[davem]

This is one of those sections that I love to read but find very difficult to comment on. That said, I’ve posted on every single chapter of CbC so far & I’m not going to be beaten now!

We’re told the information in this section probably came from Gimli:

The section A III, Durin's Folk, was probably derived from Gimli the Dwarf, who maintained his friendship with Peregrin and Meriadoc and met them again many times in Gondor and Rohan.

Its probably true - the mood & atmosphere of this section seems ‘darker’. The focus is, first on the war of the Dwarves & the Orcs, second, on providing a background to the events of The Hobbit. However, while Gimli may be the source for most of the information given here he clearly can’t be for the final note. But who was?

As with the Rohirrim, so here we are given a glimpse of the Dwarves’ beliefs. They are descended from the Seven Fathers of their race (the proverbial Seven Dwarves - which I think is a deliberate reference to the folk tale by Tolkien: the number ‘seven’ has an ancient association with Dwarves & Tolkien is here attempting to give an explanation). They also believe in a kind of reincarnation.

This is interesting, though we’re not told if the Dwarves believe that they all reincarnate, or if only some (or Durin alone) do so. Was this a belief they picked up from the Elves? If so its odd that they would adopt a belief of their ‘enemy’.

Anyway, I think that what we pick up from this section is that the Dwarves & the Orcs are in many ways ‘ideal’ foes for each other - apart from their common preference for living in caves (& fighting underground - a horrible thought for someone who get’s claustrophobic like myself!).

We also learn to what extent Dwarves are driven by revenge, passing on vows of, & responsibility for, vengeance to their children & grandchildren.

As I said, part of the focus of this section is to provide a background to TH & to tie that book into the events of this one. What we see here (& in The Quest of Erebor) is a glimpse of another ‘Hobbit’ - the ‘true’, historical, account of the events decribed in TH - the version which should be in the Legendarium.

Ironically, if Tolkien’s intention was to tie TH in more closely with LotR through Durin’s Folk & QoE I think he made a mistake & worked against that. These versions of the earlier history actually make TH seem even more juvenile & silly than it is when read for itself - by an adult reader, that is (now, that said, I do love TH - or to be precise I love my memories of it ).

The simple fact is that these Dwarves are plainly the Naugrim of the Sil, while those of TH are not. Of course, some will argue that in TH we are getting an account of the Dwarves seen through the eyes of a Hobbit while in this section we are getting the facts from Gimli himself. I don’t go along with that myself - I suspect that the character of Gimli we see in the movie is based rather more on Thorin et al in TH than on Gimli of LotR.