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titanium_hobbit
Rohan
Oct 27 2012, 11:19am
Views: 255
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**A Thief in the Night** III - A rush to the end
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First of all, deep apologies for disappearing and not leaving questions! It's been a pretty crazy week with an inter-state trip for a funeral of a dear friend.
I'm going to wrap this up by making a few observations and then setting the thread free- feel free to talk about what you want to talk about, or to riff off my ideas. I hope you don't mind.
I love Bilbo crossing the stream, nearly making it, and falling in. This to me is a nice tableau of Bilbo's new found courage mingled with his hobbityness.
How does Bilbo get the courage to just be "oh hey elves, I need to just waltz in and see Bard and your King" - that's pretty crazy! Although the hobbits of LOTR seem to have a similar naivety about respecting Kings and Lords and just get in there and interact with them. Do they learn this from Bilbo, or is this a standard hobbit trait?
I wonder if this relationship with kings is something indicative of Tolkien's world view/beliefs. We often talk about how Tolkien is a monarchist: but I think perhaps a subversive one.
The Arkenstone. I love how the Elvenking is amazed by this jewel as well.
A thief in the night is a phrase that comes up in the Bible.
Wikipedia says: a thief in the night is: "an event no one sees coming, often with painful or tragic consequences,"
Discuss, in context of this chapter.
Gandalf! I suppose Bilbo can't really tell the others as they would wonder how he knows... but Tolkien is really spoiling his own surprise here, as the old man throws back his hood to reveal himself Gandalf, to Thorin.
Bilbo's return: this is true honour. He could have stayed, but chose to return to the mountain, and to his friends, to wake Bombur.
Sorry to be disorganised, all! Hope you've enjoyed the week.
Hobbit firster, Book firster.
Have you explored all of TORN's forums?
(This post was edited by Silverlode on Oct 27 2012, 10:31pm)
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**A Thief in the Night** III - A rush to the end
