Smaug The Dragon in The Hobbit/Lord Of The Rings was a real fat cat… or dragon, and fans have been trying to work out just how much money he actually had in that mountain.
When Bilbo Baggins infiltrates the old Dwarven home he finds an enormous treasure pile with Smaug sat on top of it, with the dragon himself covered in gold like a shell protecting him from damage.
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Turns out Forbes actually broke down how much treasure was actually in the mountain, and how much it’d be worth in real-life money, and the figure is simply astounding.
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It was shared in a Reddit thread by tofiktravels, who said “Saw this on ig that according to Forbes, Smaug is worth 73.20 billion. Now, it makes sense why Thorin and the gang went through all that.”
You have to admit 73 billion is an absurd amount of money, and even if Bilbo just rustled up a little sack of some of the treasure on offer there he probably would have been set for life anywhere in Middle Earth.
It also explains why Smaug was so desperate to keep a hold of it all, though it’s not like he was going to be spending it anytime soon.
Fans were equally astounded, with one saying “I remember waaaay back in the day when I first read the book thinking what a tuppence 1/14th share was, then it got to Bilbo’s first sight and description of the treasure and I said Ok that makes sense.”
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“Smaug has been a literary icon of excess and greed for over 85 years, and there are still 20 billionaires each hoarding more wealth than this actual dragon,” added another.
So Smaug had some pretty deep pockets, not anymore though since he perished before the events of Lord Of The Rings.
Topics: The Lord Of The Rings, TV And Film