Gandalf Captured!?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by lathspell

I have often wondered wether that wasn't what Gandalf had been doing when he left Bilbo and the dwarves to do something important for the White Council.

Actually, as Selmo correctly said, this was the moment when the White Council attacked Dol Guldur and wiped Sauron out! (well... actually he retreated to Mordor, but that's not our problem for now) Gandalf says it to Frodo in the Shadow of the Past:

'When did I first begin to guess?' he mused, searching back in memory. 'Let me see – it was in the year that the White Council drove the dark power from Mirkwood, just before the Battle of Five Armies, that Bilbo found his ring.

And it is even mentioned in the Hobbit:

It was in this way that he learned where Gandalf had been to; for he overheard the words of the wizard to Elrond. It appeared that Gandalf had been to a great council of the white wizards, masters of lore and good magic; and that they had at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold in the south of Mirkwood.
"Ere long now," Gandalf was saying, "The Forest will grow somewhat more wholesome. The North will be freed from that horror for many long years, I hope. Yet I wish he were banished from the world!"
"It would be well indeed," said Elrond; "but I fear that will not come about in this age of the world, or for many after."

This is one of the most wonderful moments in The Hobbit for me! Gandalf, right from the parting by Beorn's house, rides south to Dol Guldur to kick the Necromancer! I love when these pieces come up together, you know?

Originally Posted by lathspell

However, Gandalf says in the Unfinished Tales (in his own version of the Hobbit as he tells it to Frodo) that he believes that if Sauron wasn't forced to move to Mordor, he would probably have attacked the North first, thus wiping out Lothlorien and maybe Rivendell. And... would the dwarves have succeeded in killing Smaug, probably them as well.

Ahem, to be more precise: not "would the dwarves have succeeded in killing Smaug, probably them as well" - or why, of course - but mainly: "would the dwarves NOT have succeeded in killing Smaug, he'd send his emissaries to the Dragon and then..."

...Dragon-fire and savage swords in Eriador, night in Rivendell...

And ninja, great topic. Ask these things, because this is one of my favourite subjects of study

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

How do you suppose Gandalf managed to get into the dungeon and speak with Thráin? Were there no guards?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I suppose right down there there weren't any guards. Cf. Bilbo and Thorin in Thranduil's halls, something like that. Gandalf says that Sauron took the Ring and didn't care anymore (he even didn't take the map and key of Erebor - read the UT, he speaks very much of it there).

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

That is another point I found quite bizarre: here Sauron finds the Dwarf who has one of his rings, and he doesn't even search him fully. He could have had dozens of other rings for all he knew!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Well, no, I suppose Sauron saw he has one ring, three handkerchiefs, one map, seven shovels, a key, and four thousand thirty-five golden pieces in his pockets. He took the ring and then just threw him to the dungeon. He didn't care of the rest.

[The 1,000 Reader]

Even though the key would make an alliance with the dragon much easier, as in getting to see the dragon?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

The key was not labeled "this is a key to Erebor" and Sauron probably didn't bother to look at the map, since it showed the Lonely Mountain, which he knew. Maybe in the lust for the Ring he didn't even look at it. And if Sauron wanted to ally with Smaug, he'd probably send some of his classic Horsemen In The Night through the front gate. It does look suspicious if you sneak through the back entrance to a person (or Dragon) you want to make a fair deal with.