What were they thinking?

[Maédhros]

Didn't you find the first chapter in the Hobbit a little weird? I mean they get together in Bilbo's house and they supposedly make a plan.
I wonder a plan to what?

"There is a dragon marked in red on the Mountain, said Balin, "but it will be easy enough to find him without that, if ever we arrive there."

Indeed I will," said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that hung about his neck and under his jacket. "Now things begin to look more hopeful. This news alters them much for-the better. So far we have had no clear idea what to do. We thought of going East, as quiet and careful as we could, as far as the Long Lake. After that the trouble would begin.

That is why I settled on burglary-especially when I remembered the existence of a Side-door. And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar, the chosen and selected burglar. So now let's get on and make some plans.

Well, I should say that you ought to go East and have a look round. After all there is the Side-door, and dragons must sleep sometimes, I suppose. If you sit on the doorstep long enough, I daresay you will think of something. And well, don't you know, I think we have talked long enough for one night, if you see what I mean. What about bed, and an early start, and all that? I will give you a good breakfast before you go.

What was their plan then? To steal all of the treasure of Smaug. I ask again, what were they thinking? Try to stay in the Hobbit book and not look in the UT.
Che pensi tu?

[Guildo]

They where planing to Reclaim the Kingdom Thorin was the heir to, which smaug ran them out of. i dont think knew for certain if smaug was still their or not, im sure upon their arrival if Smaug was still there they planed to rally an army of dwarves. i know Thorins main consern was the Arkenstone.

[Guildo]

Oh yeah i forgot one factor.....Gandalf, though he never mentioned it im certain he had intentions he did not reveal.

in the words of the great Mithrandir "You must trust me"
Gandalf always had a plan

[Maédhros]

It seems to me that they were more preocuppied with getting there than what to do when they actually were there.
A dragon is kind of a big problem, if you know what I mean.

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

Oh yeah i forgot one factor.....Gandalf, though he never mentioned it im certain he had intentions he did not reveal.

He explains these in Unfinished Tales, and the strategic advantages of the scheme are set out in the appendices to The Return of the King as well. Gandalf involved himself mainly in order to get rid of Smaug and replace him with friendly forces before the War of the Ring could begin in earnest. Also, since Thorin had personally requested Gandalf's help, he was in the Wizard's debt, which would have been useful later had Thrór's heir survived the Battle of Five Armies.

Thorin's plan is fairly typical of the pipe-dreams of exiled monarchs in that it's ambitious, grandiose and nebulous. In fact I doubt that the company had any idea what they were going to do when they got to Esgaroth: most of them probably had vague ideas about stealing as much as they could carry and scarpering before they were detected. Thorin was probably hoping to find that Smaug had died or moved on, leaving him free to take up his grandfather's throne, but since he hadn't even planned a specific route to Erebor, they were all very fortunate to arrive at all, let alone re-take the Lonely Mountain.

[ August 30, 2002: Message edited by: Squatter of Amon Rudh ]

[ August 30, 2002: Message edited by: Squatter of Amon Rudh ]

[Mister Underhill]

The Dwarves – or at least the Dwarves of Thorin’s line – apparently had a congenital problem with forming realistic and well thought-out plans for carrying out their schemes. Thrór, you’ll recall, wandered off to Moria and met a gruesome end at the hands of Azog the Goblin. Thrain, Gandalf mentions, “went away to try his luck with the map” but “never got near the Mountain”; instead he fell into the hands of Sauron (aka “The Necromancer”). Balin’s scheme to reoccupy Moria seems to have suffered from a similar lack of forethought. Don’t even get me started on the Dwarvish plan for heisting the Nauglamír...

"Okay, Fili, Kili, Nori, and Ori -- you guys jump Thingol. I'll grab the necklace, and we'll all hightail it back to the Blue Mountains. On three!..."

[ August 30, 2002: Message edited by: Mister Underhill ]

[akhtene]

If stay inside 'the Hobbit' only, perhaps Thorin had in mind just to recover the Arkenstone, the heirloom of his House. That may be why he asked for a burglar, not an army of dwarves with sharp axes. And he kept his idea secret as others could be after the treasure.
And Gandalf (again purelyinside "the Hobbit") wanted someone to preoccupy Smaug while he was going to fight the Necromancer.

[Mister Underhill]

Flip comments aside, it does occur to me that the Dwarves, historically, weren't necessarily shy about tangling with Dragons:

Last of all the eastern force to stand firm were the Dwarves of Belegost, and thus they won renown. For the Naugrim withstood fire more hardily than either Elves or Men, and it was their custom moreover to wear great masks in battle hideous to look upon; and those stood them in good stead against the dragons. And but for them Glaurung and his brood would have withered all that was left of the Noldor. But the Naugrim made a circle about him when he assailed them, and even his mighty armour was not full proof against the blows of their great axes; and when in his rage Glaurung turned and struck down Azaghâl, Lord of Belegost, and crawled over him, with his last stroke Azaghâl drove a knife into his belly, and so wounded him that he fled the field, and the beasts of Angband in dismay followed after him.

Perhaps they had hopes (still pipe-dreams, mind you, though perhaps not quite as impractical as they might seem at first glance) of burglaring some of that quality Erebor armor and lucking into a few battle-masks and going toe-to-toe with the old wyrm.

[Orome]

It is possible that the dwarves planed to attack Smaug with only the 13, as they are a vengefull race, but i doubt that even Thorin, who suggested that the armies of the dwarves attack the Necromancer, would be foolhardy enough to have the grand plan be 13 lightly armed and armoured dwarves attack a dragon.

as an aside what did Gandalf expect the 14 to be able to do to the dragon? his whole plan was for the dragon to be destroyed.

[Maédhros]

Perhaps they had hopes (still pipe-dreams, mind you, though perhaps not quite as impractical as they might seem at first glance) of burglaring some of that quality Erebor armor and lucking into a few battle-masks and going toe-to-toe with the old wyrm.

Could be but I mean, the dwarves couldn't beat the spiders in the forest of Mirkwood, how could they hope to slay a dragon?
Again, who knows what they were thinking?

[Guildo]

As far as the Spiders go the dwarves where caught off gaurd and seperated in a forest(which Dwarves dont like to much in the first place) If the Faught the Dragon it would be head to head in an open area or even undergroud where the Dwarves are in the element. Also in a sence those spiders where just as bad as the Dragon being directly decended from Ungoliant or Shelob.