A thought about the Hobbit

[Icemell]

I finished reading the book a couple week ago and one thing has been bothering me. It's the apparent dwarfs are helpless.

In the book the dwarfs are always getting into trouble with no plan of escape. And it is always Gandalf or Bilbo that gets them out.

Gandalf saves them from the Trolls and from the Goblin/Warg attack, THen Bilbo saves then from the Spiders and from the elf king.

It seems that he dwarfs were only hindering the expedition and would have been dead early on had it not been for a single Hobbit to continuously bale them out,

[Rorgloin]

Exactly! Thorin was VERY greedy for his gold, and very proud of his heritage. He did not really have much of a plan of how he was to reclaim it, howvever. Greed and Pride can both be fatal flaws.

The Dwarves are not entirely helpless, though; they never really get a chance to shine. The only two times they actually fight are "off camera" (after Bilbo is lost in Goblin Town Thorin fights Goblins as the Company escapes AND during the Battle of Five Arimies)

[Pareth]

Dwarves get a bad reputation, I'm afraid. But Gimli, son of Gloin repaired a lot of damage to the dwarves' reputation. And dwarves have superior crafting skills. One has only to travel through the many halls of Khazad-Dûm to fully appreciate the talent of dwarves.

No, they are not a perfect race. But what race is? Humans? Surely, not. Look at Isildur's folly. Look at how easily men can be tempted.

Elves? Nay, they too have imperfections and made serious mistakes since the days of Feanor, when he attacked the Teleri to obtain ships, and caused his family to suffer the wrath of Mandos.

Hobbits? They would rather eat and drink, and be merry. Not that I blame them. If life was as relaxed as it is in the Shire, all of Middle Earth would be feasting and partying, instead of at war.

so do not be dismayed, you fine Dwarves, for now we all share a common goal, do we not? We fight together!

[kilderkin]

You have to realize that Professor Tolkien translated those parts of the Redbook of the Westmarch for a younger audience. He thought at the time that a more straightforward approach to the material would be considered a fantastic fairy tale. To his surprise The Hobbit took off among an adult readship, so he decided early on in the The Lord of the Rings to present a more accurate retelling of the true history of the end of the Third Age of Middle Earth.

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

I finished reading the book a couple week ago and one thing has been bothering me. It's the apparent dwarfs are helpless.

It's apparent to me that Thorin & Company was comprised of NPCs.