Fattest of the Dwarves

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

But then, many opera singers (who obviously have huge lungs) are fat too!

Careful now, or Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe will be on your case

What I like best about Bombur is that his existence means they have made a unique Lego minifigure that has a little belly as an accessory you can attach. Course this means Bombur can go on a miracle diet, or you can also make Fili and Kili (or any of the policemen in Lego City, or well, any minifigure...) look pregnant.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Careful now, or Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe will be on your case

Hey hey I said some, not all!

or you can also make Fili and Kili (or any of the policemen in Lego City, or well, any minifigure...) look pregnant.

This is amazing. I may have to get some Hobbit Lego figures now, just to prove what Thorin's penetrating gaze can do to the unwary.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

This is amazing. I may have to get some Hobbit Lego figures now, just to prove what Thorin's penetrating gaze can do to the unwary.

I now have some unsavoury ideas of things to do with Lego and davem's stop-motion film camera android app thingie...

Really not so true these days since they are required to act rather than just stand and deliver, of course there isn't the same pressure as on actresses to be abnormally thin since the prerequisite is to be able to sing the role. They wouldnt tolerate someone eandering off mid duet for a glass of water like Pavarotti. And I hate to think what would have happened if Pavarotti had tried this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQeX...e_gdata_player

And you need something to stick to your ribs if you're going to stick out one of Wagner's epics. More than a bowl of watercress soup! And that's just the audience

[Mithalwen]

Well, as a great Wagnerian responded when asked what was the secret to singing Wagner, comfortable shoesì

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Really not so true these days since they are required to act rather than just stand and deliver

Fair enough. I was just trying to disprove Boro's point about Bombur's size leading to his incapability to breathe well enough to play a wind instrument.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Is it worth mentioning, however, the notion in the 1960 Hobbit that Bombur and his brother and cousin were Thorin's "attendants"? I've always had the impression that these three who were not of Durin's Line (and therefore seemingly a bit more "common" and "working class" than the majority of the company) were potentially present in something of a more professional capacity.

You're quite right - Bifur, Bofur and Bombur were descended from the dwarves of Moria. I wasn't aware of that addition before - do you have the exact quote anywhere? Also, as I believe Squatter mentioned, he and Bifur (and Thorin) were the only dwarves who managed to fight the trolls even a little bit, and he also caused some damage to the spider that tried to eat him.

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I now have some unsavoury ideas of things to do with Lego and davem's stop-motion film camera android app thingie...

Please. Do.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I now have some unsavoury ideas of things to do with Lego and davem's stop-motion film camera android app thingie...

How much custard does it involve?

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I now have some unsavoury ideas of things to do with Lego and davem's stop-motion film camera android app thingie

It's now very important that the most unsavoury of these becomes film as soon as possible. It's nice to see these moots continue to spawn inappropriate art projects weeks after they end.

Originally Posted by zigûr

I detect a Red Dwarf reference!

I like to refer to popular culture occasionally to dispel rumours that I am a stuffy old fuddy-duddy who has done several crosswords too many.

As Aganzir pointed out, Bombur is one of the few dwarves to put up a decent fight anywhere on their adventures, so there's probably a bit more to him than appears on the surface. Given that Thorin is reasonably intelligent, I would guess that an ability to fold hoods or make soup would not be a sole requirement for members of his company. I never picked up any class distinctions between the dwarves in The Hobbit other than Thorin's status as the leader, and as John Rateliff mentions in The History of the Hobbit, here 'attendants' is more likely to mean courtiers or an honour guard - hardly traditionally working-class occupations. Of course, even using terms like 'working class' suggests an anachronistic social structure: Thorin and his companions form something more like a comitatus, which would normally suggest a similar status for all, much as Thorin's company appears on the page.

Originally Posted by Heren Istarion

I have another point to make (as I've pondered the issue the very day I raised my doubts with regards multitude of instances of mentioning Bombur as fat. For it seems to me it's well-reasoned (as I've mentioned in my comment to Squatter's post on FB) - based on my own experience of bedtime reading to my kids - you have to constantly remind them about certain facts - even if they do seem already well established to yourself - so I see the reason of constantly stressing that particular fat guy's fat

This is a good point, but it's still very striking that almost every time Bombur appears his fatness is singled out for special mention. I think that Tolkien overdoes it, but I have less experience than he (or you) in reading stories to children. It's a good explanation, but that doesn't detract from the humour to be derived from saying that fat Bombur, who was stout for a dwarf and even inclined to be somewhat tubby, was sometimes regarded by his companions as being a little overweight.

Interestingly enough, I was reading The Hobbit this week and found another reference to Bombur that I missed before. It comes as the party has just descended the loose scree in Out of the frying-pan and into the fire (p. 88 of my edition).

'Well, that has got us on a bit,' said Gandalf; 'and even goblins tracking us will have a job to come down here quietly.'
'I daresay,' grumbled Bombur; 'but they won't find it difficult to send stones bouncing down on our heads.'

Although here we have Bombur engaging in his usual role of grumbler, I note that here there is no mention either of food or his weight. Also he makes a valid tactical observation, which does slightly deflate my original contention that his only purpose is to supply comic relief of the bumbling, oafish variety. Never mind, though: there are still a lot of mentions of the poor chap's waistline.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh

I never picked up any class distinctions between the dwarves in The Hobbit other than Thorin's status as the leader, and as John Rateliff mentions in The History of the Hobbit, here 'attendants' is more likely to mean courtiers or an honour guard - hardly traditionally working-class occupations. Of course, even using terms like 'working class' suggests an anachronistic social structure: Thorin and his companions form something more like a comitatus, which would normally suggest a similar status for all, much as Thorin's company appears on the page.

All I meant to suggest was that if Bifur, Bofur and Bombur were Thorin's courtiers or honour guard, and given that they were "descended from the Dwarves of Moria but were not of Durin's line", so presumably not members of the nobility, I was prone to speculate that their presence in the company possibly had a more direct purpose, ie a specific personal duty to Thorin in their capacity as "attendants". I do not mean to say that their status within the company was any less, or indeed that the other Dwarves had any less duty to Thorin either, just that there might be a difference in meaning between the presence of Thorin's close relatives in the company and these attendants. Given how little we know of Dwarven social structure, though, that is of course pure speculation on my part, and is perhaps a touch of over-analysis symptomatic of trying too hard to read the more serious accounts of things in the Appendices and the revision in relation to the humorous derring-do of the published version of The Hobbit.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Eönwë

How much custard does it involve?

Oooh, I could also involve pudding in my unsavoury animations! Stand back, EL James, I'm here and I have custard and Lego!

[Faramir Jones]

While I laughed at Bombur when first reading The Hobbit, I was impressed even then at how he, and all the other dwarves, turned from merchants into ferocious fighters at the Battle of Five Armies:

Out leapt the King under the Mountain, and his companions followed him.
Hood and cloak were gone; they were in shining armour, and red light
leapt from their eyes. In the gloom the great dwarf gleamed like gold in a
dying fire....Wolf and rider fell or fled before them.

Go Bombur! I was also impressed that there was armour among the hoard that could fit such a fat dwarf.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Faramir Jones

Go Bombur! I was also impressed that there was armour among the hoard that could fit such a fat dwarf.

Indeed. Given everything that's been said above, I'm surprised Tolkien didn't make the point of "and so the Dwarves armed themselves, because the armories of the former King Under the Mountain contained a host of armours, even one big enough for Bombur..."