Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit: Every Major Death RANKED

17. Smaug - The Battle Of The Five Armies

There is a certain sense of scale and drama to this death that at least makes it visually appealing, but this moment should have been handled entirely differently.

Firstly, by placing it as the opening sequence to The Battle of the Five Armies, it took away the validity and importance that it should have had. This could have been a phenomenal climax to The Desolation of Smaug but instead was an overblown action sequence to open the next film, making it seem less important.

Secondly, the moment of Bard the Bowman hitting Smaug with the black arrow is supposed to feel like a masterful one in a million shot by a great archer, but here it feels like something that any other character could have managed with a decent enough eye.

Finally, the attempt to add a heartfelt moment with Bard using his son as the final part of his weapon seems designed to be profound, but is utterly cartoonish. There is no emotional pathos to it, and it looks silly and forced.

This should have been one of the best deaths in fantasy. Instead, it's an utter disappointment.