Characters:
Gandalf
Thorin Oakenshield
Smaug
Sauron
Text:
"But at last there came about by chance a meeting between Gandalf and Thorin
that changed all the fortunes of the House of Durin, and led to other and
greater ends beside. On a time1 [1 footnote: March 15, 2941] Thorin, returning
west from a journey, stayed at Bree for the night. There Gandalf was also. He
was on his way to the Shire, which he had not visited for some twenty years. He
was weary, and thought to rest there for a while.
Among many cares he was troubled in mind by the perilous state of the north;
because he knew then already that to attack Rivendell. But to resist any
attempt from the East to regain the lands of Angmar and the northern passes in
the mountains there were now only the Dwarves of the Iron Hills. And beyond
them lay the desolation to the Dragon. The Dragon Sauron might use with
terrible effect. How then could the end of Smaug be achieved?
It was even as Gandalf sat and pondered this that Thorin stood before him, and
said: ‘Master Gandalf, I know you only by sight, but now I should be glad to
speak with you. For you have often come into my thoughts of late, as if I were
bidden to seek you, Indeed I should have done so, if I had know were to find
you.’
Gandalf looked at him with wonder. ‘That is strange, Thorin Oakenshield,’ he
said. ‘For I have thought of you also; . . . "
Questions:
1. Chance Meeting: Do you believe it was pure chance? Or, do you think perhaps
it is the same forces at work that put the Ring in Bilbo’s path, or changed the
winds or brought the Eagles?
2. ‘Thought of you Also’: how much chance is it that they should each have the
other in their thoughts much lately? What do you make of this?
More on chance later. . . .
Continued Text: (more questions to follow)
Unfinished Tales: ‘The Quest of Erebus’: Thorn Oakenshield:
Gladly (p322): (worried about how he was to deal with Sauron and the
Dragon at Erebus) ‘For just as I was nearing Bree I was overtaken by Thorin
Oakenshield, who lived then in exile beyond the north-western borders of the
Shire. To my surprise he spoke to me; and it was at that moment that the tide
began to turn.
‘He was troubled too, so troubled that he actually asked for my advice. So I
went with him to his halls in the Blue Mountains, and I listened to his long
tale. I soon understood that his heart was hot with brooding on his wrongs, and
the loss of the treasure of his forefathers, and burdened too with the duty of
revenge upon Smaug that he had inherited. Dwarves take such duties very
seriously.’
Questions:
3. Duty of Revenge: Galdalf is calling it a ‘duty of revenge . . . Dwarves take
such duties very seriously.’ And a couple of paragraphs later he says: The
Dragon of Erebus is on my mind, and I do not think that he will be forgotten by
the grandson of Thrór.’ He also becomes aware that Thorin is ‘brooding on his
wrongs and loss of the treasure’. Duty to me implies a level of detachment,
doing something knowing it is right. But, brooding with a hot heart implies
something more disturbing.
Q: Does Galdalf realize Thorin has become a bit twisted with the whole
revenge-lust thing. In other words does Gandalf have any hint what has
been going on with Thorin: that ‘hot embers’ in Thorin’s heart of ‘vengeance
upon the Dragon’ he had inherited, and that ‘great anger burned him as he smote
the red iron’, and thought of weapons and armies? [see ‘Heir without
Hope’] Is he dismissing Thorin’s brooding as sense of duty? Is he
forgetting any lingering affects of the Ring? Or is that exactly what he is
thinking about? Is he seeing what is in front of him or is he ignoring the
clues here too as with Bilbo’s Ring?
Reference:
Links:
1.
Gandalf chance meeting with Thorin (Google Group Search)
2. Gandalf (EoA)
3. Thorin
Oakenshield (EoA)
4. Thorin II
Oakenshield (The Tolkien Wiki Community)
5. Smaug (EoA)
6. Angmar
(EoA)
* * * * * * * * * * *
Mightier than Estë is Nienna, sister of Fëanturi; she dwells alone. She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for every wound that Arda suffered in the marring of Melkor. So great was her sorrow, as the Music unfolded that her song turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not weep for herself; and those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in hope. . . . All those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom.
Valaquenta
