#quest of erebor

[mrkida-art]

Young dwarf Thorin

[warrioreowynofrohan]

LOTR Newsletter - September 30

Before dawn on September 30, the Ringwraiths attack both Bree and Buckland.

Gandalf's account to the Council of Elrond analyzes the probable movements of the Ringwraiths as follows:

“I do not know, but it seems clear to me that this is what happened. Their Captain remained in secret away south of Bree, while two rode ahead through the village, and four more invaded the Shire.

“But when these [the Ringwraiths] were foiled in Bree and at Crickhollow, they returned to their Captain with tidings, and so left the Road unguarded for a while, except by their spies.”

Gandalf also gives an account of his own experiences that day to the Council, and reading between the lines, I think this was one of the worst moments of his life. For part of the day, he believed that Frodo had been killed or captured, that the Ring had been retaken, and that this was in large part his own fault for 1) trusting Saruman and being taken captive and 2) deciding not to go back to the Shire in person and warn Frodo to leave now in early July, before setting out for Isengard.

“I came to Buckland and found it in uproar, as busy as a hive of ants that has been stirred with a stick. I came to the house at Crickhollow, and it was broken open and empty; but on the threshold there lay a cloak that had been Frodo’s. Then for a while hope left me and I did not wait to gather news, or I might have been comforted...”

He also blames Butterbur. And seriously, if you could follow the popular fanfiction trope of sending one character in LOTR back to 'redo' the plot with knowledge of what happened the first time, having it be Butterbur so he would remember to send the freaking letter would be a pretty high-impact one. Frodo would leave the Shire in mid-July, be able to travel to Rivendell via the Road, and make it to Rivendell by some time in August (in FOTR, even with all the difficulties, it takes him about a month), while the Ringwraiths were still on the east side of the Misty Mountains. If he set out from Rivendell in September-October, they wouldn't have had snow on Caradhras and would have been able to take the Redhorn Pass, and would have reached Gondor and Rohan well before the War of the Ring broke out.

(And Gollum would have starved to death in Moria and been unable to play his role in the destruction of the Ring, so I guess that shows the importance of Providence over meticulous planning.)

Butterbur dealing with a very angry wizard who, at first meeting, considers him pretty much personally responsible for the probable end of the world was probably not at all fun for him either! The expression on Gandalf's face can only be imagined.

And the overwhelming emotional switch from Gandalf thinking that Frodo is dead or captured by the forces of Mordor and that the Nazgul have the Ring, to Gandalf learning that Frodo was alive and in Bree that same morning and left with Aragorn...wow. Gandalf is having a Day.

...but I rode on the trail of the Riders. It was hard to follow, for it went many ways, and I was at a loss. But it seemed to me that one or two had ridden towards Bree; and that way I went, for I thought of words that might be said to the innkeeper. “ ‘Butterbur they call him,’ thought I. ‘If this delay was his fault, I will melt all the butter in him. I will roast the old fool over a slow fire.’ He expected no less, and when he saw my face he fell down flat and began to melt on the spot. “What did you do him?” cried Frodo in alarm. “He was really very kind to us and did all that he could.” Gandalf laughed. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I did not bite, and I barked very little. So overjoyed was I by the news that I got out of him, when he stopped quaking, that I embraced the old fellow. How it happened I could not then guess, but I learned that you had been in Bree the night before, and had gone off that morning with Strider. “ ‘Strider!’ I cried, shouting for joy. “ ‘Yes, sir, I am afraid so, sir,’ said Butterbur, mistaking me. ‘He got at them, in spite of all that I could do, and they took up with him. They behaved very queer all the time they were here: willful, you might say.’ “ ‘Ass! Fool! Thrice worthy and beloved Barliman!’ said I. ‘It’s the best news I have had since midsummer: it’s worth a gold piece at the least. May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!’ said I. ‘Now I can take a night’s rest, the first since I have forgotten when.’ ”

The Ringwraiths are not done, and they are not happy at having missed the hobbits; they attack Bree again on the night of the 30th (though mostly to cause fear; it doesn't sound like anyone was actually injured, fortunately). But it shows why it really was best for the hobbits and Aragorn not to wait there another day, even though they would have met Gandalf if they had.

“So I stayed there that night, wondering much what had become of the Riders; for only of two had there yet been any news in Bree, it seemed. But in the night we heard more. Five at least came from the west, and they threw down the gates and passed through Bree like a howling wind; and the Bree-folk are still shivering and expecting the end of the world.

[seeyouatthesecondmusic]

i just started reading the quest of erebor in unfinished tales and. gandalf just said thorin called bilbo 'soft and silly'

i love this book so much already. book bagginshield is real confirmed

[cantsayidont]

Gandalf describing why he selected Bilbo for Thorin's quest, in version B of "The Quest of Erebor" (UNFINISHED TALES, 331):

That pointed at once to Bilbo. And I had known him once very well, almost up to his coming of age, better than he knew me. I liked him then. And now I found that he was "unattached" — to jump on again, for of course I did not know all this until I went back to the Shire. I learned that he had never married. I thought that odd, though I guessed why it was; and the reason that I guessed was not the one that most of the Hobbits gave me: that he had early been left very well off and his own master. No, I guessed that he wanted to remain "unattached" for some reason deep down which he did not understand himself — or would not acknowledge, for it alarmed him. He wanted, all the same, to be free to go when the chance came, or he had made up his courage. I remembered how he used to pester me with questions when he was a youngster about the Hobbits that had occasionally "gone off", as they said in the Shire. There were at least two of his uncles on the Took side that had done so.

Uh-huh.

[beatx-mavie-archangelx]

I think it's kinda funny how you can see if a The Hobbit fan is a book fan or a movie-only fan just by asking who their favourite dwarf is and why

[z3phy3r]

I cannot explain the amount of fun I'm having writing fanfiction, but my goals? Unrealistic (lmao). I'm planning on somehow writing an entire chapter of the quest (that i've barely started, mind you) and have it ready to be posted at 3pm tomorrow. I'm not overworking myself (I promise), I'm just your local dumbass making unrealistic goals for a fanfic

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Hobbit!

