Hobbit2 - Chapter 02 - Roast Mutton

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

...It's the dwarves who may be the most jarring, and different from LOTR. Although, the only dwarf we get to know in LOTR is Gimli. And really TH-dwarves prove the essential personality trait in LOTR. LOTR tells us Dwarves are tough to tame, don't easily forget those who have aggrieved them, but also remember proven friends. The Dwarves never abandon Bilbo's friendship (even when Sauron's messenger comes looking for information from them in LOTR) and Gloin extends kindness to Frodo based on being Bilbo's relative.

It seems to me that Gimli comes as a warrior resplendant, fresh from the gloriously rebuilt and refortified Lonely Mountain, wealthy, self-confident, and bold. In contrast, what we have in The Hobbit are a rag-tag assemblage of -- excuse me, but they admitted it-- coal-diggers and iron-miners. Thorin's thirteen are not all dwarves at the peak of their culture and glory. They are slummers; survivors; stubborn dreamers; and rather unlikely adventurers.

Somehow I doubt, if the timing and destiny had been otherwise, that (for instance) Bombur would have been selected as one of Frodo's nine companions. Gimli may be the token dwarf in the Fellowship, but consider the Fellowsihp's token elf is a prince, both men are heirs of great importance, and the leader is a Maia. Some of the members of Thorin's group are more like Pippin and Merry-- along for the trip whether they strictly belong or not.

TH dwarves are a motley lot; characters; unlikely; a ragtag coal-besmirched rabble, although a few of the leaders (similar to Aragorn) have some bloodlines to their name. That they have musical instruments is a good sign-- they remember their songs; they have not forgotten their heritage; they remember their culture; but by their own admission they haven't been living it for a while.

Can you imagine Gimli showing up at Rivendell with a bag of tools and a shovel?

The scene much later in the dragon's lair where the dwarves roam the treasure, fingering and hefting and studying various items, is a huge transition. It strikes me as the beginning of the end of their old life. One could assign that to the beginning of the book too, I suppose, but to me, the difference between Gimli and (say) Fili and Kili, is the transformation wrought by being a son of the Mountain, and the treasure and creativity and art and heritage-- and responsibility, and maturity, and majesty-- that goes with it.