Okay, you can call this blog “It’s Me, the Girl Obsessed with Dragons” and be done with it 😀 I seriously need to stop all this digging about dragons and Targaryens but I JUST CAN’T!
Anyway, here’s my question…
If Smaug the Golden were to meet Balerion the Black Dread in aerial combat, who would win? 🙂
It's Me Godece 
I think Smaug can match Balerion’s enormous size because he is a sentient being. The Black Dread may be large and near invincible, but Smaug has the brains. 🙂
good point 🙂 Balerion is huge, but some people like to think he’s just a badass dog with a master
What you gotta look at as well is if we are looking at the book or movie version of smaug, in the movie smaug is twice the size of a boeing 747 (about 400ft in length) so he can match Balerions size, so it would be quite an even match up!
Targaryen dragons are pretty hard to kill. I remember a Tyrion chapter implying Dany’s dragons won’t feel much with spears or arrows, unlike Smaug.
I remember that too, which is why I still stand my ground and say Balerion will defeat Smaug any day. Targaryen dragons are so hard to kill. Plus, we don’t how other Valyrian dragons were, but I’m pretty sure they were super badasses. 😀
I’d place my bet on the Black Dread any day. Balerion melted Harrenhal, arguably one of the strongest and most formidable castles in fantasy. Plus, he doesn’t seem to have a weak spot. No stupid arrow (or even spear) can kill Balerion. Remember the Dany chapter where Drogon’s blood seemed to melt the spear he was stabbed with? Dragons in ASoIaF are fire made flesh, not some puny Middle Earth dragon with hypno-eyes. 😀
puny haha! 🙂 thou shalt not speak ill of Smaug LOL
Are you refering to smaug in the book or the movie? In the movie what killed smaug was a black arrow(which is magic). No spear, blade, or any weapon could pierce smaugs hide as his hide was stronger than the strongest armor in middle earth. And in the movie smaug is twice the size of a boeing 747 (about 400ft in length). So when looking at the movie smaug and Black Dread they are equal physically but Smaug has the advantage in the brains department.
You do realize black dread can be killed by a type of arrow to the eye right? And the creator of the books himself said that balerion and smaug would be equal in size and strength. Also smaug was only killed by a black arrow (looking at the movie version) which is magical and is the only thing that can pierce a dragons hide, it really only killed him because one of his scales was broken off by a black arrow when he was young
Guys, you seem to forget that Smaug was a very powerful and strong dragon. His roar alone could level forests 🙂 Plus he is witty and cunning. I imagine it’s easy for him to outmaneuver Balerion in any combat.
woah guys, thanks for the quick comments 😀 i love you so much (note: sorry i’m getting weird)… anyway, i’m kinda biased towards Balerion because he’s my favorite of all fantasy dragons 😀
hmm.. tough choice? Smaug has brains and size, Balerion has strength and size. I think in an aerial battle, Balerion would best Smaug because Targaryen dragons are built for combat. They fought in the war called Dance with Dragons so I’m thinking they’re really killing machines. Maybe the Black Dread knows a trick or two, like a stealth attack on Smaug from behind? 😀
Smaug, definitely. He’s too cunning and greedy to be outwitted by a Targaryen dragon. Plus, I think Smaug is much bigger than the Black Dread, so that’s a plus! 😀
Smaug is big yeah, but Balerion is monstrous! He could swallow a mammoth whole! I think people underestimate his sheer size… He also melted the most formidable castle ever built. True Smaug has the intelligence over him but how is that going to help him against a dragon that is even bigger than him and also bred for the very purpose of war. As has already been said, asoiaf dragons have hard under bellies and can’t be taken down by simple arrows or spears. Balerion would rip Smaug apart and leave the scraps for Vhagar and Meraxes.
Hi Michael! Yes, Balerion will eat Smaug whole and shit out his bones, probably. 😀 I’m totally rooting for Balerion.
Smaug’s fire has been known to shatter granite and possibly concrete. His wings generate extremely powerful winds, possibly to a hurricane level. Also his hide too is immune to conventional weaponry they had in that time. Balerion may have a strength advantage but Smaug’s combat level and cunning are well balanced, which I believe gives him the edge over Balerion. Saying this out of facts (to my knowledge) and not bias.
Hi!
Balerion melted Harrenhal with his dragonfire. That’s more than just shattering granite and concrete. Remember, Harrenhal was the most massive and strongest of strongholds. Also, ASoIaF dragons are fire made flesh; spears, arrows, swords (no matter how big) don’t wound them. Weapons only end up melted when pierced through dragon flesh. And their wingspan? Balerion’s alone could overshadow Kingslanding. Lastly, ASoIaF dragons’ combat skills are instinctive, not through training. They don’t need experience or shit like that. Balerion can attack and outsmart any sentient dragon thrown to him purely through his baser animal-monster instincts.
Also just based on what I know of LoTR and ASoIaF dragons. 🙂
Don’t underestimate Smaug’s intelligence. As the old saying goes “Brains over brawns”. Smaug could outsmart Balerion in some way since his brains and brawns are well proportioned, allowing him to maneuvre, attack and strategise easily while Balerion being a bigger target is harder to miss. In the books, Smaug was said to demolish most or half a mountain (can’t remember) just by crashing into it so strength their strength levels are actually debatable. Also as for the melting bit, kinetic energy from Smaug’s shattering fire is more devastating than a slowly melting fire. Its like comparing acid to a flail or a wrecking ball (We all know which demolishes a building quicker). While Smaug would be harder to hit because of his speed and smaller stature, Balerion’s wingspan will prove to be his undoing as one blast of Smaug’s shattering fire could decimate the soft tissues of his wings (don’t say that his wings are hard because if they were, he’d plummet to the ground instead of flying) and leave him flightless, giving Smaug a main advantage. The only edge Balerion has over Smaug is size and POSSIBLY strength whilst Smaug has speed, cunning, shattering flames and maneuverability on his side as well as his own devastating strength. Smaug has the overall edge.
