One Last Time

I’ve been waiting until I could find the time to actually finish re-reading The Hobbit to make this post about “The Battle of the Five Armies.”

And, you know, to stop crying over Thorin Oakenshield.

I haven’t been this upset over the ending of a book since I first read A Tale of Two Cities and cried my heart out over Sydney Carton. Thanks a lot, Thorin. And Fili. And Kili.

Perhaps the worst thing of all is that Bilbo leaves his new family behind in Erebor and returns to the Shire all alone, where people now see him as “strange” because he dared to go beyond the borders of their safe and comfortable little corner of Middle Earth.

I wonder what they would all think if they knew he fell in love with a dwarf. We’re not even going to argue this point, because if you have actually seen “The Battle of the Five Armies” then you know precisely what I am talking about. Thorin loved him right back, if you ask me. It was pretty obvious. As obvious as Legolas and Gimli (and if you can’t see that either then you need some very strong glasses). Naturally, everyone in the theater cried when the two parted. It did not help that Richard Armitage looked too handsome to be real in that death scene either. Pretty sure my friend and I cried as hard as poor Bilbo.

One of the things I liked best about the film was how it fleshed out the friendships in the Company, and how these characters were all given so much more life than the book gives them. There are many things I like about Tolkien, but he has this infuriating insistence on downplaying the dwarves. He says they are not heroes, and that Thorin and Company are “good enough, for dwarves.”

It’s blatant racism. Even most of the other characters either treat them as lesser beings, or talk to them as if they are children.

I could go on at length about how dwarves are indeed heroes, and how the other races aren’t as great as they proclaim themselves to be. But that would be counterproductive. I will say, that if anyone finds themselves agreeing with the narrator in this book, or Gandalf, or anyone else who thinks dwarves are actually made of stone, then please think again. They are a people without a home (they often lose their homes in tragic, tragic ways). Yet somehow, they endure. Thorin loses his home and lots of family and friends when Smaug comes. He turns to Thranduil in his hour of need,and is turned away like unwanted baggage. Thranduil doesn’t even point them in the direction of fresh water. They wander. For decades. They try to take back Moria, and Thorin loses his grandfather and brother. Then his father goes wandering, is imprisoned, and loses his mind. Thorin is king, and still trying to find a home. He does. He brings his people to the ruins of Ered Luin, where they eke out a living by finding what work they can. Thorin is a blacksmith for people who do not appreciate fine crafts the way dwarves do, and he is almost certainly underpaid and outright cheated. But he endures it because his sister, who has lost her husband, has two young boys who need to be fed. So now Thorin is a king, a blacksmith, and a father figure. And none of his other kin lift a finger to help him, because he doesn’t have the Arkenstone, a symbol of the king’s right to rule.

That is his life for over a century. And somehow, he still has hope that he can take back his kingdom.

Nope. He and his people are unfeeling lumps of stone. Certainly nothing heroic there.

You see? I could go on. Believe it or not, that is the short version of my rant.

This last film was also great because, as painful as it was to see Thorin fall under the spell of the gold sickness, Richard Armitage played it out superbly, and the writers handled it very well. Thorin was indeed sick, and they did not demonize him, as many productions do to those who suffer from mental illness.

It’s also sad that this was indeed the last time we all got to visit Middle Earth. At least, in film. Of course, there are lots of Tolkien works that could be adapted, but between “The Lord of the Rings” films, and now “The Hobbit,” lots of people my age have spent the past fifteen years of their lives looking forward to the next installment in these series. It takes me back to when “Harry Potter” came to an end. I find myself asking “What now?”

Of course, there’s always The Silmarillion. Someone get on that. Or make a movie about Celebrimor and Narvi. Please.

Now I leave you with a smattering of quotes from the book. If you are intending to give this a read, I recommend the illustrated version. Jemima Catlin provides the artwork, and it’s a lovely book to look at. Reminds me of an illuminated manuscript. We need more of those.

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.” –Gandalf

“Confusticate and bebother these dwarves!” –Bilbo

“As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking stick.”

“There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.” –Gandalf

“You will have to manage without pocket handkerchiefs, and a good many other things, before you get to the journey’s end.” –Dwalin

“Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.”

“There is nothing like looking if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”

“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

“No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it.”

“Never laugh at live dragons.” –Bilbo

“While there’s life there’s hope!” –Bilbo

“I have heard songs of many battles, and I have always understood that defeat may be glorious. It seems very uncomfortable, not to say distressing. I wish I was well out of it.” –Bilbo

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” –Thorin

“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!” –Bilbo