Why does Thorin want Gandalf there in this moment? Is it ready to try and kill the wizard too, along with unwise cursing of his name? Does he really perceive a vast conspiracy, of men and elves and hobbits and wizards “ in league” against him and his greedy desire? His anger isn’t reserved just for Bilbo though, with Gandalf, still distant as far as Thorin must be aware, also getting some nasty scorn: “ By the beard of Durin! I wish I had Gandalf here! Curse him for his choice of you! May his beard wither!“. And it only gets worse, as Thorin then labels Bilbo a “ descendant of rats“, an utterly obscene thing to say, that manages to be both personally insulting and racist (even if the narrator is also in on the act in comparing Bilbo to a shaken rabbit). Thorin gets physical and insulting very quickly, using the term “ burglar” here in a derogatory sense, as if the job Bilbo was paid for is some kind of dishonourable thing that Thorin had no part in. “You miserable hobbit! You undersized - burglar!” he shouted at a loss for words, and he shook poor Bilbo like a rabbit.” “ You! You!” cried Thorin, turning upon him and grasping him with both hands. You can feel the anger and outrage pulsing off him as he rounds on Bilbo: Thorin’s reaction to this is one of the most emotional and visceral moments in The Hobbit, and in Tolkien’s whole legendarium really. Bilbo can’t keep silent, evidence of a guilty conscience perhaps, even if doing so might actually forward his own aims of averting a violent confrontation between all of these respective armies. Bilbo is rightfully scared of what is occurring, in “ a dreadful fright“, but is too honest to hold back the truth, even if this puts him right in the crosshairs of a furious and likely-violent dwarf, who has sworn vengeance on anyone who comes between him and the Arkenstone. “Why should I purchase my own?” But wonder overcame him and he added: “But how came you by the heirloom of my house - if there is need to ask such a question of thieves?…How came you be it?”, shouted Thorin in a gathering rage“.Īppropriately for this terrible scene of perceived betrayal, the answer that comes is described as a “ squeak“: “ I gave it to them“. “ That stone was my father’s, a nd is mine,” he said. He asserts his own possession of the Arkenstone, and insults his enemies in one breath: Still, he recovers very quickly, and his sense of arrogance returns in just a few sentences, his voice “ thick with wrath“. For once, the King-under-the-mountain has nothing to say, as his plans and desires unravel before him: “ Thorin was stricken dumb with amazement and confusion.” The big reveal isn’t long in coming, as “ the old man” who has accompanied this group – Gandalf of course, as anyone could guess – holds up the Arkenstone “ bright and white in the morning“. Thorin attempts to portray his foes as changeable and weak-minded, but the rest of the exchange will only showcase his own emotional and mental weakness. “My mind does not change with the rising and setting of a few suns,” answered Thorin.” But it is not undeserved, as evidenced by his snarky and ill-meant response to Bard’s opening question: The reader must be on tenterhooks, awaiting what will be a humiliating moment for Thorin. This parley is automatically different, with both Bard and Thranduil attending, the Elvenking presumably wanting to be present at this moment of triumph. Even with his growing paranoia, Thorin is still utterly self-confident. I thought that would alter their mood!” The new King-under-the-mountain sounds positively gleeful at the idea that new enemies will be forced to parley on his own terms and doesn’t think for a moment that events may have transpired against him. Thorin illustrates starkly his own arrogance, but also his own metaphorical blindness, in the opening paragraphs, as he mistakes a new embassy as a coming submission due to the near-arrival of Dain: “ That will be Dain!” said Thorin when he heard. “ An Unexpected Party” becomes an unexpected battle, in a chapter full of tension, action and consequences. The chain of events that began back in Bilbo’s kitchen – or maybe even further back, to the sack of Dale and fall of Erebor – culminates here. We have come to the climax of the story, in the suitably titled “The Clouds Burst”.
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