Deconstructing the Lonely Mountain
"I am far too fat for such fly-walks," he said. "I should turn dizzy and tread on my beard, and then you would be thirteen again."
I thought they had to cut their beards off because of the sticky spider-webs?
All day Bilbo sat gloomily in the grassy bay gazing at the stone, or out west through the narrow opening. He had a queer feeling that he was waiting for something.
I'm technically a bit old for this, but I guess I'm from the MTV-ADHD generation. I can't just sit and think for very long. Walk, run, bike, or swim and think for hours, but not just sit. I take a book with me everywhere so I have something to do if I get stuck waiting. I usually have the TV or talk radio on for company and background noise. I've hiked and camped and worked at technology-less camps, so I have a general idea of what that kind of quiet, slow life can be, but it's not my general mode of existence.
The most that can be said for the dwarves is this: they intended to pay Bilbo really handsomely for his services; they had brought him to do a nasty job for them, and they did not mind the poor little fellow doing it if he would; but they would all have done their best to get him out of trouble, if he got into it, as they did in the case of the trolls at the beginning of their adventures before they had any particular reasons for being grateful to him. There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and teacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much.
I'm with Gobula. For some reason this reading has me really losing any respect I might have had for the dwarves. They just don't seem all that capable or decent.
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
Duh!
His rage passes description--the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted.
A bit of social commentary snuck into the mix.
They debated long on what was to be done, but they could think of no way of getting rid of Smaug--which had always been a weak point in their plans.
Duh! They really didn't seem to have any plan at all except to walk toward the mountain and hope something lucky happened. It was Gandalf who guided them across the mountains and Beorn who set their path through the forest, and they barely survived those travels. Haven't these dwarves been wandering the world for over a hundred years or something? How did they ever manage to get from one place to another and even survive long enough to get there? And then to think they will somehow magically banish the dragon with absolutely no inkling how? Stupid.
The steps were not made, all the same, for hobbit-legs.
In most of the depictions of dwarves and hobbits I've seen, they aren't that significantly different in size. Sure, hobbits are smaller, but dwarves are supposed to be shorter and stockier than humans too. I've been surprised at how many references Tolkien makes to Bilbo not being able to keep up with the dwarves and may need to rethink the size differential I have pictured in my mind.
I thought they had to cut their beards off because of the sticky spider-webs?
All day Bilbo sat gloomily in the grassy bay gazing at the stone, or out west through the narrow opening. He had a queer feeling that he was waiting for something.
I'm technically a bit old for this, but I guess I'm from the MTV-ADHD generation. I can't just sit and think for very long. Walk, run, bike, or swim and think for hours, but not just sit. I take a book with me everywhere so I have something to do if I get stuck waiting. I usually have the TV or talk radio on for company and background noise. I've hiked and camped and worked at technology-less camps, so I have a general idea of what that kind of quiet, slow life can be, but it's not my general mode of existence.
The most that can be said for the dwarves is this: they intended to pay Bilbo really handsomely for his services; they had brought him to do a nasty job for them, and they did not mind the poor little fellow doing it if he would; but they would all have done their best to get him out of trouble, if he got into it, as they did in the case of the trolls at the beginning of their adventures before they had any particular reasons for being grateful to him. There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and teacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much.
I'm with Gobula. For some reason this reading has me really losing any respect I might have had for the dwarves. They just don't seem all that capable or decent.
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
Duh!
His rage passes description--the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted.
A bit of social commentary snuck into the mix.
They debated long on what was to be done, but they could think of no way of getting rid of Smaug--which had always been a weak point in their plans.
Duh! They really didn't seem to have any plan at all except to walk toward the mountain and hope something lucky happened. It was Gandalf who guided them across the mountains and Beorn who set their path through the forest, and they barely survived those travels. Haven't these dwarves been wandering the world for over a hundred years or something? How did they ever manage to get from one place to another and even survive long enough to get there? And then to think they will somehow magically banish the dragon with absolutely no inkling how? Stupid.
The steps were not made, all the same, for hobbit-legs.
In most of the depictions of dwarves and hobbits I've seen, they aren't that significantly different in size. Sure, hobbits are smaller, but dwarves are supposed to be shorter and stockier than humans too. I've been surprised at how many references Tolkien makes to Bilbo not being able to keep up with the dwarves and may need to rethink the size differential I have pictured in my mind.
posted by Degolar | 12:16 PM
5 Comments:
I actually raced through the book and finished it a couple of weeks ago just because I wanted to see how it ended. (Yes, I am also one of those people who will read the last page of a book way before I get to the end.) The plan was to then go back and read it and be thoughtful. Real life interfered.
The "leave a live dragon" quote is one of my favorites. It applies in so many situations!
Looking back, this chapter sets the scene for even more disappointment with dwarves to come. Still loving the language, but getting mad at the story.
I'd much rather have those dwarves make my armor than chronic-dazed halflings. I've always had a soft spot for dwarves though. Not sure why.
Gimli begins to make up for his forefathers in LOTR though, by befriending the elves and becoming so enamoured with Galadriel.
I don't have a particular racial prejudice against Dwarves as a general rule, I'm just finding myself not much caring for these particular Dwarves as portrayed by Tolkien in this particular book on this particular reading. But I think ultimitely Tolkien chose to emphasize their flaws in these situations so Bilbo has a role to play as hero in this story. It's a necessary plot device.
Remember, dwarfs are medium sized, halflings (hobbits) are small.
If we're talking D&D rules here, though, then you should also remember that they have the same base movement speed.
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