Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Why are birds after Smaug's death important, what happens when the goblins join the battle, and what is "dragon-sickness?"

  I think that the significance of the birds gathering after Smaug's death is twofold.  First it is noted that many of the birds are the kind that eat carrion; they have come to feast on the Dragon.  They do not come to the mountain itself, but are off in the distance where the dragon was killed.  The other birds: the starlings, thrushes, and finches have come back to signify the rebirth of life there in the mountain, now that the dragon is dead.  For as long as Smaug had lived there the mountain was is if dead.  Living things could not approach it without fear of being killed by the Dragon hoarding his lifeless jewels.  Since the dragon is dead, life can now come to the mountain again.

 As for your second question, when the goblins join the battle, the two armies who had been fighting over the dragon's hoard have to unite to fignt the Goblins effectively ending the war between them

 Dragon sickness is greed which the dwarves begin to suffer from as soon as they realize Smaug is dead.

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