After waking up late an finding the dwarves gone, Bilbo seems to embrace being left behind until a note from the dwarves is discovered, telling him to meet up with them at an inn in fifteen minutes time.
The
adventurous side of Bilbo's schizophrenic nature seems to assert
itself once again and he rushes out to meet them so quickly that he
leaves behind his handkerchief (which is apparently very important if
you are a hobbit) and he heads out on his quest with the dwarves.
All
is good and I began to think that the book would be over in another
chapter with the pace they were making, but of course they can't get to
the mountain too quickly and thus an encounter with some grumpy
trolls is invented. Thorin does seem to regain a little of the ground
he lost with his bad manners here as he proves to be the only dwarf
with any wits and fighting prowess about him. He at least manages to get a few good licks
in before he is captured, unlike the others. Bilbo proves himself a
coward, though at least he does try and Galdalf uses his manipulation
to save the day.
A
strange chapter really, it just felt like filler mostly and I'm left
to wonder why, since Gandalf is needed to save the day from three
stupid trolls, the dwarves think they have any chance of defeating a
dragon who single handily torched an entire dwarf town.
I
don't know, maybe I'm supposed to feel that this is an impossible
task but I'm forced to wonder, since Gandalf is clearly the hero (at
least so far) why he doesn't just magic himself ahead and trick the
dragon into leaving?
It
would be a bit of a boring book, I suppose, but in some ways a lot
more plausible.
In
good news, since Gandalf is part of the quest it does mean that there
will be lots of Ian McKellan in the film and that can never be bad.
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