Bard oral history committed to memory and transmitted by bards and filid. Bards facilitated the memorisation of such materials by the use of metre, rhyme and other formulaic poetic devices. One of the most notable bards in Irish Mythological was Amergin Glúingel, he was bard, druid and judge for the Milesians. In medieval Ireland, bards were one of two distinct groups of poets, the other being the "fili". According to the Early Irish law text on status, "Uraicecht Becc", bards were a lesser class of poets, not eligible for higher poetic roles as described above. However, it has also been argued
Bard the Bowman Jack the Giant Killer. This idea remained in the notes after the writing of chapter eleven, but after chapter twelve was complete, Tolkien wrote "Dragon killed in the Battle of the Lake" in the margin of his notes. Bard appears during the drafting for chapter thirteen, when it is said that he kills the dragon with his ancestor Girion's favourite Black Arrow. Tolkien's keeping Bard alive for the rest of the story significantly complicates it since, as the heir of Girion, Bard gives the inhabitants of Lake-town a legitimate claim to Smaug's treasure. In the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated television musical,