The first meeting between Gandalf and Thorin

There are a number of extra scenes which are not in the book that I would love to see in the movies. One is the story of how Thorin earned the name Oakenshield, and the other is how Gandalf managed to persuade Thorin to form a secret mission to the Lonely Mountain and take a hobbit with them. Following is the first conversation between Gandalf and Thorin at Bree in March 15th 2941.

'Master Gandalf, I know you only by sight, but now I should be glad to speak with you. For you have often come into my thoughts of late, as if I were bidden to seek you. Indeed I should have done so, if I had known where to find you.'

Gandalf looked at him with wonder: 'That is strange, Thorin Oakenshield,' he said. 'For I have thought of you also; and though I am on my way to The Shire, it was in my mind that is the way also to your halls.'

'Call them so, if you will,' said Thorin. 'They are only poor lodgings in exile. But you would be welcome there, if you would come. For they say that you are wise and know more than any other of what goes on in the world; and I have much on my mind and would be glad of your counsel.'

'I will come,' said Gandalf; 'for I guess that we share one trouble at least. The Dragon of Erebor is on my mind, and I do not think that he will be forgotten by the grandson of  Thrór.'

J.R.R. Tolkien. Return of the King Appendix A, III. p. 359. 

In "Unfinished Tales" by J.R.R. Tolkien, the interactions between Gandalf and Thorin that led to the "Quest of Erebor" are described in the first person. Gandalf relates the story of how he met Thorin to Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin and Gimli after the coronation at Minas Tirith prior to their return to The Shire.

After the meeting at Bree, Gandalf went to Thorin's Halls in the Blue Mountains and heard Thorin's tale. It became obvious to Gandalf that Thorin was agonising over his wrongs, the loss of the treasure of his forefathers and that he had an immense sense of inherited duty to take revenge on Smaug. The sense of duty is taken very seriously by dwarves. (Unfinished Tales: p417). While Gandalf was as eager as Thorin to eradicate Smaug from the Lonely Mountain, he could not agree with Thorin's "lofty designs" to form an army and go into battle to reclaim Erebor "as if he really were King Thorin II".  He suspected that an open attack on the Dragon in Erebor would not go unnoticed by Sauron in Dol Guldur and any army Thorin could assemble would have been doomed from the start. 

Thorin, being proud, obstinate and with a burning grudge, would not listen to Gandalf's entreaties that an attack on Erebor would be perilous and without hope of victory. He left Thorin without a definite plan or assurance to help him and travelled to The Shire. 

Next: Gandalf formulates a plan.

Comments

[Phoebe]

Great Blog! Not being an educated Tolkien fan, this is just what I needed. I have been interested in Thorin's back story and wondered if you had been helping RA firm up his diary? LOL

Thanks for this great companion piece and I look forward to catching up on the blog posts and sharing your blog with others.

[Mulubinba]

Thanks for visiting Phoebe:). I admit I've hit a writer's block at the moment as there are two versions of The Unexpected Party one is Gandalf's and one is Bilbo's (which is the one we will be reading on the Group Read). I may try to write something of Thorin's first impressions of Bibo as told by Gandalf. The dynamic between the actors (all three) is going to be very crucial - we've seen that Ian McKellen speaks a lot of Martin Freeman but we haven't heard anything about Thorin/RA. As Thorin is quite high and mighty as a character, Gandalf has to win him over. The two actors therefore are going to have to work closely to be able to convey this to the audience.

[DarkJackal]

I only just found your blog, after reading the Unfinished Tales version of the Quest for Erebor today. This is a fantastic blog on a topic that will become massively popular once the film hits the fan in 2012! I never knew there was more to the tale of The Hobbit before last month, though I suspected there must be a bit more depth to one particular king in exile than is presented in the Hobbit text. You have done wonders to present this potential wealth of character to future fans of the new movie, and of RA in particular. I knew there must really be something about Thorin that would suit RA's talents, and this conflict between wizard and dwarf, and the near centuries in exile that Thorin had to endure, will hopefully be brought across on screen in some way. I wonder though, whether they will chose to include any of it explicitly, since the bafflement of Bilbo upon meeting all these rather crude strangers is what makes the story so endearingly quaint. They may chose to keep us all in the dark still. But I hope not!

I have been wondering (for years actually) how they were going to make The Hobbit as dynamic as LOTR. The Quest for Erebor spells out a little more clearly what was at stake for all of Middle Earth at the time, which The Hobbit only vaguely hints at (what Gandalf was up to, in particular).

And I did not realize they had cast Thrain and Azog! Wonder if they will show the rather horrid death of Thror, and who Dain will be played by?? RA won't have to act very hard to get sympathy for Thorin if they show us the grim history of his family.