Foil / The Heart Trilogy

The Heart Trilogy

• Sauron and Fankil, the two main antagonists. They're both ancient evil entities and former lieutenants of the first Dark Lord Morgoth. Sauron, Morgoth's second-in-command, is a corrupted Maia who has lost his physical form, while Fankil, Morgoth's son, is a demon with a physical form. After Morgoth was cast into the void, Sauron took the title of the Dark Lord for himself and aspires to conquer Middle-Earth for himself. Fankil in turn regards Morgoth as the true Dark Lord for whom the world belongs to, and his goal is to free Morgoth and serve him as he rules the world. While the more far-reaching yet bodiless Sauron commands vast armies, Fankil works alone with his disfigured yet powerful body. They both cause trouble to Smaug and his love interest Kathryn, but for different reasons. Sauron tries to make Smaug his beast of war, and while he has some interest in possessing Kathryn due to her Seer abilities, he mainly views her as a tool in forcing Smaug to obey him. Fankil is solely focused on Kathryn whom he needs in finding the void's entrance, the Door of Night so that he can free Morgoth, while Smaug is in his eyes at most an obstacle that needs to be removed if he aims to have Kathryn.
• Andraya to Kathryn. They're both Hot Witches, and largely live in the wilds and on the outskirts except for when they're in Vathvael. It's implied both of them have pasts that would give them reason to feel bitter towards the world. However, Kathryn still cares about the welfare of other people, to the point of putting their welfare before her own if she believes there's something she can do. Andraya is an embittered misandrist who only cares for herself and her daughter Freyja (and even then she doesn't exactly put her child's welfare before her own power-hunger), and she lies, betrays, bargains and murders others to further her own goals. Kathryn's bond with Smaug developed not by her choice, whilst Andraya at times strongly hints at We Can Rule Together towards Smaug after his revival in human form. Kathryn at first despises her Seer powers which have led to her being cast out and hounded by so many others, whereas Andraya considers her witchcraft the only power she has left and is terrified when faced with being de-powered. In Heart of Ashes, Kathryn is brought back from insanity by Smaug's interference, while Andraya experiences a Villainous Breakdown after Smaug murders Freyja.
• Faervel to Smaug. Both are implied to have romantic, interracial feelings towards the human female Kathryn. In Smaug the dragon's case, it develops gradually and is reciprocated, whereas Faervel the elf has something of an unreciprocated Bodyguard Crush and seems slightly interested in Kathryn from the moment they first meet. Both of them are also outsiders who are generally on their own in Middle-Earth when their paths don't directly intersect with Kathryn's — Smaug is initially alone in the Lonely Mountain in Heart of Fire, then later goes into hiding with Kathryn following the events of Heart of Ashes, while Faervel is travelling Middle-Earth with the ambition to publish an unbiased history by interacting with numerous peoples. They also both commit acts which hurt Kathryn's feelings in some way when they think it's necessary, though Smaug is concerned only for his and Kathryn's welfare, whereas Faervel is also concerned for others' welfare.
• On top of Smaug and Thorin Oakenshield's canonical Foil parallels, Smaug's relationship with Kathryn adds a new dimension to it. Smaug and Thorin are both presented to be uncaring about causing harm (indirectly in Thorin's case, either way in Smaug's case) to people they don't hold emotionally close. They both also get to see themselves outlive their loved ones — Kathryn for Smaug, Fíli and Kíli for Thorin — by a short time before dying with them, and in both cases, this happens indirectly due to Smaug and Thorin respectively putting their own Greed first. Smaug and Kathryn come back from this, but Thorin and his nephews stay dead. Smaug and Thorin both have a lot of Pride and Greed (worsened in Thorin's case by Gold Fever), but Smaug is presented as being rather well-aware of and unashamed by his own wickedness, whereas Thorin ignores and denies his Fatal Flaws when Kathryn points them out.
• Freyja to Kathryn. Both had an oppressive and abusive mother (Kathryn herself inwardly identifies with Freyja about this when they first meet). Kathryn's mother tried to repress her magic through misguided methods out of fear for her safety, whereas Andraya demands her magicless daughter to sire a magical child with Smaug in Heart of Ashes. Kathryn openly screamed at her parents before fleeing them once she'd had enough of the abuse, whereas Freyja is meek and completely submissive to her mother's demands despite her obvious wish to the contrary. Kathryn has outlived her mother by more than a century, while Freyja's mother outlives her by a short time. Kathryn avoids people due to how she's been treated in the past, whilst Freyja is like a wary rabbit when interacting with men on her own due to her mother's control.
