The real world might be suffering from economic hardship, but the imaginary world (literally) has money growing on trees. Yes, Forbes' annual list of the wealthiest fictional one-percenters is out. 

Characters from all facets of popular culture have deeper pockets than some of the actual world's richest people. In fact, it seems every year, they just get richer and richer. Maybe that's because we're getting poorer and poorer and they just seem richer by comparison.

Either way, Forbes released their annual list of the 15 richest fictional celebrities and an interesting winner topped this year's list: Smaug from J.R.R. Tolkein's 'The Hobbit.' Smaug, a dragon known across Middle Earth as "Smaug the Tremendous" and "Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy," has a net worth of $62 billion representing a 16% increase from 2011, mostly from his stockpile of gold coins, jewels and antiques.

The rest of the list included some regular fixtures of Forbes' annual feature including 'Beverly Hillbillies' oil tycoon Jed Clampett and self-styled corporate playboy Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. It also included some new names who saw some amazing increases in wealth like private investigator/hacker Lisbeth Salander from 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and 'Game of Thrones'' own Lord of Casterly Rock Tywin Lannister. Sadly, some familiar faces such as Scrooge McDuck, Gordon Gekko and Jeffrey Lebowski (the rich old dude in the wheelchair) were bumped off the list this year.

Forbes compiled the net worth of each character by comparing their assets to "known real-world commodity and share price movements." Characters with private funds were compared to similar public companies and monetary stockpiles in the real world.

Forbes' 'Fictional 15' and their individual net-worths are below. Congrats to all the winners! Now can we borrow $10, Smaug?

1. Smaug FROM 'The Hobbit': $62 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Smaug from 'The Hobbit'
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2. Flintheart Glomgold FROM 'DuckTales': $51.9 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Flintheart Glomgold
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3. Carlisle Cullen FROM 'Twilight': $36.3 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Carlisle Cullen
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4. Jed Clampett FROM 'The Beverly Hillbillies': $9.8 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Jed Clampett
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5. Tony Stark (aka Iron Man): $9.3 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Tony Stark
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6. Richie Rich FROM 'Richie Rich': $8.9 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Richie Rich
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7. Charles Foster Kane FROM 'Citizen Kane': $8.3 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Charles Foster Kane
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8. Bruce Wayne (aka Batman): $6.9 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Bruce Wayne, Batman
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9. Forrest Gump fROM 'fORREST gUMP': $5.7 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Forrest Gump
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10. Rich Uncle Pennybags (aka "Mr. Monopoly"): $2.5 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Mr. Monopoly
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11. Lisbeth Salander From 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo': $2.4 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Lisbeth Salander
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12. Tywin Lannister From 'Game of Thrones': $2.1 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Tywin Lannister
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13. C. Montgomery Burns From 'The Simpsons': $1.3 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - C. Montgomery Burns
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14. Robert Crawley From 'Downton Abbey': $1.1 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Robert Crawley
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15. Jo Bennett From 'The Office': $1 billion

Richest Fictional Characters - Jo Bennett from 'The Office'
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[via FORBES]

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