What if SMAUG had gotten The One Ring?

[Tessar]

They were probably the town floozies. No great loss to Dale, depending on which group of people you ask.

Also? They were no maidens.

My assumption was always that they probably were not out and about. I figure he hunted them down... possibly implied in the phrase "until Dale was ruined," if you want to read into it. Maybe knocking down buildings/hiding places/etc. to get to people

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

They were probably the town floozies. No great loss to Dale, depending on which group of people you ask.

Charming.

Still, in a prosperous town like Dale, they'd probably have a proper brothel with bouncers and the lot and didn't have to bother with working the streets.

But I'm guessing the idea that the bulk of a great Dragon is the world's best key for any door (so good, in fact, you'd only have to use it once and that's a door you will never have to close again because it's broken into tiny, tiny bits.) is a more likely explanation.

One wonders, though, that if Smaug preferred to dine on maidens and people knew this, how many made sure they weren't maidens by the time the Dragon came calling again?

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Charming.

Still, in a prosperous town like Dale, they'd probably have a proper brothel with bouncers and the lot and didn't have to bother with working the streets.

Did Middle Earth have brothels? I would assume in Tolkien's world the Oldest Profession in the world would be... English Professor.

But I'm guessing the idea that the bulk of a great Dragon is the world's best key for any door (so good, in fact, you'd only have to use it once and that's a door you will never have to close again because it's broken into tiny, tiny bits.) is a more likely explanation.

My thoughts exactly.

One wonders, though, that if Smaug preferred to dine on maidens and people knew this, how many made sure they weren't maidens by the time the Dragon came calling again?

What a SHOCKING thought! I'm sure in Tolkien's world, virtuous young maidens were pleased to take the risk to assure their sanctity.

[Alcuin]

Perhaps we need a separate thread on maidens in The Hobbit…

In a “simpler” society (i.e., before the late 1950s), it is likely most young, unmarried female youth – “maidens” – would be untouched because of the adverse results (pregnancy, shame, etc) now absent in “modern” society.

In any case, surely Tolkien is using “maidens” in the plain sense of young, unmarried girls and women. As Joseph Pearce points out,

Continuing his exposition on the nature of dragons, Thorin tells Bilbo that dragons also “carry away people, especially maidens, to eat.” Once again, the fullness of applicable meaning transcends the literal eating of the flesh of maidens. Dragons are not merely hungry, they are wicked. They desire the defilement of the pure and undefiled, the destruction of the virgin. Their devouring is a deflowering. Parallels with human “dragons” in the world beyond Middle-earth and closer to the home of the reader are not difficult to discern. The war against the dragon is not, therefore, a war against a physical monster, like a dinosaur, but a battle against the wickedness we encounter in our everyday lives. We all face our daily dragons and we must all defend ourselves from them and hopefully slay them. The sobering reality is that we must either fight the dragons that we encounter in life or become dragons ourselves. There is no “comfortable” alternative.