Been thinking about posting my own read throughs of fantasy stories and I’ve finally got a set-up that works for me, so I’m just diving right in. I’d spent a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect approach, but that was daunting and also a little boring, so for now, why not stick with the basics? I’ll be reading through The Hobbit and later The Lord of the Rings, and we’ll see what happens from there. As I'm pretty familiar with the text, be advised that if you aren't there are spoilers galore. Below are my thoughts:

Using the cardinal runes on the map (M being E at top) and the dwarven runes provided in my ebook author’s note for the Hobbit, the two runic messages upon the map can be translated early and read as follows:

“Stand by the grey stone hwen the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of durins day will shine upon the keyhole”

“Five feet high the dor and three may wock abreast. Th. Th.”

Obviously “durins” should be “Durin’s”, though a new reader wouldn’t know this (the note does clarify that the last “Th”s are initials, though). Further, the reader may be confused by the “a” rune in “last” and render it as lost, the a and o runes are nearly identical and this particular rune is actually halfway between them. As dwarven runes have no I/J or U/V distinction, only reading the note to learn this fact will clarify that “five” is not mistakenly spelled “fiue”.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

First sentence analysis: It’s pretty basic, but the fact that “hobbit” is theoretically outside of the reader’s experience does at least cause interest. Further, the imagery cast is that which the full paragraph spends trying to disavow: this isn’t a miserable ditch, but something comfier.

...bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms...

The description of the hobbit hole quickly makes it clear that Bilbo is something of a dandy – indeed by the time he’s repeating “Good morning!” to Gandalf for lack of any other ideas of what to say I suddenly found myself picturing a very short Bertie Wooster dealing with a particularly ragged Jeeves.

He may have lost the neighbours’ respect, but he gained – well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.

He did: besides the treasure (including a cool weapon and a fun cursed magical artifact designed by one of the setting equivalents of the princes of hell), he gained the friendship of Gandalf and nearly a dozen dwarves. Further, he gains quite a lot of strength of character. But we’ll get there.

There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along...

The Hobbit occupies an odd space in that it was originally designed as a simple fairy tale with no broader implications but then was tied into the greater Legendarium. Thus there are many casual statements that become much more interesting in that light – this one in particular suggests that hobbits were still extant in Britain in the early 20th century.

Bungo Baggins

I want to be mature about this but I cannot.

[Gandalf] had not been down that way under The Hill for ages and ages, not since his friend the Old Took died…

As the Old Took is Bilbo’s grandfather and Belladonna was merely one of three remarkable daughters, one wonders if Bilbo (and by extension Frodo) is the result of Gandalf’s meddling. I would not be so crass as to suggest that Gandalf was deliberately practicing the eugenics of the Bene Gesserit, but I could see him encouraging marriages across various family lines to his friends in the hopes of keeping the Shire a good and stable place as part of his overall purpose on Middle Earth.

Not the fellow who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties, about dragons and goblins and giants and the rescue of princesses and the unexpected luck of widows’ sons?

While of course Gandalf may well have been merely telling folk lore (it is a poor fantasy world where every bit of fiction is actually true), I do wonder if he had anything to do with the rescue of any princesses – and who they might be exactly. If he wasn’t personally involved, he could still tell them quite old tales indeed.

...or sailing in ships, sailing to other shores!

As this is about the adventures of other hobbits Bilbo is mentioning, I have to wonder exactly what he means by other shores – most of the known world is just the one continent plus a couple islands. This may be another thing that just doesn’t quite fit into the larger picture of the world. It’s not impossible of course, but it’s odd that Gandalf might have taken hobbits so far south as Gondor before, or to such remote places in the north as Tol Himling. And there’s certainly no other continent within sailing distance – Numenor is sunk, Valinar has been removed bar special circumstances, and the predecessors of the Americas are awfully distant. Then again, tobacco and potatoes had to come from somewhere.

“What on earth did I ask him to tea for!”

Presumably Bilbo, you were under Gandalf’s spell. Or the plot’s.

It was a dwarf with a blue beard tucked into a golden belt…

I always forget that Dwalin has a blue beard. I don’t know enough about the Legendarium to say how many dwarves have blue hair (possibly dyed?), but it does seem to be something that exists more for the fairy tale angle. Sadly, not only did Peter Jackson’s adaptation skip this crucial detail, but the cartoon made him a rather old-looking dwarf with a gray beard, almost identical to Balin who arrives next (and in fairness, is his brother).

He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he – as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful – he might have to go without.

Usually fantasy protagonists don’t start worrying about provisions until the adventure’s gotten going. Well, the ones in good stories anyway. The ones in bad stories never worry about provisions at all!

...the four dwarves sat round the table, and talked about mines and gold and troubles with the goblins, and the depredations of dragons, and lots of other things which [Bilbo] did not understand, and did not want to…

1- I’m starting to see where my own love of too many commas comes from. Curse my parents for reading this to me when I was three! They should have read Strunk & White instead!

2- Bilbo really should have paid attention so they wouldn’t have to repeat themselves later. Very rude.

...very soon two purple hoods, a grey hood, a brown hood, and a white hood were hanging on the pegs…

Dwarves might be mostly thought of for their love of metal, but apparently they have hella good dyers too. This joins the green, red, and blue hoods of the dwarves already present, which means we’ve covered effectively the whole rainbow.

...[Gandalf] had also, by the way, knocked out the secret mark that he had put there the morning before.

Gandalf, you’re kind of a dick. Oh, and the remaining dwarves with him add yellow, pale green, and sky blue, so yeah. For the very small number of fantasy writers who long to imitate Tolkien but also want to do something new, please write about dwarvish dyers, I’m begging you. Do they have an extensive collection of mineral dyes? Do they make up for any gaps in the color spectrum with cave mushrooms? What other textile work do they do?

“I suppose you will all stay to super?” he said in his politest unpressing tones.

“Of course!” said Thorin. “And after. We shan’t get through the business till late, and we must have some music first. Now to clear up!”

As someone who hates unexpected guests in general I feel a great deal of sympathy to Bilbo for being caught in my nightmare scenario, though I will give the dwarves credit for clearing up after, though the teasing song can’t have helped matters. Based on his behavior thus far, I assume that Gandalf deliberately misled the dwarves on the psychology of hobbits for a laugh. Probably spent most of Fellowship being angry that Bilbo made sure Frodo was too cultured to be put off by foreign bullshit.

Then Gandalf’s smoke-ring would go green and come back to hover over the wizard’s head.

