The Hobbit - Ramble - Ep 11

[ach_sss_no]

Livebloggy notes while reading The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 11. These are notes I'm making in the process of assembling a proper chapter-by-chapter review of the book. There was some indication of interest in seeing a liveblog-style thing when I asked on Tumblr, so I'm posting my notes. 

An escort from Lake-town takes the company to the Lonely Mountain, hands them their supplies, and then says ‘Lol, we aren’t dumb enough to hang out this close to the dragon’ and leaves. This is fair.

 

"There lies all that is left of Dale," said Balin. "The mountain's sides were green with woods and all the sheltered valley rich and pleasant in the days when the bells rang in that town." He looked both sad and grim as he said this: he had been one of Thorin's companions on the day the Dragon came.

 

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve told myself ‘don’t get attached to this character who first turned up in The Hobbit, I know he dies in LOTR’ and then ended up with that character being one my favorites anyway, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but…

 

..Three if you count Gandalf but he comes back so

 

Anyway Smaug is stinky and is fumigating the mountain. 

 

Now strange to say Mr. Baggins had more [spirit] than the others. 

 

Actually that’s not strange, it sounds like Bilbo confronted the fact that this was going to be really difficult before the others did, and now he’s reached the coping-and-regrouping phase while the others are coming down from the Lake-town hero high.

 

No sign was there of post or lintel or threshold, nor any sign of bar or bolt or key-hole; yet they did not doubt that they had found the door at last. 

They beat on it, they thrust and pushed at it, they implored it to move, they spoke fragments of broken spells of opening, and nothing stirred. 

 

Oh oh oh speak friend and enter! Speak friend and enter! 

 

Bombur would not come up either the rope or the path.

 

If I were Bombur I would also start just refusing to take part in any more shenanigans. 

 

It is always poor me that has to get them out of their difficulties, at least since the wizard left.

 

Bilbo is discovering the downsides of being competent and successful. People want you to keep being that way long after you're done

 

The chapter ends with the door being opened- it can only be opened at a specific moment when the sun and the moon are both visible and the thrush is knocking. As an aside, ever since I read this for the first time, twenty-ish years ago, I think of this book every. Single. Time. I see the sun and moon both visible in the sky. I don’t know if that’s a common sight everywhere in the world but it happens where I live all the time.