Subtitle The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug -

: The title prepares the audience for the eventual awakening of the beast, whose "desolation" expands from the mountain to the human settlement of Lake-town by the film’s cliffhanger ending. Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Film Comment

: The film explores how the quest to reclaim Erebor begins to desolate the characters' spirits. Thorin Oakenshield’s obsession with the Arkenstone mirrors the dragon’s own greed, suggesting that the "desolation" is a corrupting force that can infect the heart as easily as it burns the land. Narrative Pivot subtitle The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

: While the first film maintained a lighter, more adventurous tone, The Desolation of Smaug introduces a "more present sense of danger" and a "gloom" that aligns with the return of Sauron (the Necromancer). : The title prepares the audience for the

: Smaug himself is a personification of "the wrongful impulse to hoard". His "desolation" is the result of a single-minded desire for gold that destroys everything it touches. Narrative Pivot : While the first film maintained