Sounds like a good mini-game for a vidya. Of course, the purpose is to humble Bilbo even further, since he’d been proud of his smoke rings from yesterday. I wonder what weird crap Belladonna had to put up with; it doesn’t matter that she was a “crazy” Took, you know Gandalf wasn’t happy with her at first either.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells … They shaped and wrought, and light they caught To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

It’s much less prominent a theme than the decay of the elves, but it’s still very present in the Legendarium that the dwarves used to be a lot more talented than they are in the present day and wrought plenty of magic themselves. There’s also not as much of a distinction between the two kinds of magic as other settings would use – like yeah, the dwarves are mostly craftsmen while the elves are mostly hippies, but we’ll see more dwarven magic in this book that isn’t just making cool loot for level 20 adventurers.

“We like the dark,” said all the dwarves.

I’ve never heard 13 people speak in unison before but I can’t imagine it’s comfortable. This, far more than the song, would make me want to curl up and hide.

...the compliments were quite lost on poor Bilbo Baggins, who was wagging his mouth in protest at being called audacious and worst of all fellow conspirator…

Yes, Gandalf definitely made up a whole bunch of “hobbit facts” for the dwarves to memorize and each and every single one of them was so far away from the truth that if Arda hadn’t been round already it would have changed then and there just to find a place to fit all the bullshit.

Poor Bilbo couldn’t bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel.

Ignoring the anachronism (the narrator is clearly contemporaneous to the reader and thus may reference things like trains), this is the moment when it becomes clear that Bilbo is an incredible dandy indeed. Even Bertie Wooster was less of a coward than this, as skulking and ill-advised as his schemes generally were. This is precisely the kind of growth that Bilbo will need to experience over the course of this story: can he at least reconcile his Took and Baggins sides to the point where he can talk about adventure without having a full-blown panic attack? And will he be able to invent a sport that is less boring than golf in the process to redeem the family name?

“...And I assure you there is a mark on this door – the usual one in the trade, or used to be. Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward.”

Forget GRRM’s ranting about taxes, I desperately want to know how the economy of Middle Earth functions that there can be a consistent symbol to put on your door that says, “Yeah I’m down for some B&E bro”. I’m starting to think that the collapse of Arnor was less about war and plague and more about mass looting collapsing the economy. Last-King Arvedui didn’t flee to Forodwaith, he was stuffed in a bag that Thorin’s great-great-etc. uncle forgot to put air holes in.

“There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain,” said Balin, “but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if ever we arrive there.”

Balin for snarkiest, and therefore best, dwarf.

‘Five feet high the door and three may walk abreast’

Yeah geez Gandalf anyone who took the time to translate the map themselves already know this, why are you spelling it out for the audience? Too much exposition ruins a story!

“How could such a large door be kept secret from everybody outside, apart from the dragon?” he asked. He was only a little hobbit you must remember.

No it’s actually a fair question. Not sure why Tolkien’s giving him shit.

“...not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighbourhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be found.”

Aragorn was like ten at this point and I expect most of the other Rangers were pretty scarce with Tharbad having been lost thirty years ago so this actually does check out in Legendarium terms.

“Long ago in my grandfather Thror’s time our family was driven out of the far North...”

Thorin doesn’t mention it, but they were driven out of the Grey Mountains by dragons, which just goes to show. One imagines that the Ring of Thror, one of the seven, was likely the very instrument that lead to their ancestral homeland being such a tasty target, and that its powers quickly amassed them the hoard that got Smaug’s attention too. Probably for the best that Thorin never got his family’s ring based on how he acted without it.

“...the toy market of Dale was the wonder of the North.”

This however, does feel like it clashes a bit. One hopes Thorin just assumes magic artifacts of all sorts are “toys” as it seems difficult to imagine the economy of the region supporting a market of children’s goods.

“Probably, for that is the dragons’ way, he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside, and sleeps on it for a bed.”

Thorin, we all know that’s exactly what you’d be doing with it too.

“And Thrain your father went away on the twenty-first of April, a hundred years ago last Thursday...”

Captured by Sauron ninety-six years ago last Thursday, more or less, and of course Gandalf found him a few years later on a reconnaissance mission. As is Gandalf’s usual dickish wont, he left the guy there.

“I tried to save your father, but it was too late.”

Don’t argue just because I’m committing character assassination, Gandalf.

“...we must give a thought to the Necromancer.” “Don’t be absurd! He is an enemy far beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together, if they could all be collected again from the four corners of the world.”

Make it out of this book alive before you worry about the sequel, Thorin. That said, Gandalf is of course trying to regather the dwarves as part of his general attempt to get the west ready for when the Necromancer makes his next move.

It was long after the break of day, when he woke up.

Considering how intent the dwarves were on breakfast, I suppose Gandalf told them all in the night that hobbits explode if woken up forcibly or something.

That’s the end of the chapter though. Considering the fantasy’s genre predilection for long, wandering tomes, it also has to be noted that Tolkien manages to stuff quite a lot into the first chapter. Bilbo, Gandalf, and Thorin are well-defined as characters at this point (and the rest of the dwarves are pretty interchangeable anyway), the quest is clearly defined, and much of its back half is at least foreshadowed (Murkwood, Long-Lake, the Mountain itself). Indeed, Tolkien even has room for the pretty extraneous talk of Moria and the Necromancer’s domain, neither of which will be visited in this story.

[poedameronwifey]

A true home(The hobbit Fanfic)

Chapter 8

Girls' outfits

Kate's Pov

I woke to something warm laying on my body. I noticed that it was still dark out but not too dark. I opened my eyes and noticed a fur coat over me like a blanket. I heard a sound next to me and realised that I slept in the living room near the fire with Renée leaning against. I noticed that she also had a fur coat over her but it was darker.

I shook her in an attempt to wake her up. I looked around and noticed Lilith wasn't too far from me so I crawled to her and shook her. She opened her eyes and looked at me with a glare.

"You have 5 seconds to explain why you just fucking woke me up."

"We are leaving soon but we need to make some breakfast for everyone. I need your help, Renée is still knocked out."

She looked behind me and saw that Renae was still in deep sleep and knew there was nothing or no one who could wake her. Lilith groaned but agreed, getting up and yawning.

