The Hobbit - Chapter 17 - The Clouds Burst

[Estelyn Telcontar]

The title of this chapter is a continuation of Chapter 15 - "The Gathering of the Clouds". The storm that has been building up is unleashed, first in the conflict of Men and Elves versus Dwarves, then their alliance against the common foes of Goblins and Wolves. It all begins with Thorin's continuing stubbornness. His words sound positive at first glance:

My mind does not change with the rising and setting of a few suns.

However, those words show that he is not willing to listen to reason. As the negotiations continue, he becomes more devious and breaks his given word. Evidently the other Dwarves respect his leadership so much that they do not gainsay him even though they feel uncomfortable with his handling of the situation, especially of Bilbo.

Is Bilbo foolish or courageous to come out and say that he took the Arkenstone? I doubt that Bard and the Elven King would have betrayed him. He could have stayed silent. Instead he incurs Thorin's wrath and feelings of revenge and could easily have been killed then and there had Gandalf not defended him.

Thorin turns against Gandalf as well. What prompts him to think that he can take on the rest of the world? Greed? Delusions of grandeur?

The descriptions of Dain's company give us some additional information about dwarves in general and his men specifically. What does this passage tell us about them? What is your opinion of dwarves after reading this chapter?

How much fault can we give the ravens for this escalation? True, they are holding to an old alliance, but should they have supported the dwarves when they realized that they were doing wrong?

The Elven-King comes across as very honourable here, with these words:

Long will I tarry, ere I begin this war for gold.
Let us hope still for something that will bring reconciliation.

The only thing that now prevents a war between the "good" races is the attack of their common foes. They are led by Bolg - what do we know about him from other sources?

Bats are mentioned as allies of the Goblins. Do you know of any further mentions of them in Tolkien's works?

For those of you who are interested in battle tactics and strategy, what do you think of the fast planning that the allies did?

Bilbo literally disappears for this part of the story. And aside from rallying the various troops together, Gandalf seems passive. The chapter closes with Bilbo's famous cry of "The Eagles are coming!", which is echoed by Pippin in RotK in a very similar situation. Bilbo loses consciousness, as does Pippin later.

Do you find it almost impossible to stop reading at the end of the chapter? Even though I know what comes next, I hate stopping in the middle of the action!

Do you have favourite lines or passages in this chapter? I enjoy the humorous lines about Bilbo's battle experience:

The most dreadful of all Bilbo's experiences, and the one which at the time he hated most - which is to say it was the one he was most proud of, and most fond of recalling long afterwards...