Anyone who knows the original J.R.R. Tolkien book thatThe Hobbitmovies were based on, knows that the story is a children’s tale, and wasoriginally written for his sons. Although there are still many battles and many sad deaths that occur in the story, the way that it is written makes the whole thing feel a little more child-friendly than Peter Jackson’s version, especially when the audience watchedThorin stabbed through the chestby Azog’s knife, or Filli murdered and dropped dead in front of his twin brother. to fill out some of the content to make it stretch to a trilogy, the creative team added in some particularly far-fetched and indulgent moments that are considered by some to be a bit too violent for the nature of Tolkien’s original book, for example, the scene of the giant metal chariot pulled by goats.
But even with the addition of these crazy moments, there are some scenes that were filmed that didn’t make it into the final cut because they were thought to be too graphic. Many of these revolve around the aftermath of the first arrival of Smaug in Dale, when he burned the city to the ground. For example, when the dwarves first arrive in the town in sight of the Lonely Mountain and Bilbo sees the charred corpses of a mother holding her baby in the ruins. There are many bodies lying around, as stark reminders of the horrific fate met by all those who come in between a dragon and his hoard of gold. But as awful as this is, it’s a lot less visceral than the burning of Lake Town, simply because it is in retrospect.
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Therefore, there were many scenes shot aside from the ones that are featured in the movies, of the carnage in Lake Town as Smaug flies overhead, burning and knocking down houses in his revenge onThorin and the gangwho have just given him a rather unpleasant awakening in Erebor. As the dragon wheels overhead, he takes pleasure in bursting flames forth from his big barrel chest, and there are lots of scenes of people running below, trying to scatter out the way of the flames. But much of the action focuses on Bard and his family, and their mission to retrievethe black arrowfrom its hiding place so that they can shoot the beast with it.
There is also a focus on the Master of Lake Town andhis servant Alfrid, and their cowardly attempts to flee the city with a boat full of gold. All of these things are used to distract from the awful reality of what is actually going on in the town: people being burned alive in their home, unable to escape the excruciating death that has been thrust upon them by the dwarves' selfish actions.
Ironically, there were actually scenes like this filmed, but they never made it into the final edition because they were considered too gory for something that is essentially a children’s story. In a list of deleted scenes, the audience can spot terrified villagers passing children down out of a burning building to attempt to save their lived from the all-consuming fire, and a burning man who is desperately trying to jump out of the window of his home that is ablaze, but then is clearly overcome by the flames and dies a terrible, painful death.
These scenes only contribute towards making the later scene in the film, in which the survivors of Lake Town can be seen searching and screaming for their loved ones on the wreckage at the shore,all the more harrowing. The reality is that many many people would have died instantly in Smaug’s fire, and many who didn’t die right away would have later perished from their awful wounds, which would have been exposed to infection in the days afterward, when there was little access to medical supplies. It is also mentioned in the books that the fire happens at the start of a deep, cold winter, and that many of the survivors of the initial deluge die of cold, exposure to the weather, and starvation as they are not given the help that they need by Thorin in the mountain.
Luckily, they do have the help of many other courageous faces, like Tauriel who tries to help them bear the brunt of their loss, and Bilbo who makes the deal that ultimately stops the war between them and the king under the mountain. With this aid they are able to regroup, rebuild, and re-create a life in the ruins of Dale, safe in the knowledge thatBard has slain the dragon Smaug, whose terror and torment is gone forever, and that they will never have to face the terrible flames again.