We both walked past the sleeping dwarves and tried to be as quiet as possible because they needed to rest. The journey was going to be a bitch. I walked into the pantry and realised I could make bacon and eggs. I heard movement behind me so I turned around, Thorin yawned as he walked to me.

"Oh good morning, master Thorin. Lilith and I are about to make breakfast for everyone. You guys need your strength."

I smiled at him as I got the ingredients and walked to the kitchen, Thorin following behind me.

"Thank Lady Kate. It is much appreciated. I will wake the others. I would like to leave at dawn so we can cover as much ground as possible. Please let me know if you need some help. I'll let Bombur know as he is the cook for our group."

He smiled softly at me but it dropped a bit as he looked at what was on my shoulders. I looked at the coat I had on.

"Oh I found this on me this morning. I think one of them gave it to me to make sure I was warm."

"That belongs to Fili. If you would like I can give it to him, Lady Kate."

He offered his hand indicating that he would take the coat. I took it off and gave it to him.

"Oh thank you. I'll be sure to thank him when he wakes up. Oh and please just call me Kate. I'm the furthest thing from a lady."

I rubbed the back of my nape, looking at the floor awkwardly. Thorin just chuckled at my shyness.

"Very well La-Kate. I shall go and wake the others now."

He walked out to wake the others. Lilith and I got to work and started making breakfast. Bombur came in to help us and told us about himself and his family. 14 children?!! Damn. That's amazing. I could never.. I hope I get to meet them one day.

Soon breakfast was served and everyone was in the living room. Bombur, Lilith and I brought the food and asked that they be very quiet as Dad was still sleeping and I don't want to wake him up. I noticed Renée wasn't with them so I went to the living room and noticed she was still sleeping.

I sighed, facepalmed mentally and shook my head. I kneeled in front of her and shook her. She groaned and hid her face behind her hands.

"Bitch get the fuck up now or there will be no food left. And I'll pour water on you,"

She immediately sat up at the mention of food and stood up. The coat that was on her fell to the floor and she noticed it, picking it up,

"Whose is this? I don't remember putting this on when we went to sleep."

"I think one of the dwarves did. Now let's go. You can ask them."

I dragged her to the living room and made her sit down. Everyone had eaten so we quickly had a portion. Lilith took the dishes to the kitchen and Bombur helped clean up as well as the rest. Renée finally remembered the coat and looked at them.

"Hey, is this one of yours? It was on me this morning."

Kili blushed a little and walked up to her, taking it from her.

"Yeah that's mine. I didn't want you to get cold."

Renée was blushing like crazy and looked at the floor, muttering a thank you before heading to her room. The others were all grinning at Kili, and some even winked at him.

I tried not to laugh. Kili likes Renée. I knew it. They are so cute. I decided to get changed so I went to my room and changed my clothes. I was starting to second guess everything. I don't want to leave Dad after finding him after so long.

But I know I need to help the dwarves. I have to save the line of Durin. I'm scared that I'll never see dad again. I know he will join us soon but the doubt is still there. I can't give in to my fear. I can do this. Plus I have Renée and Lilith so I know I can overcome this.

I checked myself once more before heading to the living room where the others were.

Lilith's Pov

I was cleaning up and making sure everything was in order before heading to the living room. I saw Thorin talking to Dwalin and Balin about who knows what so I walked up to them.

"Morning gents. Are we ready? Physically I am but mentally, not even close. Sorry I'm like this in the morning but you'll get used to it. What's the plan?"

I was rambling at this point but I honestly didn't care. Balin explained that we'd be travelling on ponies and try to cover as much ground as possible. Since there weren't enough ponies, the girls and I had to share with one of the dwarves. I nodded.

"Oh this is going to be fun. I've never travelled on a pony before. I mean I have done horse riding but not for long periods of time. I don't want to imagine my legs at the end of the day."

I groaned thinking about how sore my legs will be. They just laughed at me, making me pout. I went to look for Renée and she was in her room, doing her hair.

I took over and brushed her hair for her, I wish I had her hair. It was so long and soft not to mention curly. I absolutely love her hair. I put half of her hair up in a braid and left the rest loose. She thanked me and did my hair for me. I just told her to put it up in a ponytail and she put small braids on the side letting it hang. I put my mom's bead at the end of the bride before hiding it in my hair. We were finally ready.

We got our bags and went outside where the others were. They all smiled at us, making us feel very warm inside. I walked to Thorin and he informed me that Kate will ride with Fili, Renee with Kili and I will ride with Bofur. I nodded and let the girls know.

I grinned, knowing that Kate would be shy the whole time she was riding with Fili and Renée will probably just be oblivious to Kili's flirting attempts. I can't wait to tease them later. I know I'm such a fun sister. But when am I going to have another opportunity like this? We were finally ready to go so we set off on the road onto our new adventure.

I hope Bilbo shows up soon.

Renée's Pov

Lilith informed me that I'm riding with Kili. Kate and I walked over to Fili and Kili. They noticed us making our way over to them and grinned. We just rolled our eyes at them. Only they would be this energetic in the morning.

"Hey boys. Looks like we're riding with you today."

They nodded excitedly and walked to their ponies. I suddenly realised something. I looked at Kili and noticed he was a little bit taller than me. How did I not see that? I felt someone shake me and snapped out of my thoughts. I looked to see Kate's hands on my shoulders, looking at me with a worried look. I told her I was fine.

I realised that the boys were up on the ponies already so I walked to Kili. He grinned at me and offered his hand. I rolled at his antics. I can't fall for him. I can't give in no matter how much I want to. He helped me up and I sat in front of him. I put my hands in the pony's hair, smiling. I felt Kili's hands leaning on my thighs holding the reins and his breath on my neck.

I tried not to freak out but it was becoming very hard not to. This was all so new to me. I've never been in this situation before. I tried not to think about it and pushed it to the back of my mind. Focus Renée. You're not here to fall in love. You are here to save him and that's it.

We finally got on the road. I talked to everyone. Turness out Ori was the youngest, Bifur was Bofur and Bombur's cousin and he had an accident making him unable to speak anything except Khuzdul. It has been a while since we left. Everyone was making bets to see if uncle Bilbo would show up. The girls and I decided to take part and bet that he would. Suddenly we heard someone yelling.

"Wait!"

