Smaug vs. Caraxes: Who Is Bigger (And Stronger)?

One of the most legendary creations in fantasy is the dragon because of how it has become one of the most often-used creatures in fiction. Of course, two of the most popular fantasy fiction writers of all time have created great dragons. We are talking about JRR Tolkein’s Smaug in The Hobbit and George RR Tolkien’s Blood Wyrm called Caraxes. So, in a fight between Smaug and Caraxes, who is the bigger and stronger dragon?

There are no exact measurements for Smaug and Caraxes, but it appears that Smaug is the bigger and stronger of the two. Caraxes may have ferocity on its side, but Smaug is bigger and just as strong. On top of that, Smaug is incredibly smart and has an intelligence level on par with humans.

While Caraxes was one of the strongest dragons of its time and was able to defeat a dragon twice its size, let’s not forget that none of the Game of Thrones dragons is as smart and as nimble as Smaug. In that regard, they wouldn’t stand a chance against the intelligence of the dragon of the Lonely Mountain. Now, let’s look at the details behind this hypothetical fight.

Smaug vs. Caraxes Size Comparison

One of the things that we do know is that while JRR Tolkien and George RR Martin were able to create great dragons in their books, they weren’t exact in terms of how they described the sizes of their dragons. We do know that both Smaug and Caraxes are quite big, but they didn’t have specific sizes as far as their authors are concerned. In that regard, we are here to look at how big they are based on what the authors said and on what we’ve seen on film.

In JRR Tolkien’s books, Smaug seems to be bigger than what the film suggests. That’s because Tolkien once said that Bilbo was supposed to be so small that he is basically invisible next to Smaug because of how huge the dragon is. Of course, when Smaug died due to a black arrow, the arrow should also be so small compared to his body that it disappeared the moment it entered him. On top of that, due to his massive size, he destroyed Lake-town when he fell on it.

Whatever the case may be, as far as the books say, we do know that Smaug is still pretty big in the movies. In The Hobbit, his head is already at least three times longer than Bilbo’s body, which is right around 4 feet in terms of height. If his head is that big, that means that his entire body is also quite large.

Smaug has a serpentine body that is very long and has wings that are incredibly large so that he could easily fly with no problem. The VFX people behind The Hobbit suggest that Smaug is somewhere around 427 feet long, and that means that he is longer than two jumbo jets. Meanwhile, he has a wingspan that is right 197 to 230 feet, and that means that he is incredibly large.

With that said, Smaug is quite big regardless of what the books say. There is a possibility that his book version is a lot bigger than his film version, but his film version is still quite a big dragon when compared to other fictional dragons.

On the other hand, the books don’t say exactly how big Caraxes is except for the fact that he is described to be a huge dragon. Not a lot of the dragons in the world of Game of Thrones are described to be huge, but Caraxes was said to be very big but not quite as big as the older dragons like Balerion or Vhagar.

In fact, the books say that Vhagar had grown so old that he was almost the size of Balerion. Caraxes is around half the size of Vhagar, and that means that he isn’t the biggest dragon but is still very large, especially when you consider that Vhagar is an incredibly large dragon.

Based on what we’ve seen from size comparisons, it is possible that Caraxes is bigger than Drogon, who is still quite young but already big compared to some of the other dragons in the storyline.

In House of the Dragon, Caraxes wasn’t depicted to be a huge dragon, but he might end up becoming bigger somewhere down the line because of the fact that dragons don’t stop growing. And we believe that this series will span decades in terms of the timeframe that it covers, considering that Aemond Targaryen, the man that rode Vhagar in Caraxes’s final battle, wasn’t even born yet in House of the Dragon.

All that said, the film depiction of Caraxes will probably be bigger by the end of its lifetime, but we don’t think that it will be bigger than Smaug, who is already incredibly big and may even be closer to Vhagar, who is twice as big as Caraxes.

Smaug vs. Caraxes Strength Comparison

Smaug is depicted to have the same capabilities that most dragons have in the sense that he is capable of breathing fire and can fly using his large wings. When breathing fire, he can melt stone and metal because of how hot his flames are, as the books describe that he is so hot that simply walking around Erebor melted the halls. And we know that he is so strong that not even the King Thranduil of the Woodland Elves was willing to gamble the lives of his men on the treasures that were hoarded by Smaug in Erebor.

Another factor that makes Smaug so strong is his durability, as his scales are basically impervious. Only his underbelly is soft enough to get damaged, but he protected them with the gems that can be found in Erebor. It was only that small spot on his underbelly that remained weak, as that was what allowed Bard to kill Smaug with a black arrow aimed directly at that spot. Other than that, he doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses.

Caraxes is said to be one of the most ferocious dragons in the entire history of Westeros, as a dragon would have to be incredibly strong to be called the Blood Wyrm. With its bloody appearance and intimidating looks, Caraxes can strike fear into the hearts of anything and anyone in front of it. Like all dragons, its flames are hot enough to burn people into ashes in an instant. And unlike most dragons, Caraxes is very fast as only Meleys was said to be faster than it during the Dance of the Dragons.

The fact that Caraxes was able to fight Vhagar to a draw is evidence of its strength. Vhagar, who is twice as big as Caraxes, couldn’t overpower the Blood Wyrm, who was faster and nimbler than the older dragon. While both Caraxes and Vhagar died in their final battle, Caraxes still had enough strength and ferocity to crawl all the way to the shore, where it died due to its wounds.

As you can see, both Smaug and Caraxes are incredibly strong. Caraxes has flames that are just as hot and a body that is just as durable compared to Smaug. On top of that, he might even be more ferocious. But the fact is that Smaug is an incredibly nimble dragon that has an intelligence level that is on par or is probably superior to humans.