Giants....

[Mattius]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I always thought of their mention as real. When the Dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo are on the mountain path in the storm, Thorin indeed mentions that he doesn't want to be picked up by a giant and kicked like a football. But few sentences before Bilbo takes a peek out of their shelter and sees the giants throwing stones, and they all hear them laughing*.

But I don't believe they were on Caradhras (as I said before).

*If some of you read On Fairy-stories, it might also be of some concern what Tolkien says about Thor...

But is this literal or metaphroical? Perhaps 'seeing' the giants throwing stones is the boulders crashing down the mountain and the 'laughing' is the sounds they makes mixed with howling wind and rain.