Shelob'sAppetite
Valinor
Oct 4 2012, 12:37am
Views: 2452
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I also have to say I don't read the same things into Thorin's post song incredulity. He is exasperated that Bilbo has not already obtained the info that he needs and as a result tells the lengthy tale. The contract doesn't enter into Thorin's response at this point.
But it is very, very revealing of Thorin's character (and the character of the dwarves) that they consider the song to be clear information about the quest! To Bilbo, it was an evocative song, that made his mind wander across Middle Earth. To Thorin, it was straight up information-sharing!
Bilbo then asks, very explicitly, for "plain and clear" information, including "out-of-pocket expenses" and "remuneration."
After Bilbo asks for those things, Thorin gives him a prosaic account of what happened, what's to be done, and what Bilbo's role would be. And even then, Bilbo does not quite accept that he's actually expected to go on the journey, telling the dwarves that he will see them off in the morning (only to be corrected by Thorin, who clarifies that Bilbo is going as well).
It is not until Bilbo sees Thorin's note, which is written out for Bilbo "plain and clear" - in legalese as he asked for it the night before - that Bilbo accepts his role in the quest, and runs out the door (without his handkerchief...)
IMO, based on this, it is crystal clear that Thorin's note/contract, in the book, is written in the idiom of the hobbit. I still think this could be preserved in the film, and hope it is. If it is portrayed as "the sort of thing dwarves do" then PJ will have unnecessarily missed the mark on a wonderful bit of subtlety in the story.
(This post was edited by Shelob'sAppetite on Oct 4 2012, 12:39am)
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