Fafnir is shown to return to his original giant form while delivering his death-speech to Siegfried. It is clear that much of Tolkien's work was inspired by Northern Myth. Many parallels can be drawn between Fafnir and Smaug, from "The Hobbit", as well as between Fafnir and Glaurung, the first dragon in Middle Earth. Who is slain by Turin. The exchange between Bilbo and Smaug nearly mirrors Fafnir's and Sigurd's. The main difference being that Sigurd's conversation occurs after the death blow has been struck. This is most likely due to dramatic effect, as Bilbo has much more at stake when
Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology term for a sacred place was . The Proto-Germanic masculine noun , which developed into Old Frankish ('holy grove'), similarly either developed from, or is otherwise connected to, Gaulish , Latin and Old Irish 'holiness'. Another Proto-Germanic masculine noun, or , has given rise to words with a variety of meanings in various Germanic languages, including Anglo-Saxon , 'meadow', Middle Low German , 'bush', and Old High German , , 'grove, copse, bush'; it is cognate with Latin , 'sacred grove'. Scandinavian placenames occur with the name of a deity compounded with , 'grove', or , 'wood'. Sacred trees and