Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lore cast, the show that explores the background of

Tolkien's amazing world from the very beginning. I probably don't need to remind you about this at all.

But aren't dragons freaking awesome?

I mean, genuinely.

I mean, they absolutely represent the worst parts of humanity.

Greed, obsession with power, narcissism, manipulation, the idea that if something's just bigger and stronger, it's better than other things.

All of that stuff, which is, of course, the worst of what we have to deal with as human beings, either in ourselves

or in other people.

But they're still freaking awesome, right?

Giant lizards with wings that can breathe fire or do all sorts of things, depending on

the lore that that specific dragon is from.

So I've been thinking a lot about dragons now that Bilbo is standing face to face with

Smog himself.

Because this is the point where Bilbo has to confront the darkest, most terrible thing

that he ever will have to confront.

Aside from letting go of the ring eventually, which is arguably worse.

I mean, it is Sauron, or at least his power inside the ring.

And I'm sure you can make an argument that that is measurably worse than Smog,

although both are terrifying and terrible things to have to deal with.

But in this case, he has to confront Smog face to face.

And I have to wonder how many of us, when we think back to this moment, like many of the

moments in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, the first thing that comes to mind is the movies.

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