I turned my head and saw Bilbo running down the road after us. I knew he'd show up. I had no doubt about it. Plus I don't think he liked the idea of letting his daughters travel with a bunch of men, well dwarves. Everyone stopped their ponies and turned to his direction,

"I signed it!"

He hands the contract over to Balin who looks it over.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield."

"Give him a pony."

"No, no, that won't be necessary, I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once."

Fili and Kili rode alongside Bilbo and hoisted him onto the pony. Kate and I laughed behind our hands while Lily just smirked and shook her head. He looked so uncomfortable. We rode up to him.

"Um Pops, you know the pony can sense your distress, You need to relax."

He attempted to relax and managed to but he still looked uncomfortable. Kat was laughing at him. He then started sneezing and rubbing his nose.

"Oh, all this horse hair. I'm having a reaction."

He searched in his pocket for something. He looked up in panic when he couldn't find it,

"Wait! Wait! Stop! We have to turn around."

"My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?"

"I forgot my handkerchief!"

From the front of the line, Bofur tears a piece of cloth from his shirt. He tosses it to Bilbo.

"Here, use this!"

Bilbo caught the rag and looked at it in disgust.

"Move on!"

We resumed our journey. Kate took out her spare handkerchief and gave it to Bilbo. Of course Bilbo would ask to turn around for a handkerchief but honestly I expected nothing less. Trust Kate to have a spare.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead."

I took in Gandalf's words. I wasn't ready for what was going to come but I knew I had to face it for the sake of the line of Durin. I wasn't going to give up.

[failing-thought]

Yo does anyone know the name of a hobbit AU where they didn't get the mountain open? I've been looking for it and cannot find it

[mrkida-art]

Prince Balin of Durin's Folk

[velvet4510]

It took the Ring two seconds to make both Isildur and Gollum claim it as their own.

It didn’t take much longer for it to make Bilbo do the same, as he kept it as the key “trick up his sleeve” during the Quest for Erebor and never considered harming it.

But in 17 full years and 6 months, it couldn’t make Frodo claim it. It took being inside Mt. Doom, the place where its power was absolute and drowned out all othere, to get Frodo to claim it.

Inside Mt. Doom, no bearer can resist the Ring. They will inevitably claim it there. But literally ALL of the other Ring-bearers who ever claimed it did so outside of Mt. Doom.

The Ring never needed to apply its utmost, Cracks-of-Doom-level pressure to make any previous Ring-bearer claim it. Frodo was the only one who resisted it so long and so well that it had to force itself upon him and break him just to get him to regard it as his own.

Frodo Baggins is the strongest mortal in the Third Age of Middle-Earth and no, I am not accepting questions at this time.

(Remember our beloved Samwise Gamgee never claimed the Ring, and didn’t have it long enough for it to really sink its teeth into him as deeply as it did into everyone else. I’m talking about those who actually claimed the Ring at some point in their lives.)

[lightcreators]

look at me meme / @tiimecrash​

Condensed  lifetime  had  been  experienced  inside  one  second  ;  that  cannot  be  measured  inside  actual  period  he  passed,  for  be  as  merely  minutes  passed  since  his  return.  During  decades,  inside  that  gentle  sensation  of  that  upcomping  belonging  someday  to  the  stars,  he  had  been  dreaming  on  that  moment  when  his  humble  Hobbit  self  would  cross  path  of  a  Time  Lord  ….  an  certain  gear  that  will  be  set  in  motion,  that  cannot  be  stopped  anymore,  who  wasn’t  anymore  accessible  from  his  distance,  who  cannot  been  cancelled  anymore.  Someday,  his  goodbye  with  the  Doctor  will  be  looking  as  a  far  away  foreshadowing  move  of  another  reunion  from  someone  else  …  of  that  inevitable  sentiment  following  circumstances  of  their  own  world  …  of  that  responsability  touch  of  realization  towards  circumstances.  Even  if  his  disappareance  lasted  from  their  perspective  a  couple  of  minutes,  even  since  he  leaved  behind  that  blue  box  full  of  remembrances  elements,  he  had  been  expecting  Gandalf  welcoming  with  warm  riddles  or  offering  an  serious  expression  over  his  responsabilities.  Nevertheless,  even  a  magican  —  especially  a  magician  —  can  understood  weight  inside  his  fragile  shoulders  when  he  perceived  the  future  of  an  woman  who  had  fallen  from  the  stars.  Nevertheless,  especially  a  wizard  could  understand  complexity  of  affections  when  a  vow  of  silence  tourmented  him  —  no  one  could  know  what  happened  inside  that  box  of  memories.  No  one  could  know  density  of  knoweldge  he  received  from  that  witch  from  another  universe,  who  barely  crossed  around  his  universe  without  touch  it.  No  one  could  know  couple  of  knoweldge  that  cannot  be  exposed,  when  certain  events  were  to  be  foreshadowed.  Inside  these  travels,  nothing  about  himself  had  been  exposed.  Featherine  never  exposed  something  over  the  future  to  came  —  but  he  had  been  the  one  facing,  but  he  had  been  the  one  realization,  all  these  circumstances,  that  meeting  itself,  all  of  these  moments  had  been  experienced  before  …  and  the  other  end  cannot  know  about  it.  Before  facing,  inside  an  place  who  wasn’t  inside  familiarty  of  his  memories,  another  face  of  an  dear  loved  one  —  who  changed,  who  learn  to  live  a  portion  of  his  life  without  him,  where  consciousness  of  their  universe  difference  touched  him  frontally.  Where  he  understood,  afterwards  that  strange  meeting  between  dimensions,  without  the  eyes  of  a  witch  on  them,  where  they  was  a  chance  to  be  together  again,  he  would  have  to  carry  the  burden.  The  lady  from  the  stars  he  knew  inside  his  current  universe  cannot  know  she  will  one  day  travelling  once  more  inside  the  universes  and  live  others  experiences  …  The  lady  of  the  stars  sublimating  his  daily  life  would  one  day  leaving  him  for  others  borders.  It  was  a  future  he  perceived,  a  certain  future.

