The Hobbit - Chapter 16 - A Thief in the Night

[Bêthberry]

Well, I guess my bait in my post on the previous chapter was a little too obvious, as no one took me up on it. Estelyn offers a very convincing argument about Bilbo's honour and courage here.

Yet Bilbo did not withhold the Arkenstone initially because of his plan--it came to him slowly. So I ask the question again, was it the failure to find the Arkenstone which set off Thorin's hard heartedness, his siff neck, his refusal to negotiate?

Or perhaps the psychological question of characterisation is not relevant here. Is TH the kind of story where motivation is less important and what is paramount is the exploration of the dire consequences for a stubborn decision? Like many stories in myth and legend, an entire people pay the price for the leader's intransience and that is what the story is about, not the whys and wheretofors.

After all, had Thorin not been so stiff and uncompromising, neither the dwarves nor the men nor the elves whould have been prepared for what was to come ....