• King Wilhelm to Smaug in Heart of Ashes. They're both greedy and controlling tyrants, both have a kind-hearted but fierce wife who becomes pregnant with their child/ren, and both consider themselves kings (Smaug became the self-proclaimed King under the Mountain after driving the dwarves of Erebor away, while Wilhelm was a distant royal relative who became Dorwinion's king by marrying the previous king's female heir). Both expect flattery and sucking up from others, are driven to rage by being insulted, and consider themselves in some way better than nearly (if not utterly) everyone else they encounter. However, Smaug is an intellectually and physically superb dragon who kinda has a right to have such a huge ego, while Wilhelm is an unintelligent and weak-willed human (think of an older Joffrey Baratheon with less interest in mutilating animals). Furthermore, Smaug gained everything he had by conquest, and is revealed in Heart of the Inferno to have been a Rebel Prince before that, whereas Wilhelm married into his distant relatives' seat of royal power and is a Spoiled Brat. Smaug has a select few redeeming qualities, whereas Wilhelm is presented as little more than a small wild dog that's easily controlled by those better than him. In a way, Wilhelm is a reflection of what Smaug was like towards Kathryn when they first met (albeit more petty than truly scary).
• King Wilhelm's wife Queen Lalemwen to Kathryn in Heart of Ashes. Both are physically beautiful and overall decent women who really Took a Level in Badass, both have a husband who can be malicious at times and who they each attempt to reign in respectively, and both fall pregnant in their respective unions. Lalemwen is in her third decade yet somewhat naive, whereas Kathryn physically appears only nineteen but is much older and more experienced (Kathryn lampshades this contrast when they first meet, finding Lalemwen's naivete oddly pitiable). Lalemwen is royalty by blood, whereas Kathryn was born a commoner before becoming a Homeless Hero, and her closest tie to royalty is being the mate of Smaug. Though Kathryn is by no means unintelligent, she's sometimes outclassed by Smaug's Genius Bruiser intellect and cunning, acting more as The Conscience, whereas Queen Lalemwen is ultimately one of the brains to a witless worm.
• Aragorn to Smaug in Heart of the Inferno. Both have an Interspecies Romance with some elements of Maligned Mixed Marriage. Smaug and Kathryn become Mindlink Mates in Heart of Fire, and upon their first meeting, she and Aragorn also display a Psychic Link which has yet to be explained. Increasing the parallels, Kathryn forges a silver-themed psychic connection between Aragorn and Arwen, in Color Contrast to her and Smaug's gold-themed link. Smaug effectively grants his human lover a virtually-immortal lifespan equivalent to his own, whereas we know from The Lord of the Rings canon that Arwen faces an inversion to be with her human lover. Most prominently, it turns out that Smaug is a Rebel Prince among the northern dragons due to his descent from Ancalagon the Black, just like Aragorn is for Gondorians as Isildur's heir. Smaug even decides to claim his right to unite and lead the dragons against Sauron during the War of the Ring, and Kathryn and their children's imprisonment in Erebor while Smaug arrives at the Withered Heath has downplayed hints of Loved I Not Honor More.
• Durin's Bane to Smaug in Heart of the Inferno. They're both members of a powerful, fire-themed race that served Morgoth during the First Age, yet neither is allied with Sauron, Morgoth's successor. Both conquered a kingdom from dwarves and made it their own domain in the Third Age. Unless disturbed, they were content to remain in their respective domains and let the world pass by. However, Durin's Bane took part in the War of the Wrath and afterwards slumbered under the Misty Mountains until Moria's dwarves woke it up, prompting it to drive them out of Moria. It afterwards allowed Orcs to reside in Moria. Smaug is the great-great-grandson of Ancalagon the Black who was slain during the War of the Wrath, and he conquered Erebor at an early age because he desired King Thrór's treasure for himself. Kathryn became the only creature he ever allowed to live with him in Erebor, and after he set her free, he slumbered for six decades until the arrival of Thorin's Company. Gandalf formed the Company in an effort to neutralize the dangers of Smaug's residence in Erebor, but he ends up facing off Durin's Bane unintentionally. Smaug ends up reluctantly taking the side of the Free Peoples in the War of the Ring, while Durin's Bane remains on its own side until its death.