The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Hobbit2 - Chapter 13

jallanite · 10-08-2012, 03:21 PM

This chapter was originally written to follow the killing of Smaug and Tolkien switched the order so that it preceded it, apparently thinking that the reader, like Bilbo and the dwarves, not knowing about Smaug’s whereabouts, would add suspense to the goings-on.

This is good in theory. But I don’t think it works. Somehow the original concept still exists in the pacing. When I first read this I remember just being puzzled about where Smaug was but not feeling the possible danger. Possibly a complete rewriting would have fixed the problem, since originally Tolkien had already told the reader of the death of Smaug. The story still feels as though it had been written without the tension that this ought to have produced, because it hadn’t. Only near the end the reader is told that Dori “was always looking up towards the Mountain’s peak, as if he expected to see Smaug perched there like a bird on a steeple.”

So there is no real peril in this chapter. Only false peril which is not emphasized.

Tolkien might have heightened the interest with lots of glorious description about the hoard. What he does give us is wonderful. But he gives us only a little. Rateliff mentions:

To find a verbal portrait of such a hoard, a true Scrooge McDuck moment, we must go all the way back to The Book of Lost Tales and its description of the hoard of the Rodothlim.

Scrooge McDuck, mentioned casually here by Rateliff, was the creation of comic book writer and artist Carl Barks who wrote and drew Donald Duck stories, mainly from 1943 to 1966, and who invented in 1947 Donald’s multi-billionare uncle Scrooge McDuck. The Scrooge McDuck tales often told of Scrooge, with Donald and Donald’s nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, searching for ancient treasures and usually finding them.

Carl Barks is now recognized as one of the best and most influential comic story creators. His stories were masterfully written and drawn and have often been reprinted, sometimes in hard cover. Check your local library. One of the best was “The Seven Cities of Cibola″, first released in 1954, at the price of 10¢. This introduces the treasure hoard beyond all treasure hoards and its loss. I thought this the best story I had every read when I first came across it as a child, and still rate it among the best.

See http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/429/ for a comparison with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark which was greatly influenced by it.

Rateliff indicates that Tolkien’s illustration “Conversation with Smaug″, first introduced in some editions in 1938, partly makes up for this lack. See http://www.theonering.com/galleries/...-j-r-r-tolkien .

Bilbo’s finding of the Arkenstone of Thrain is the highlight of this chapter. At that point the tale becomes fully alive. It is just possible that Tolkien originally intended this to have been a Silmaril, at the period when the story The Hobbit was a sort of uncanonical spin-off of the unpublished Silmarillion. In Tolkien’s extended work as published it is certainly not.

The exploration to find a way out of the lonely mountain is without character compared to Tolkien’s evocative descriptions of the trek through Moria in the later Lord of the Rings.

10-08-2012, 03:21 PM	#2
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	This chapter was originally written to follow the killing of Smaug and Tolkien switched the order so that it preceded it, apparently thinking that the reader, like Bilbo and the dwarves, not knowing about Smaug’s whereabouts, would add suspense to the goings-on. This is good in theory. But I don’t think it works. Somehow the original concept still exists in the pacing. When I first read this I remember just being puzzled about where Smaug was but not feeling the possible danger. Possibly a complete rewriting would have fixed the problem, since originally Tolkien had already told the reader of the death of Smaug. The story still feels as though it had been written without the tension that this ought to have produced, because it hadn’t. Only near the end the reader is told that Dori “was always looking up towards the Mountain’s peak, as if he expected to see Smaug perched there like a bird on a steeple.” So there is no real peril in this chapter. Only false peril which is not emphasized. Tolkien might have heightened the interest with lots of glorious description about the hoard. What he does give us is wonderful. But he gives us only a little. Rateliff mentions: To find a verbal portrait of such a hoard, a true Scrooge McDuck moment, we must go all the way back to The Book of Lost Tales and its description of the hoard of the Rodothlim. Scrooge McDuck, mentioned casually here by Rateliff, was the creation of comic book writer and artist Carl Barks who wrote and drew Donald Duck stories, mainly from 1943 to 1966, and who invented in 1947 Donald’s multi-billionare uncle Scrooge McDuck. The Scrooge McDuck tales often told of Scrooge, with Donald and Donald’s nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, searching for ancient treasures and usually finding them. Carl Barks is now recognized as one of the best and most influential comic story creators. His stories were masterfully written and drawn and have often been reprinted, sometimes in hard cover. Check your local library. One of the best was “The Seven Cities of Cibola″, first released in 1954, at the price of 10¢. This introduces the treasure hoard beyond all treasure hoards and its loss. I thought this the best story I had every read when I first came across it as a child, and still rate it among the best. See http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/429/ for a comparison with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark which was greatly influenced by it. Rateliff indicates that Tolkien’s illustration “Conversation with Smaug″, first introduced in some editions in 1938, partly makes up for this lack. See http://www.theonering.com/galleries/...-j-r-r-tolkien . Bilbo’s finding of the Arkenstone of Thrain is the highlight of this chapter. At that point the tale becomes fully alive. It is just possible that Tolkien originally intended this to have been a Silmaril, at the period when the story The Hobbit was a sort of uncanonical spin-off of the unpublished Silmarillion. In Tolkien’s extended work as published it is certainly not. The exploration to find a way out of the lonely mountain is without character compared to Tolkien’s evocative descriptions of the trek through Moria in the later Lord of the Rings.