top of page
Writer's pictureAlatar

Does Movie Smaug Truly Have Kiloton-Level Fire?

Updated: Nov 18, 2022


Smaug blasts Lake-Town.


This post is gonna be short. it's just an explanation of why we can know Smaug really does emit ten-kiloton-blasts in the Hobbit films.


Eric Saindon, who worked on the VFX for Smaug, states in this interview:

"Starting with the internal glow inside his chest and neck, Smaug creates a fuel-based fire that ignites deep in the throat of the dragon and bursts forth with terrifying power. Created with an in-house fire simulation tool, Odin, the output of the larger fire blasts registered just over 10 Kilotons of TNT."


Now, that's roughly two-thirds of the yield of Little Boy. How can this be, you may ask, without Smaug vaporizing Lake-Town with a single blast?

This alleged problem comes from a misinterpretation of the term "kilotons". It refers to the energy contained in thousands of tons of TNT. Smaug's breath has every bit that much energy—here's a calc showing it makes sense. It just isn't released as quickly and efficiently as the energy of a bomb. It's the same energy as a 10-kT bomb, but used differently.


So as a raw figure, 10 kilotons is fine. It's supported by both statements by the people who spent hours modeling/animating it, and by calcs. Just remember that it doesn't refer to explosives. Can he melt huge amounts of rock with his breath? Absolutely. Can he level a city with one shot? No, because his firepower is spread out over about 20 seconds and anyway is released differently.

18 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page