Regrets  about  maybe  not  be  an  caring  presence  over  Featherine  Augustus  Aurora  would  always  tourmenting  him  somewhere  inside  his  mind.  Worries  about  his  low  influence  inside  her  actions  and  how  much  he  was  supposed  to  influence  others  with  her  legacy  will  probably  never  stop  tourmenting  him.  Created  moves  cannot  be  cancelled.  There  will  be  no  way  for  wish  for  another  chance  to  touch  another  possibility  once  another  decision  had  been  made  …  Gandalf  trusted  him,  entrusted  him  with  carefulness  they  had  been  realizing  circumstances.  He  foolishly  thought  it  will    be  easy.  Besides,  as  much  it  displeased  him,  he  had  to  preparing  Featherine’s  legacy  to  the  Game  Master  that  will  show  up  inside  their  universe.  He  was  the  supporter  of  the  Game  Master  to  come,  nevertheless,  sensed  his  interferences  would  be  limited  directly.  Even  inside  an  more  personal  manner,  he  would  have  to  be  an  protective  presence  towards  the  sunshine  Time  Lady  who  illuminated  his  life.  He  refused  to  hide  that  portion  of  that  life  from  her.  He  refused  to  never  spoke  of  that  infinity  of  existence  experienced  in  a  few  seconds.  However,  even  since  he  appreciated  calmness  of  his  countryside  without  changing  his  old  habits,  he  did  great  take  care  to  push  behind  and  sealing  drawings  and  written  remembrances  concerning  her  future  self.  It  would  be  the  only  one  sealed  lock  he  would  have  to  keep  preciously  for  himself.  Meantime,  he  wanted  assuring  himself  she  will  be  fine  —  that  she  will  still  appreciating  that  peaceful  life  as  always,  sometimes  welcomed  by  an  magician  filled  of  mysteries,  that  gravity  and  maturity  of  his  expression  won’t  be  taken  wrongly.  On  his  side,  he  didn’t  wanted  to  forget  these  stories  he  won’t  be  able  to  tell.  These  tales  in  which  he  had  been  the  reader,  in  which  he  would  to  becoming  differently  the  author,  had  to  bring  an  understandable  meaning.

It  was  indeed  possible,  a  long  time  ago,  before  that  moment  was  sent  in  motion,  his  existence  had  been  unconcerned  of  potential  responsabilities  inside  his  shoulders.  He  observed  his  colleagues  amusingly  from  an  far  away  gaze,  fullfilled  of  affections,  where  there  was  an  appreciation  of  details  he  never  cared  to  looking  too  much.  He  was  sensible  to  how  the  lady  coming  from  the  stars  reacted  every  day.  Often,  he  was  thoughtful.  Often,  he  was  watching  over  that  sky,  wandering  about  that  witch  could  do  between  dimensions  …  On  that  day  when  he  left  open  the  windows  and  was  arranging  various  notebooks  and  sketchbooks,  curiousity  of  Sola  was  pleasant  to  perceiving.  He  didn’t  know  how  to  explain  it.  He  didn’t  know  how  he  could  even  exposing  an  fragment  of  the  truth.  Featherine  hadn’t  been  here,  even  if  she  had  been  coming  accidentally,  for  return  her  inside  her  universe.  Himself  didn’t  know  if  there  was  an  TARDIS  somewhere  sleeping  inside  his  universe  …  Himself  didn’t  know  how  circumstances  would  bring  evolution  inside  their  story  …  He  knew  the  beginning.  He  knew  the  end.  He  hoped  for  an  nice  epilogue.  As  far  he  remember,  he  never  draw  that  blue  box  often  —  magnificient  landscapes  of  locations  he  remembered  faintly  to  have  touched  inside  another  timeline  desired  to  been  exposed  …  besides  he  mostly  visited  planets  who  wasn’t  that  much  different  of  his  world.  Peaceful  moments  associated  to  fairy  magic  for  an  Hobbit  :  an  illusion  of  appearances  of  something  sinister  who  was  hanging,  an  illusion  of  calmness  while  an  Time  Lord  reached  another  perspective  …  He  sensed  his  own  thoughtfulness,  that  silent  ache  inside  his  heart.    ❝  I  don’t  know  how  long  I’ve  been  gone.  Since  theoretically,  I  never  left.  It  was  just  a  few  minutes.  I  could  never  talk  about  everything  I  saw,  everything  I’ve  written,  everything  I’ve  drawn,  everything  I’ve  experienced  in  these  memories  …  That  universe  will  not  understand.  My  universe  will  not  understand.  However,  I  don’t  want  to  hide  it  from  you.    ❞  He  dared  recognized  silency  their  universe  difference  that  would  be  always  standing,  when  contact  of  their  closeness  inside  that  break  of  his  brightness  created  a  desire  to  touch  her  hair.    ❝  The  stars  that  I  have  touched  will  only  be  memories  that  will  one  day  be  in  danger  of  being  extinguished,  which,  like  a  dream,  appeared  during  a  moment  of  a  night  —  cruel  distance  of  these  distant  stars  …  to  which  I  must  take  care  to  one  that  comes  from  them.    ❞

[michoodles]

So I read a fic this day's about this concept and I'm crazy with this, the idea is that Bungo and Belladonna die when Bilbo is still too young to take care of himself and the rest of the Shine doesn't want to receive him on their homes, so Gandalf as the friend of Belladonna that he was he adopts Bilbo and take him to his adventures.

And on the way, Bilbo end ups been the one that destroys the ring ( all this before the quest to Erebor ) and he's actually the one that keeps the company alive during all the travel.

And I love seeing a scary and anxious Bilbo taking care of 13 dwarfs by himself.

[re-bogwitch]

The fact that Bilbo has no idea what the Arkenstone is until they are IN EREBOR is wild to me, especially considering we’re lead to believe that Thorin and Bilbo are already super close at this point in the movie trilogy

So we can only assume Thorin had enough conversation with Bilbo for them to become bonded, and not once did the purpose of the fucking quest even get mentioned?

At no point was Bilbo like “btw what am I stealing?”

Like????

