Smaug emerges from the mountain.)


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## ZehnWaters (Oct 27, 2022)

It seems he went into a deep hibernation. Still, he should still need to eat. The problem with megafauna is their need to consume a lot of food. I don't think Tolkien really thought about it; most stories about dragons don't.


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## Elbereth Vala Varda (Oct 27, 2022)

I think his sleep is the most evident cause for this, and yet I see your point.


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## Ent (Oct 27, 2022)

Elbereth Vala Varda said:


> yet I see your point.


Indeed. 



ZehnWaters said:


> he should still need to eat.


Indeed.

Bears coming out of hibernation tend to be a bit scrawny and not up to their usual lustre and strength. It takes a bit.

Certainly when Bilbo invites the beast into a conscious state, he doesn't seem to be very emaciated or underpowered. Seems quite vigorous in fact.

Well... perhaps sir ZehnWaters hits the nail with his head when he says the below:



ZehnWaters said:


> I don't think Tolkien really thought about it;


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## CheriptheRipper (Oct 27, 2022)

ZehnWaters said:


> It seems he went into a deep hibernation. Still, he should still need to eat. The problem with megafauna is their need to consume a lot of food. I don't think Tolkien really thought about it; most stories about dragons don't.


You bring up an excellent point, how much would Ancalagon have had to eat considering his size 🤔
I guess the older dragons had plenty of elves to eat during the old wars but what about the dragons now.
Maybe he was satisfied eating the orc messengers sauron sent his way. (Or at least I think he did)


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## Ent (Oct 27, 2022)

CheriptheRipper said:


> eating the orc messengers sauron sent his way


I THINK the only place I recall reading about sending messengers who "whooops" got eaten, were with regard to Shelob. 
I'll go back and research.


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## CheriptheRipper (Oct 27, 2022)

The Ent said:


> I THINK the only place I recall reading about sending messengers who "whooops" got eaten, were with regard to Shelob.
> I'll go back and research.


I looked around a bit but can't find any definitive proof.
It's just an assumption based on him sending his messengers elsewhere.
And yes he did do so with Shelob which makes me think he might've been planning a likewise alliance with the dragon.


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## Ent (Oct 27, 2022)

CheriptheRipper said:


> he might've been planning


behaviors are typically consistent. somehow all the dragons bred in Angband were fed and never came out until Morgoth was ready for them to... they have to have been eating something (somebody).


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## Elbereth Vala Varda (Oct 27, 2022)

I find it a very interesting question. My guess for the dragons within Angband was that they were just fed with beasts or what have you, and they survived that way. However, for Smaug... I don't know. Unless however Smaug had some way of enticing what beasts still roamed into the mountain. Otherwise, maybe he didn't eat as much as some, thus his weak scales and rather thin appearance, even from Tolkien.


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## ZehnWaters (Oct 27, 2022)

The Ent said:


> behaviors are typically consistent. somehow all the dragons bred in Angband were fed and never came out until Morgoth was ready for them to... they have to have been eating something (somebody).


Orcs apparently breed like flies, so they had to be going somewhere.


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## Sons of the Woodland King (Oct 27, 2022)

Nothing much to add and am here just to say how much I appreciate this question and the way it's stumped us! 😅 

At least the plot hole isn't as big as in House of the Dragon where dragons are much more numerous.


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## Elbereth Vala Varda (Oct 28, 2022)

True enough. I suppose in mythology and fantasy, some of these things just aren't really considered. After all, if you can believe in Elves and Dwarves, and Valar, then you hardly should require an explanation for how a dragon is fed. I think Tolkien may have left it a bit overlooked. Believing that they hibernated, or just passing it off as the fact that they were dragons, and fed on fish or something...

It may not have been closely thought out.


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## 🍀Yavanna Kementári🍀 (Nov 7, 2022)

Indeed. Much of Tolkien's works are left to personal interpretation and speculation.

But how does a dragon hibernate for that long anyway...? It's...intriguing...


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## Eljorahir (Nov 7, 2022)

If I had eaten two towns and a dwarf kingdom I might not be hungry again for 151 years. I'd just want to take a nap on my nice comfy pile of plunder.


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## 🍀Yavanna Kementári🍀 (Nov 8, 2022)

That sounds...intriguing. But 151 years sounds pretty short, for some reason...


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## Elbereth Vala Varda (Nov 8, 2022)

I suppose that is logical, Elrjorahir. Having altogether little knowledge of dragons based on experience, I suppose an analysis of dragon eating habits would be in order, if I were to make some true sense of all this.


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## ZehnWaters (Nov 8, 2022)

Elbereth Vala Varda said:


> I suppose that is logical, Elrjorahir. Having altogether little knowledge of dragons based on experience, I suppose an analysis of dragon eating habits would be in order, if I were to make some true sense of all this.


True, it's possible they subsist on gold. Or can. We know they ate 4 of the 7 Rings. Maybe they feast on the ambient evil left by Melkor.


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## Eljorahir (Nov 8, 2022)

Elbereth Vala Varda said:


> I suppose an analysis of dragon eating habits would be in order,


I think I read somewhere that one of the Numenorean rulers commissioned a research project to study the eating habits of dragons. However, the study could not be completed because the dragons kept eating the researchers.


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## 🍀Yavanna Kementári🍀 (Nov 8, 2022)

Eljorahir said:


> Numenorean rulers


Númenoreans? I see...

Don't trust the later ones. The dragons knew that too well.


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## Elbereth Vala Varda (Nov 9, 2022)

ZehnWaters said:


> True, it's possible they subsist on gold.


Well, if that is the case, Smaug was set for centuries!


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Nov 9, 2022)

Dragons being "wyrms", we can, if we wish, compare them to their real-world relatives, the snakes, some of whom can go without food -- or even water -- for months, by slowing their metabolism --- up to 70% -- and subsisting on their body fat. They bigger and longer they are, the longer they can go. And Smaug was much bigger and longer than the average snake.

Further, they don't hibernate exactly, but are mostly quiescent, while doing this. Smaug was asleep until disturbed by Bilbo, and we don't know how long he had been; years, apparently. So it wouldn't be surprising that he could go so long without a meal, especially, as noted above, after gorging himself on an entire town or two.

But of course, dragons are mythical creatures, so capable of mythical feats.


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## Oxford Old One (Nov 10, 2022)

There are several instances of 'how would that work??' potentially leading to nitpicks of Tolkien's work. How does an entire underground city of dwarves or orcs get enough food through a couple of doors to avoid mass starvation? After 3000 years of the third age, why are humans still hitting each other with pointy sticks rather than developing any other weapons or industry? 

Debating _how _dragons can fly, breathe fire or sleep for 100 years is unlikely to get a realistic answer. I'd simply go with 'it's part of their magic' aka 'they just do'.


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## Child of Varda (Tuesday at 3:05 PM)

I honestly assumed dragons don't need much food.


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