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Musings on Thorin
Dec. 5th, 2018 04:51 pmAnyone who follows me on Tumblr saw my back and forth with Mainecoon76 about Thorin and the siege of Erebor immediately prior to the battle of Five Armies.
I feel the need to clarify that I'm not coming at this from an anti-dwarf or anti-Thorin perspective so much as a 'was he effective?' perspective. And unfortunately, I find myself agreeing with Gandalf's assessment of Thorin - he was not cutting a very splendid figure as King under the Mountain.
As King, Thorin should be thinking about how to achieve the best possible outcome for his people. But Thorin seems to somehow* have gotten it in his mind that keeping the entire treasure is the best outcome. It's not. The best outcome is a stable and prosperous restored Kingdom under the Mountain. (Thorin should be able to recognize this - he has, after all done the difficult work of restoring his people to some degree of prosperity and pride prior to setting out on his quest to the Mountain.) He can keep all the gold, but it's not going to matter if he has to constantly be keeping an eye on the enemies on his very doorstep or nominally ruling people he can't feed.
Roäc - who is hardly anti-dwarf and as best as I can determine acts in the interests of the dwarves of the mountain initially, and thereafter in accordance with Thorin's wishes - advised Thorin immediately after giving him news of Smaug's death and the gathering of those who looked toward the treasure in the mountain to deal with Bard, bypassing the Master of Laketown. This is sound advice. It might cost him more treasure than Thorin would like in the short term, but it would buy him a lasting friendship that will be vital for the Mountain in the long term.
( More behind the cut. )
*The book offers the effects of 'gold upon which a dragon has long brooded' as a reason, and given that previously Thorin was shown to be a good leader who took care of his people - Bilbo included, Peter Jackson! - I'm inclined to go with it.
I feel the need to clarify that I'm not coming at this from an anti-dwarf or anti-Thorin perspective so much as a 'was he effective?' perspective. And unfortunately, I find myself agreeing with Gandalf's assessment of Thorin - he was not cutting a very splendid figure as King under the Mountain.
As King, Thorin should be thinking about how to achieve the best possible outcome for his people. But Thorin seems to somehow* have gotten it in his mind that keeping the entire treasure is the best outcome. It's not. The best outcome is a stable and prosperous restored Kingdom under the Mountain. (Thorin should be able to recognize this - he has, after all done the difficult work of restoring his people to some degree of prosperity and pride prior to setting out on his quest to the Mountain.) He can keep all the gold, but it's not going to matter if he has to constantly be keeping an eye on the enemies on his very doorstep or nominally ruling people he can't feed.
Roäc - who is hardly anti-dwarf and as best as I can determine acts in the interests of the dwarves of the mountain initially, and thereafter in accordance with Thorin's wishes - advised Thorin immediately after giving him news of Smaug's death and the gathering of those who looked toward the treasure in the mountain to deal with Bard, bypassing the Master of Laketown. This is sound advice. It might cost him more treasure than Thorin would like in the short term, but it would buy him a lasting friendship that will be vital for the Mountain in the long term.
( More behind the cut. )
*The book offers the effects of 'gold upon which a dragon has long brooded' as a reason, and given that previously Thorin was shown to be a good leader who took care of his people - Bilbo included, Peter Jackson! - I'm inclined to go with it.
