Thorin Oakenshield

Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield with Orcrist the elven sword

img. belong to  http://thorinoakenshield.net

Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror Oakenshield

Race: Dwarf

Book: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

This noble dwarf has got his fair share of hard life and bad luck. Thrown out of his own home where he was once a prince surrounded by all kinds of pleasure & ease, a time of richness he described amazingly by;

"the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it"

out he was dragged by the dragon Smaug in a manner least to say outrageous, and then left to accept a life of humiliation seeing his grandfather Thror the great King turn into a commoner and the rest of his nation scattered in the land working hard to keep a decent life, after that his grandfather gets killed by Azog the goblin in the mines of Moria and to top it all his father leaves one day and never comes back only for him to know a hundred years later that he died in a state of madness in the dungeons of the necromancer, such a sad sad life story.

when telling it all to Bilbo he reached this part:

"The dwarves rushed out of their great gate; but there was the dragon waiting for them. Non escaped that way."

Tears stung behind my eyes it hurt, thinking of all those brave fully and fancily armed dwarves hurrying to defend their home only to find death smiling at the end of the road (my head had to stray thinking of all the men and youngsters of my country being dragged for years–till this day- to irrational civil wars over greed and power barely armed to only be crushed like ants, mere numbers in  UN statistics, wretched business!)

It was a massacre. And the words Thorin used were so powerful it made the dreadful story sound even more terrifying and disgusting.

I loved Thorin regardless of his stubbornness, bitter grumpiness and consumed by the Arkenstone stony head, because he was the only dwarf -after his father- brave enough to actually call for claiming back their home in Lonely Mountain, an honorable, proud, fierce warrior and regardless of showing a rough side most of the book; Thorin did own a good, kind heart (and a quite cool name if you ask me), say anything about his bad judgment, bad temper and perhaps greed but you can’t deny he was a true leader, completely responsible and caring equally for each member of his men. Life gave my hero dwarf a short chance but to me he was the only King under the mountain.

Funny though the first time we meet Thorin is in a rather comedic scene, Bilbo  angry and bewildered opens the door so quick that Thorin falls flat on the mat with three other dwarves on top of him, of course a rather very important dwarf like him wasn’t pleased at all with this;

Thorin indeed was very haughty, and said nothing about service; but poor Mr. Baggins said he was sorry so many times, that at last he grunted “pray don’t mention it,” and stopped frowning.

Thorin Oakenshield  knew his heritage very well, ready to announce himself with pride to the people of Lake-town regardless of the terrible state of his men after coming down the river in barrels! When the guards asked him who are you? he didn’t flinch;

"Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!” said the dwarf in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed on his neck and waist: his eyes were dark and deep. “I have come back.”

and honestly the only time I preferred him over Bilbo was when Bilbo, falling slightly under the spell of the dragon, began thinking of the trickery of dwarves and how on earth will he return  home with all his share of the treasure? he’s right to worry of course but not to doubt his comrades’ intentions, Thorin’s argument was one of his best speeches;

“We knew it would be a desperate venture,” Said Thorin, “and we know that still…As for your share Mr. Baggins, I assure you we are more than grateful and you shall choose your own fourteenth…I’m sorry you are worried about transport, and I admit the difficulties are great…but we will do whatever we can for you, and take our share of the cost when the time comes. Believe me or not as you like!”

This made me respect him more.

Seriously is there a bad speaker in this book?

When Thorin got mad and called the other armies thieves I was all ‘Yes! That’s the spirit!’ because honestly after all that happened those greedy silly guys shouldn’t get to take the gold that easily.

When he became furious at Bilbo for that Arkenstone business and sent him out of the mountain; it was heart sickening, seriously heart sickening, those two went through fire and water together, this big wedge between them near the end was hard to bear.

Now just like Bilbo and Gandalf the prince used a sword he found in the Trolls cave, guess what? it also gleamed when danger is ahead but Ah! another masterpiece made by elves. The name of his sword was Orcrist or the Goblin-cleaver, an old famous blade from the time of the High Elves and fought in the wars of goblins, of course our brave knight had a saying to this valuable information;

“I will keep this sword in honor…may it soon cleave goblins once again!”

It took a huge battle and a number of lethal wounds for Thorin to get back to his senses and discard any unnecessary value to physical treasures. It broke my heart that my favorite dwarf had to pass away, losing him was harder to handle than I thought, at least he fought valiantly and made peace with his friend the hobbit before he died, he was buried respectfully the way he deserved deep in his home in Lonely Mountain with the Arkenstone, and upon his grave was laid Orcrist gleaming in the dark whenever enemies come near, therefore the great Halls were not to be taken by surprise again. Ah! How heart wrenching :”( 

I wouldn’t say believe it or not as Tolkien did when Bilbo went away to weep on his own, it was the natural thing to do.

His brave cry that shook like a horn in all the valley reminding us how ties of blood, neighboring, and the good side unites us all together stronger than any treasure can, it was  the best line of the short lived King under the Mountain, and the one bringing every soul in that valley to his aid, this cry will remain in the memory forever,

‘To me! To me! Elves and Men! To me! O my kinsfolk’

*******

Bilbo

“…Yet I am glad that I have shared in your perils - that has been more than any Baggins deserves.”

“No!”

Said Thorin.

“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer & song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave now.

Farewell!”

Farewell King Thorin, getting to know you was a great experience, one I will always remember.