The Hobbit - Chapter 04 - Over Hill and Under Hill
After the comforts of Rivendell, travelling on seems bleak to the Dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo. The weather is uncomfortable, they feel the cold, and even the silence takes on personality: “...seemed to dislike being broken.” The thunderstorm is personified in the stone giants, another of those races that are difficult to place in the overall Legendarium.
Then comes a typical situation, whether in old fairytales or modern horror movies – the shelter they find turns into danger. Another new race is introduced to the readers: goblins! They take Bilbo and the dwarves captive, as well as their ponies. The song they sing is strongly onomatopoetic, with lots of rhyming – fun to read aloud!
The passage describing the goblins says a lot about Tolkien and his opinion on modern inventions and technology! A lot of what is said ties into the modern world. I can’t help but wonder how the goblins remember the swords Glamdring and Orcrist; is there some sort of collective memory or are they so long-lived that they would actually have experienced those weapons previously?
Gandalf saves the day, at least at first; then they are recaptured. The chapter ends with Bilbo’s blackout, and since we are seeing things from his point of view, we have to wait for him to wake up in the next chapter before we know what happens.
Do you enjoy this chapter? Can you reconcile the goblins with the orcs as we see them later in LotR? What impresses you most?
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
Last edited by Estelyn Telcontar; 02-05-2006 at 12:23 PM.
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