Those fuckers literally just had heart shaped goggles on for each other the whole time huh. They had no real conversations, just yearning

[awisetoad]

Ahahah thank you! I scrolled back and found that post, and after not having looked at it in quite a while I forgot all the stuff I touched on. I do have more to add tho

also tagging @error-reality-not-found bc they liked all the other posts

what did they eat: part 2, electric boogaloo

so last time I kind of considered their diet in terms of maybe what I'd consider a meal (protein + carbs, but little veg given the reaction in Rivendell to the salad lmao). It's unlikely, but there is a chance they are existing on MOSTLY meat because… I mean, I suppose you can kind of forage wild tubers and roots, tho it's not really feasible to be finding and digging them up in the quantities they'd need to meet what we'd consider a normal macro split every day while on the road.

honestly, its worth exploring that mostly-hunting-some-foraging line of inquiry anyway bc that's how so many fics seem to portray the start of the journey.

and boy howdy does this need a cut.

but first: it's far more likely that they'd set out from wherever packing some stuff along. I know I cited bombur baking bread, but idk if that's right. I did some investigating and it seems like prime candidates would've been, like, oats (or rice? and corn but I also dunno about harvest season so maybe its barley or farro or something idk), and possibly some kind of hardtack and/or bannock. probably some hard cheeses and fresh fruit for the first days, but not so much that it ends up spoiling. potatoes could keep, but again idk about seasonality and they are too heavy bc of the water weight compared to shit like oats & grains in terms of calories vs weight. you really can't forget the weight of it all, bc they'll need more ponies to carry whatever amount of provisions they choose to pack to supplement their hunting and gathering AND ponies to carry whatever the weight is of processed game after each hunting session ON TOP OF the ones they are riding AND however many are carrying their non-edible supplies (like the cook pot)

like, here's an example that's just a rough estimate but if everyone has 1 cup of (uncooked) oats a day that's like 300-some calories? I think that weighs 81 grams per person, so 1,215g per day which makes 36,450g across ~30 days, from Bree to Rivendell which makes… 80lbs/36kg of oatmeal I guess? and looks like that's about in the ballpark of what a pony can carry.

(I am staring right at Gloin and his coin purse lmfao)

personally I think packing provisions from the Shire/Bree is essential, but if they run out (or they are washed away down the river by a spooked pony, lookin' at you Book!canon) we might be looking at strictly hunting/foraging for a while.

for foraged stuff like tubers, mushrooms, and probably some stew-friendly greens for fiber that Ori definitely picks around… I don't know the feasibility of gathering enough to make what we'd consider a proper portion per person. I wouldn't be surprised if they threw in as much as they could find honestly just to stretch what else they have. nuts, seeds, berries I imagine would be more like road snacks/lunch during travel days (along with jerky, but we'll get to that) especially if they keep well during travel

also, I quick googled caloric needs for a backpacking trip and it looks like maybe somewhere around 4,000+ calories is the ballpark for hiking in mountainous terrain which does line up with my past-self's googling on that previous post, so. I'll stick to how I calculated game before. If we take a sec and explore that hunting-and-foraging-only diet per above (making them…keto?) the game requirements end up kind of doubling from my last post. We're looking at having to hunt about, what, 60,000 calories worth of meat per day for the group?

Which means, based on the numbers in my other post—

> They'd need to hunt 2 deer, or 2 boar, or 8 good-sized fish, or 8-14 ducks, or 20 rabbits, OR a whopping 82 squirrels* every single day.

jfc uH

holy shit.

ahem, anyway

the logistics of that fuckery

I inquired with some of my buds & some internet folks who have more hunting experience than I, and (as stated in my last post) there's no reasonable way you can hunt & trap at that scale effectively on a literal daily basis, especially if that means having to strike camp, ride 3-4 hours (to hit that 10/mi a day posited by that Atlas of Middle Earth map) set up camp again, and then the time it takes to then process & cook your kills.

not to mention, not every spot along their path will even make for good hunting at all. and while some days you score big, some days you don't score at all.

google tells me that prime hunting time for lots of kinds of game is around dawn and dusk as well, so there's no way people would be sleeping enough with that kind of schedule.

I maintain it's much more likely they're doing some hard hiking/riding for ~20 or so miles (what I googled of pony stamina) for several days until they find the best possible camp that will let them maximize their hunt/forage potential, and then they're at camp for several days just resupplying and letting the horses rest.

and like, obviously, they are mixing and matching game— so like, 1 deer and 1 boar, or 1 deer and 4 fish, or some combination of small game critters that adds up to the equivalent of 82 goddamn squirrels ahaha what the fuck

Which means, fishing, fishing nets, all manner of traps for all kinds of critters which all take time to set and check every day, kili and thorin become an arrow factory, several members of the company are working together to drive boar straight to bifur (the scene from outlander of the boar hunt was enlightening). The foraging folks foraging. Who is out there? The whole damn company, apparently.

You need to catch enough food for the days in camp as well as enough for the days of travel ahead. so, maybe 2 or 3 days moving, 2 or 3 in camp, we'll estimate 5 days worth of game at a time? which means you need to have some kind of home team to handle processing the utterly astronomical 410 squirrels you've somehow managed to bring home.

is it 410 squirrels or hundreds of beavers

(it does work out to ~5 per day, per person in the company. that's two squirrels for breakfast, one for lunch, two for dinner and your actual caloric needs are met. so… jfc hahaha)

(for the love of god someone check my math)

Honestly, most of the edible meat is probably getting turned into some kind of preserved thing for travel days— cold smoking jerky or sausage (given the free natural casings would be otherwise wasted). meat hand pies if Bombur has flour in the provisions? —and in-camp during these off days you're probably making use of the much faster to spoil, and less… uh… desirable? stuff. like the organs, like the bones, marrow, the kind of shit we grind up & call "mechanically separated"… use every part of those 410 squirrels, along with any foraged items that won't keep, know what I mean?

and keep in mind all this processing as well as preserving methods also require like labor and time so its not like you really get much of an "off" day. I did find several ways to smoke meat over open flame but they do require like 12 hours of tending a fire lol so more evidence they're staying put for a while in order to render their game useful over the next few travel days.

and then they get to do it again over the next 5 day stretch… and maybe even the next, resulting in the wholesale slaughter of 1,230 squirrels over 15 days.

assuming in this example that the provisions from Bree only lasted a fortnight until they ran out, spoiled, or were an unfortunate casualty of a spooked horse and they spent the other half of the 30-days-to-Rivendell systematically collapsing the ecosystem

so that's a lot of fucking food

uh, yeah.

