The wonderful thing about classic stories like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings is that it seems to bring forth amazing images brought on by the heightened imaginations of its fans.  I am truly in awe of those who are able to transpose the thoughts in their heads out onto paper, canvas, and even screen.

As we look forward to seeing another epic story from the mind of JRR Tolkien through Peter Jackson, I am interested in seeing how he brings to life the scene in which Esgaroth (aka Lake Town) is attacked by Smaug.  Knowing that Jackson opted to skip on The Scouring of the Shire in the Return of the King, which disappointed many, it was still an enormously successful movie so much that it won the Best Picture title at the Academy Awards, it would not be the same if he were to do that with The Hobbit in regards to this attack.  Obviously, a major story plot would have to be changed in order to do that, and we know that’s not going to happen!

We will have to wait and see how it will translate on film, and I’m not sure whether that will be in the first or second film.  For now,  let us sate our appetite with these amazing pieces of fan art of Smaug and Esgaroth.

Image by wildlifehoodoo

Even the artist himself stated that the town looks to be surrounded by two mountains instead of just The Lonely Mountain, however, what’s really nice about this image is how the jewels on Smaug’s belly are depicted.  Go here for the enlarged version of the image, which will direct you to wildlifehoodoo’s DeviantART page.

Image by Gaius31duke

I love the background of this rendition, especially the Lonely Mountain.  It looks so majestic, yet slightly haunting, making it very alluring for a creature as big as Smaug to want to make it his home.  For the larger version, click here to go to Gaiu31duke’s DeviantART page.

Image by n8package

The Lonely Mountain can be seen on the background and Lake Town is the focal point here.  The colors and imagery looks like it could actually be a scene from Peter Jackson’s film.  You could almost mistake it for any regular landscape, save for the fact that when you observe it more, you can see Smaug just about to fly over the town, almost as if he were about to silently pass by.  For the larger version, click here to go to n8package’s DeviantART page.