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MouthofSauron
Tol Eressea
Aug 17 2014, 7:27pm
Post #26 of 35
(686 views)
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because smaug has to be in there if the front gate is still sealed
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The flames of war are upon you..
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Spriggan
Tol Eressea
Aug 17 2014, 7:36pm
Post #27 of 35
(681 views)
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Well he doesn't have to be alive.
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Or well, or awake or indeed, with no-one sat outside watching to distinguish one set of of rubble from another, in there, or indeed with the question that another way out, previously unknown, has been found...etc.
Look, in the UK Julian Assange is currently under 24 hour surveillance in the Ecuadorian embassy. Now, even with that level of surveillance, of which there was none at the lonely mountain, if 60 years had passed since he went in or anything had been seen of him, surely it would not be bizarre to say, he is probably still in there, but there is a chance that he has died, or maybe he did somehow get out after all or whatever i.e. to not be 100% certain of what has become of him.
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Elarie
Grey Havens
Aug 17 2014, 11:18pm
Post #28 of 35
(639 views)
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Smaug could have left in the middle of the night and sealed the door with rubble from the outside
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The point is, nobody knows for sure.
And once again the world has not arranged itself just for me.
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MouthofSauron
Tol Eressea
Aug 17 2014, 11:28pm
Post #29 of 35
(642 views)
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smaug go to all the trouble of smashing through his own barrier and than block it again?? He sealed himself inside erebor, waiting for the dwarves to one day come back! He said so to bilbo. If he smashed through his own barrier and flew away the mountain would be open to any group to enter it and steal treasure. That would be like a bank manager making a huge barrier in-front of his bank to prevent robbers and than breaking through it and leaving the bank unguarded.
The flames of war are upon you..
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Elarie
Grey Havens
Aug 18 2014, 12:06am
Post #30 of 35
(641 views)
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The point is that no one knows for sure where Smaug is or what he's doing. Sixty years with no news is a long time - Smaug could be alive or he could be dead. He could be in the mountain or he could have left the mountain for some dragon reason of his own and locked the door behind him. The lack of good intel is the driving force here. Thus, the need to sneak in the back door and send poor Bilbo down the tunnel to reconnoiter.
If only they'd had a dwarvish NSA with raven spy drones and a knocking thrush encryption system, everything would have been so much simpler. 
And once again the world has not arranged itself just for me.
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MouthofSauron
Tol Eressea
Aug 18 2014, 6:19am
Post #31 of 35
(625 views)
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60 years is a long time but the front gate was sealed, meaning smaug had not left. So why would Thorin say the dragon had not been seen in 60 years ?? -Duh Thorin, smaug has not been seen because he is inside erebor !!! 
The flames of war are upon you..
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Spriggan
Tol Eressea
Aug 18 2014, 9:26am
Post #32 of 35
(618 views)
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I think you may be on your own on this one.
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It doesn't mean for certain he hasn't left, but more importantly it means he might be dead, hibernating, his fire has gone out etc etc.
They don't think any of these are likely just that he hasn't been seen in 60 years so they don't have any recent information on his status.
I think that's all there is to it, but try it from another angle. Why are the dwarves in the book not entirely sure Smaug is still alive?
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DanielLB
Immortal
Aug 18 2014, 1:37pm
Post #33 of 35
(615 views)
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Seems to be quite common in Middle-earth:
Legolas: A diversion!
Fili: If there is a door, there must be a key!
Thorin: The dragon has not been seen for 60 years
Actually, Legolas has been stating the obvious since 2001:
Legolas: The horn of Gondor!
Legolas: That is no orc horn!
Legolas: The horses are restless, and the men are quiet.
Thranduil must be so very proud.
Would the sentence make more sense if it read something like: "The dragon has not been seen or heard in 60 years". If the dragon hasn't been seen or heard, then Thorin might suspect something has happened to him.
Say, if Smaug had been inside Erebor for 60 years, what did he drink and eat? I hear the tears of book purists is quite refreshing.
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MouthofSauron
Tol Eressea
Aug 19 2014, 4:22am
Post #34 of 35
(568 views)
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they don't exist in nature.
The flames of war are upon you..
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DanielLB
Immortal
Aug 19 2014, 12:38pm
Post #35 of 35
(549 views)
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It made me chuckle.
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