I think there's basically two huge points to make that could explain why thorins company might not actually be a walking ecological disaster:

they weren't actually meeting their caloric needs consistently (or at all, lol— canonically they spend a lot of time starving). there's several reasons this could be. one: spooked pony forces them to exclusively rely on hunting game and foraging and they have a lot of days with little-to-no scores. two: pre-spooked pony, they rely far more heavily on provisions from the Shire/Bree and thus hundreds of squirrels are spared in the first half of the trip in favor of oatmeal & bread. three: dwarves' special canonical earth-bread tubers are shockingly nutritionally dense and prolific to forage along their entire route.

dwarves are hardy, and "hardiness" means they can survive for far, far longer than humans can without starving to death or even really losing muscle mass. thus generally they need wayyyyyy less calories than I calculated. I honestly think this is correct, and even tho this is kinda the opposite end of the spectrum from most of the arguments I just made about supply quantities, we also don't see the implications of this explored much at all either (and even if we do, it's usually not until we hit Mirkwood).

Honestly, it could make for interesting dynamics if you consider dwarves may not initially realize they need to feed their non-dwarf members far more often than they need to eat themselves unless they want to accidentally starve their romantic interest their tag alongs—

("wtf do you mean, second breakfast"

"I knew hobbits needed to eat more, but you need to eat how much?!?! I guess that ruins all of my carefully budgeted provisioning. no, no don't worry about it, it's fine, fuck, we may as well go get the damn handkerchiefs given we need to go back and buy many, many more pounds of oats and like… twelve more ponies."

or

"oh shit we only caught one fish to last all 15 of us the next several days but uhh we kind of have to give it Bilbo or he'll starve to death— it's ok, the rest of us can wait another 3 days of travel to eat we'll be fine haha *sobbing* and hopefully wizards can conjure their own calories who tf knows")

so how do they know how to do all that?

again, I know Tolkien's extended canon works paint the picture of dwarves mostly not getting involved with farming or animal husbandry, instead preferring a symbiotic relationship with Men's settlements in order to stock their larders. but, as I think I said before (I barely remember at this point lol) I think it's reasonable to assume that isn't the entire story:

tolkien was very elf-biased and dwarf culture was "secretive" (aka not explored as much); thus, we could assume that the people "recording" this information about dwarves did not have a complete understanding

we can assume that the much-preferred symbiotic lifestyle the dwarves of Erebor enjoyed due to its prime location as a center of trade in the north was straight-up deleted after the sacking of Erebor. life as they knew it fundamentally changed and they had to adapt as refugees, picking up skills they wouldn't have needed before

maybe Fundin took Balin and Dwalin cave-fishing as kids, or they learned it from lake-town. maybe boar is one kind of game found from erebor to ered luin, so bifur is in his element anywhere. maybe fili and kili learned to shoot and trap from rangers in eraidor. maybe bofur, being good at ropes and knots as a miner, can rig up a fishing net easily. or maybe that's dori, if you follow the Fanon that he's a weaver. maybe Ori's actually really fucking accurate with that sling— look up native sling hunting on YouTube.

I do think that Gloin, being the one seemingly bankrolling the expedition along with maybe Balin, would be responsible for calculating, provisioning, and budgeting for the journey from Ered Luin, and acquiring ponies somewhere in the Shire, and then provisioning once again in Bree for the next stretch.

But also consider that they likely had a real plan for that next stretch and resupply point (that doesn't involve elves) that didn't end up working out given that more than a few unfortunate events happened (spooked pony, trolls, elves, realizing they had a deadline at all lmfao). Like. Where were they going next, before the trolls fucked everything up? around thru dunland? were they going to resupply originally in Rohan? or is there a settlement other than Beorn's they might've aimed for? Who knows.

endnotes

I think this sufficiently paints a vivid picture of the absurd amount of planning, effort, time, cost, supplies, and other various considerations that need to be done for this kind of excursion, and how crazy it is that we just gloss right tf over it ahahah

also the timeline for thorin meeting Gandalf, returning to ered luin, provisioning, traveling to a meeting in spaghetti-land, and then to hobbiton is bunk and I have another ted talk about that

and about bed rolls.

I'm not gonna link stuff bc it'd be too much, but my sources are shit like a billion hours of bushcraft camping/cooking videos, act/pct thru hike videos, the lewis and clark expedition records, Townsends and tasting history and Sohla's history food show on YouTube, the original Native American diet & pemmican, early human hunter-gatherer societies, fandabi dozi on YouTube, wagon trail cowboy shit, how to feed the crew of a 17th century ship while at sea, primitive food preparation pre-refrigeration, how medieval armies razed the countryside while marching to war, and personal real-life experience that includes but is not limited to: professional catering experience, feeding my 30-person extended family for every holiday growing up, feeding many bachelorette and stag parties for more than a few days bc I'm in my wedding attendance era.

anyway thank you for coming to my dissertation, apparently ted talk, happy to answer q's or expound on anything that might be unclear :)

*(it's possible it's even more than 82 squirrels/day because I have no idea if my past-self took Bilbo and Gandalf into account so I might be off by 2 entire people's worth of food, and fuck if I am going to attempt to figure out how many calories a hobbit needs. I'm not checking, I don't think I care to discover whether we have our first entries to eriador's endangered species list)

also fucking 82 squirrels that will literally never not be funny I am wheezing and crying right now in real life, good god

Not one of my normal posts, but:

Who do you think would go hunting for the Company during their travel to Erebor?

Would it be Dwalin?

Bifur?

Would Kili and Fili go out to hunt for the food?

Or would it be Thorins purpose also, to provide for his companions as the leader of the adventure.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I’ve thought overnight about it, and:

I’ve got a lineup (from most often to least often)!!!

1. Gloin (we all know this man makes everything a completion, his game is the best, his wife is the best, his hair is the nicest copper color, his son is the best, we could go on and on) he prides himself on the kill he makes for the company.

2. Bifur I cannot use words to describe how vicious yet clean this dwarrow is with his kills. When Bifur kills an animal, it is left so perfectly, it looks like it’s alive, perfect for cooking and using every bit of the body they need

3. Suprisingly is Dwalin! We know our warrior is a bit rough around the edges all over, but he cares for his fellow kin in a subtle way, such as making sure they eat so they can “Put that food to good use and use your brain for once!”

4. Fili and Kili (cuz they a duo) Kili normally does the killing of Deer and such with his arrow, while Fili will take down physically with a dagger, Fili normally goes for the neck right away, Kili goes for the lungs of what he shoots at when hunting