“Smaug has speed, cunning, shattering flames and maneuverability on his side as well as his own devastating strength. Smaug has the overall edge.”
Balerion TOTALLY doesn’t have those. He’s just a puny dragon after all. 🙂 Go write a fan fiction about Smaug, you’re obviously in love with him.
As for Balerion being defeated by Smaug, at least Vhagar and Meraxes can avenge him. Sit on Smaug’s skull while chilling in Dragonstone. 😀
I use logic in my debate which is very evident. Whichever depiction you favour, I certainly don’t think Balerion could just crunch Smaug in his jaws all that easily. There are some textual hints that give us an idea of the size of Smaug: Tolkien himself uses adjectives like “vast” in describing him, and his tail was called “huge”, whilst his wings are described as “immeasurable”. In his words, Smaug compares his teeth to swords and his claws to spears, much as in ASoIaF Balerion is said to have teeth like swords. After Smaug’s death, his bones were so large that they could be seen above the surface from the shores of the Long Lake, which to me suggests that he is quite a massive creature. In any case, whilst we may not know the exact size and dimensions of Smaug, I think it is safe to say that he is very large, large enough that Balerion isn’t exactly going
The other factor in play here is intelligence. The Westeros dragons seem to have an animal-level intelligence, whilst Middle-earth dragons are easily as intelligent as a human being, or even more so. Tolkien’s dragons are capable of speech and they have great powers of will, such as hypnotism. Whether Balerion would be affected or not by Smaug’s gaze, it very clear that Smaug would be a smarter fighter than Balerion. You claim that monster instinct is smarter than human intelligence. Animals can be duped and tricked with sounds and goading rather easily while humans will think rationally before making any potentially rash moves.
How sensitive is Balerion’s hearing?
Smaug shrieking “deafened men, felled trees, and split stone.” Causing deafness implies a minimum of 120 dB. To knock down trees, the shriek would have needed to be much louder. I don;t have exact figure, but doing significant damage to buildings (a comparable feat) happens at an overpressure of 15 kPa, roughly 180 dB. Depending how well protected Balerion’s ears are, this may be enough to deafen him. If he uses his inner ear for balance, he might also be disorientated.
Smaug also smashes rocks with his tail – “breaking rocks to pieces, smashing wall and cliff with the lashings of his huge tail.” This doesn’t seem to hurt Smaug at all, putting a lower limit on his physical toughness. If he can hit rocks without hurting himself, rocks hitting him won’t hurt either, not unless they’re thrown faster than his tail was moving when he was hitting the rocks with it.
So please counter with a logical and well thought out argument instead of making childish accusations such as me being in love with Smaug and whatnot.
Also, if Smaug had only animal-like intelligence as well and no extra powers other than breathing fire then yes I’d happily agree that Balerion the Black Dread would decimate him out of sheer power.
*eats popcorn* 😀
To be honest, Smaug isn’t my favorite dragon and definitely not the most powerful. I know plenty of dragons outside of Tolkienverse that can give him trouble such as Alduin, Bahamut, Grigori, Deathwing and more but I know that Balerion isn’t one of them.
Since the when is balerion bigger? You do know smaug in the movies is 400ft in length right? If anything they’re equal in size. Also the movie smaug he was only killed by a black arrow (which is magic) and it was on his weak spot (a missing scale from the black arrow which hit him when he was young) . So no balerion would not rip smaug apart, they are equal physically but smaug has an advantage in he brains department. Even George R.R. Martin stated that smaug and balerion are equal in size and strength.
Hi Steven 🙂 Thanks for dropping by. Like you said, Smaug and Balerion are equal in size and strength. But that doesn’t mean Balerion can’t best Smaug. This is my argument: just because Smaug is sentient doesn’t mean his “killer instincts” are better than Balerion’s. More so, Balerion has four limbs plus wings, Smaug only has two and his wings. In terms of maneuverability, grasp, and killer moves, Balerion might have more advantage. And I don’t think that Black Arrow was made of magic or something, it was just made of a “special” kind of metal, and it defeated Smaug. However, Balerion (and ASoIaF dragons) are fire made flesh; virtually any blade that pierces their skin just melts off. IMO, Balerion has more of an advantage. But that’s just me. 😀
True but in books smaug has 4 limbs and two wings as well, wnd the dragons in the tv series game of thrones have 2 limbs and wings as well. Also if anything can pierce the skin of those dragons and it melts, it would still do damage? Regardless even if black arrows weren’t magic, there’s a special kind of arrow (scorpion I believe) that can pierce the eye and kill ASoIaF Dragons wnd kill them so that’s quite similar to the black arrow. As for killer instincts I don’t believe either smaug or balerion has the advantage but smaugs intellectual advantage would help him to maybe trick balerion into a trap. But the fight will never happen hahaha
http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/george-rr-martin-admits-dragons-couldnt-beat-tolkiens-smaug-fight-20141028