MEMM Days 23 & 24

Day 23 prompt:  The Hobbit character you understand the least

Wow.  We're getting deep here, no?;)  All right, before I begin, please understand that I love this character.  I do, I really do.  But you asked, and I've got to answer as truthfully as I know how.

In the book, The Hobbit, the character I least understood was Thorin Oakenshield.

In the movie trilogy, The Hobbit…..it was still Thorin.



Don't hate me, Thorin-lovers!  I'm one of you, really, and I understand that Thorin's story of character development is amazing and beautiful and all that, but…there are still some things about him that I just don't get, namely:  His fanatical obsession with reclaiming the treasure of Erebor.  I understand that his quest to recover the Lost Mountain runs much deeper than the gold, and I understand that he has good reason to be bitter and revengeful, but you have to admit that he is, in the words of our dear Captain Jack Sparrow, "completely obsessed with treasure," at least by The Battle of the Five Armies.


And then there's the little matter of his disregard of his comrades' safety, when his mind is beginning to, um, turn, shall we say.  (I know, I KNOW he changes.  I already specified that I love him, remember?)

Bard comes to try to talk reason into the dwarf.  He is the epitome of reasonability and peace-making, and then Thorin goes and frankly ruins everything.

Bard:  "Will you have peace, or war?"
*dramatic pause*
Thorin:  "I will have WAR!"  

Um…why?!  All you had to do was help the homeless, starving people of Laketown, the rightful inhabitants of Dale.  But I guess the miles-deep mountain of gold couldn't handle any thinning, even for charity's sake, right?

Anyway, I really do understand that Thorin wasn't in total control of his reason at that moment.  I really do understand that it was necessary to make his redemption that much more powerful.  But I really don't understand why he gives himself over to the gold-sickness in the first place.  (Wow…that sounded harsher than I wanted it to.)

But I do love him.  Really, I do.


Day 24 prompt:  Favorite moment/line in The Battle of the Five Armies

So many!  Alfrid's awesome comic relief, the heart-wrenchingly perfect credits, the amazing tie-ins to LotR…

I'll go with this quote, just 'cause reasons.


(There, I have attempted to atone for my answer to Day 23:D  Though, in all honesty, I love this part.)


Comments

  1. I've been thinking about looking into fanfiction lately, wondering if I might enjoy finding a book or movie to join in on writing in that way (which I have never done before), and stumbled upon a bunch of Lord of the Rings fanfiction. Here is the link if you are interested in checking them out: https://www.fanfiction.net/book/Lord-of-the-Rings/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I think a good fan fiction of Eowyn/Faramir would be cool:D

      Delete
  2. Bard comes to try to talk reason into the dwarf. He is the epitome of reasonability and peace-making...

    SO much a part of why I love Bard! :-D

    I think the key is that Dragon Sickness is a sickness -- you don't choose to catch it, you just catch it. All the dwarves are affected by it to some degree, I think, but Thorin the most because he spends so much time down in the treasure horde. He doesn't give himself over to it, he contracts it like a disease. Which speaks to his great strength of will, then, that he is able to throw it off in the end. That's my take, anyway.

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    Replies
    1. Yes! Bard forever <3

      *sheepish look* I know, I know. It didn't come out exactly as I'd planned it. But yes, I really love how he triumphs over it in the end; it's a very powerful scene!:)

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