Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
Not to belabour the point, but Bilbo said it another time, before the previous quote I mentioned.
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Okay, go ahead and belabor it.
I forgot the entirety of that particular passage (as I haven't been consulting TH directly and admittedly don't know it as well as the other books. I read LotR when I was 11 and loved it. I kept trying to read TH and didn't manage to get through it until I was somewhere in my 20s. Different style of presentation, I suppose).
There does seem to be a certain "after this, I will ask nothing more of you" aspect to Gandalf's statement. And if one looks at Bilbo's statement, there appears to be an oddness to it, in that Bilbo owes the Dwarves nothing, they are in fact in his debt, and yet they are asking more of him. Which gives the phrase an almost "third strike and you're out" feel, saying that he will allow this much and no more. So perhaps it really is the nature of the phrase that bears the closer examination and not a debt that may not even exist. The point of confusion, in my muzzy brain at least, is no doubt the matter of the Eagle King who owed a genuine debt to Gandalf.
As I can get into etymology and semantics just as happily, I find that giving the exchange between Gwaihir and Gandalf more thought, Gandalf's addition of "if you are willing" would indicate that the phrase is being employed in the Hobbitish manner that Bilbo used. He is in Gwaihir's debt, and if Gwaihir is willing to do this final favor, he will ask no more of him, even though Gwaihir appears perfectly willing to do more, as he answers "I will bear you whither you would, though you were made of stone" (quoting from memory, here, please excuse any errors).
Okay, so it would seem that the Hobbits have a somewhat peculiar phrase that Gandalf adopted and applied to matters between himself and Gwaihir. I'll buy that. And I'll also buy the truth that no matter how many times you've read a beloved book, there are always things you miss.