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sador
Half-elven
Nov 25 2012, 9:08am
Views: 1705
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Bard did not expect to find Thorin alive. However, once he did, it took him another day to actually greet him, in the meantime moving his army as if to siege. So this was clearly not a spontanous sign of relief, and even the show of friendship was a preliminary to a list of demands. And of course, he had no way of knowing the dwarves fortified the Mountain against him - after all, in the Wild they could expect attack from many quarters (as happened pretty soon, with the goblin).
What would have happened had Bard found them undefended? That's anyone's guess. You may be right, but there is also the possibility that he would have just captured the Mountain and took the whole treasure for himself, and even had he been reluctant to do so that some of his Men would have, and/or fall into fighting among themselves. Like Hurin's followers in The Nuaglafring (BoLT II).
An intersting question which I haven't considered before is, did Thorin know Bard? Bilbo did (which I find rather sweet, conjuring up an image of the one person in Esgaroth actually noticing the poor sneezer - but no, the elf sentinels in A Thief at Night knew the dwarves had a hobbit), but did Thorin?
It appears that he didn't know him by sight; however, I wonder if he knew that such a person, with a claim to be Girion's Heir, existed. It could be that Bard kept himself under the radar, and the Master probably had no interest in these two meeting; had they made an allaince (or fell out) back in Lake-town, the story might have been pretty different, don't you think?
But the story is told entirely from Bilbo's POV - so we can't know.
"As all things come to an end, even this story..."
Here we read of Bilbo, who is “quiet and drowsy”, that “every now and again he would open one eye” and listen to Gandalf’s tale. Is Tolkien deliberately echoing this passage in LOTR when he writes, “At that Bilbo opened an eye, almost as if he had heard … ‘You see, I am getting so sleepy’, he said.”?
- N.E. Brigand
The weekly discussion of The Hobbit is back. Join us in the Reading Room for The Return Journey!
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The Last Stage, part II - "And back again"
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sador
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Nov 13 2012, 4:02pm
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A few answers
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FarFromHome
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Nov 15 2012, 10:53am
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Replying to your answers
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sador
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Nov 15 2012, 4:21pm
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Replying to your reply and some more answers...
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FarFromHome
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Nov 18 2012, 5:35pm
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I was hoping to avoid referencing BotR this week!
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sador
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Nov 19 2012, 9:41am
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I wish I had more time!
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telain
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Nov 19 2012, 4:09pm
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So so I!
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sador
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Nov 21 2012, 10:04am
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Ah, solicitors.
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dernwyn
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Nov 25 2012, 2:56am
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Counting the silver
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CuriousG
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Nov 19 2012, 11:29pm
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Nobody rose to the bait...
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sador
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Nov 21 2012, 10:39am
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*raises eyebrows high*
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dernwyn
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Nov 25 2012, 3:14am
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Well, yes
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sador
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Nov 25 2012, 9:08am
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Heirs apparent
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dernwyn
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Nov 27 2012, 2:26am
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