 Tolkien created the character specifically to kill Smaug, since none of the other protagonists of the story were able to fulfill this role.Bard the Bowman could have been inspired by the brave warrior Wiglaf in the Old English poem "Beowulf".Bard is a descendant of Girion, the last lord of the city Dale, which had been destroyed by the dragon Smaug two centuries before the events of "The Hobbit", which takes place in year 2941 of the Third Age.