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17“The Desolation of Smaug could be taken to mean the destruction of Smaug” — Not really, no. This doesn’t seem to be a valid usage of the word “desolate”, neither common nor uncommon. While “to desolate somebody” exists, its meaning is “to make (someone) feel utterly wretched and unhappy.”, not “to kill somebody”. And I don’t recall Bard bullying Smaug into unhappiness.– Konrad RudolphCommented Jun 13, 2017 at 13:07
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2@KonradRudolph well, that seems to be more or less the interpretation the querant assumed when asking this question.– SQBCommented Jun 13, 2017 at 13:18
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3It's somewhat better, and I'll upvote, but I still think the key point is that OP is inventing a meaning for this phrase that it simply does not have in standard English. My guess is that the idea that "desolation" meant that Smaug would be killed, or even "desolated" (emotionally or otherwise), probably didn't occur to Tolkien or Jackson.– Kyle StrandCommented Jun 13, 2017 at 21:05
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2This answer could be vastly improved with freehand circles.– ibidCommented Jun 14, 2017 at 1:20
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5+1 This is the right answer (before MattGutting's edits to Daniel's answer). I'm very surprised that this answer wasn't given more upvotes. It shows more research effort and less of a commentary post.– VoronwéCommented Jun 14, 2017 at 2:09
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