NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. In the world of Middle Earth, dragons are BUTTHOLES.
They are the most self-centered, greedy creatures in the world. And they only trust themselves. Sorry, but there's no befriended any dragon let alone Smaug.
He'd find it amusing, take whatever gold you had, then he'd fry you into a crunchy tasty morsel. No, if you got the impression that he's "reasonable" you're letting your bias get in the way. Read the book, and read The Silmarillion, you'll see what kind of creatures dragons are.
They're punks. I love dragons too but in the world of Tolkien, they're punks. There is nothing you can learn from him.
Trying to be nice to him and befriend him is like trying to find the good in and be friends with Satan. Sorry, not happening. You'd regret it instantly.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.