The title of this chapter seems to foreshadow Frodo's alias in FotR! We also meet the primary foes of LotR here, the goblins/orcs. They are more dangerous than the trolls, of course, especially since they are said to be intelligent in their own way, but it's early in this tale and they seem to be less important here than in the Middle-earth we see later.
How do you see Gandalf's actions in this episode? Can Fili and Kili be blamed for saying the cave is safe when even the wizard couldn't find anything suspicious on closer examination?
Bilbo seems to be just luggage in this chapter - that reminds me of Merry's complaint of being treated like baggage by the Rohirrim in LotR.
How would our reading of this chapter be different if we didn't always have the thought of LotR in the back of our minds?
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Link to the previous discussion)
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
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