Does anyone else have issue with a talking Dragon with perfect diction?
That's weird. The dragon shouldn't be talking English with perfect diction, surly it would be like the dragons in GOT?
shareActually the Hobbit-book Smaug DID talk. So did the eagles.
shareYes, I realise they talk in the book, but it's still weird. Like where did the Dragon learn to speak English with perfection diction? It should be like GOT Dragons.
shareSorry, you are debating the practical elements of a fantasy. Just as science fiction (well the written stuff anyway, films skew towards science fantasy) has a spectrum of hard to soft, so does fantasy. At the hard end lie things like Larry Niven's Magic stories in which magic functions in an explainable way utilizing a (still fanciful) tappable natural resource called Manna. GOT falls somewhere on the softer side of these stories, at least in part because they are aimed at a mass audience who neither cares about the "rules of magic" nor is willing to suspend disbelief for talking dragons--apparently White Walkers are something people are familiar with in the form of zombies. Farther along might be Harry Potter where magic creatures simply exist and the rules are obviously made up as the author proceeds. Lord of the Rings exists farther along where the rules are simply those of folklore, but with a single complexly worked out history. Smaug talks because he can and arguing the point simply means you prefer a different style of fantasy.
What's so egregious is that Smaug talks so well, like not animalistic like or broken English, but perfect English diction and vocabulary. Where the F did Smaug learn to speak English so well? Dragon English school? Smaug is suppose to be a wild animal existing in nature, not attending English classes and being the top of the class.
shareSmaug is supposed to be a supernatural being existing for thousands of years. SUPERNATURAL. If he speaks, he speaks any way he is intended to by the lore of this fantasy world. His knowledge may be innate. He may not have had to learn anything. We can not know and that is a part of fantasy when it is well away from the "hard" end of the scale.
shareActually if you read the Lord of the Rings and the appendixes you would know that Smaug doesn't spreak perfect English, he speak's perfect Westron, the common speeech of the west lands of Middle-earth during the Third Age.
And why shouldn't a dragon be able to speak perfect Westron, just like Hobbits, and Humans, and Elves, and Dwarves, and Ents do? Do you think that dragon's are not intelligent beings and thus people, merely because they have four legs, two wings, and tails?
There is some speculation that dragons were mutated by Morgoth out of preexisisting creatures, and that Morgoth put evil spirits in their bodies. Those evil spirits would be Ainur, supernatural beings of spirit who existed before the world was made.
In Christian theology angels are beings of spirit who can make physicial bodies out of matter if they wish. All angels, even the fallen ones or devils, are much higher beings than mere humans. And they are higher than humans despite the fact that some angels and devils have been depicted with bodies much less human looking than Smaug.
And since the Ainur were based on angels in Christian theology, a physical body controlled by an Aniur, which dragons are speculated to be, would be at least as much an intelligent being and a person as any human.
So don't be surprise that Smaug learned to speak perfect Westron, any more than you would be surprised by a Hobbit, or Human, or Elf, or dwarf, or Ent speaking perfect Westron.