Thorin oakenshield biography

They came to Azanulbizar and the Eastern gate of Moria, which they found was open. The war was fought long and hard between the two races, ultimately ending in a pyrrhic Dwarven victory at the Battle of Azanulbizar in T. When his shield broke, in its stead he used an oak branch to block the blows of his foes. In memory of this, Thorin swore to always bear a plain shield of oak with no device until he should be hailed king,[11] and thus he earned the epithet Oakenshield.

However they soon began to wander Eriador before settling at last in the Blue Mountains. Here they prospered in their own fashion, forging iron objects and increasing their numbers albeit, due to a scarceness of Dwarf-women, very slowly, and by wandering Longbeards who heard of his dwelling. Nonetheless they all still longed to return to the Lonely Mountain.

His burning desire for gold and to return to the Lonely Mountain became too great and in T. Thus it was that in T. Thorin and his people were content living in the Blue Mountains and Eriador but as the years waned Thorin's desire to return to Erebor grew. There they discussed their tales and Gandalf formulated a plan. Gandalf knew that Sauron could have potentially used Smaug with devastating effect.

Therefore both he and Thorin had a shared interest in removing Smaug. Gandalf wanted Thorin and a company of dwarves to travel to the Lonely Mountain taking Bilbo Baggins with them. Gandalf's instinct was that the Quest of Erebor would only be successful if Bilbo accompanied them. Therefore Gandalf invited Thorin and other Dwarves to Hobbiton of the Shire, instructing them to look for a smial whose door was marked with the sign of the thief as the dwarves had gotten it into their head that Bilbo was a thief.

Thus Thorin found himself in Bag End, where they perused the hobbit's hospitality. Even after the 'Unexpected Party' Gandalf only persuaded Thorin to take Bilbo on the morning that they set off. A short time into the journey the adventurers found a Troll's cave. Here they found a hoard of treasure which included blades made in the ancient city of Gondolin.

Thorin's intent was to infiltrate the Lonely Mountain and steal back the treasure from Smaug. He found the legendary sword, Orcrist , in a troll-hoard along with Glamdring. Thorin and Company were greeted warmly by the people of Lake-Town and hailed the return of the King under the Mountain. There he was killed by Bard the Bowman who pierced the bare spot on Smaug's left breast.

Following the death of Smaug, the people of Laketown asked Thorin for a share of the treasure, as they wanted recompense for the destruction of their city, a part of Smaug's treasure originated from their former city, and it was a lord of Lake-Town, who shot the fatal arrow that killed Smaug. Thorin, overwhelmed by greed after recovering his family's riches, and enraged by the presence of Thranduil , refused to share any part of the treasure.

However Bilbo had already found the Arkenstone, and subsequently, secretly brought it to Bard and Thranduil to use as a bargaining counter. The growing conflict over the treasure between Dwarves, Wood Elves, and Men, likely to result in bloodshed, was suddenly averted by the approach of Goblin and Warg armies, so they instead joined forces to defeat their common enemies in what was later called the Battle of the Five Armies.

Thorin oakenshield biography

He thought that Bilbo would be a calming influence on Thorin, as well as a genuinely valuable addition to the company. Thorin, who did not think much of Hobbits, reluctantly agreed, calculating that Bilbo's presence would be a small price to pay for Gandalf's help. The name "Thorin" ultimately derives from that of the Norse god Thor ; it means darer or bold one.

Dwarfs in Germanic folklore are skilled in metalwork, including making weapons, ships, rings and jewellery; they are knowledgeable, strong, and turn to stone in sunlight. They are characterised as having a strong association with gold, mining, wealth, living underneath mountains, and being long-lived, ungrateful, and getting into arguments about payment.

Shippey writes that in chapters 6—8 of The Hobbit , Tolkien explores "with delight that surly, illiberal independence often the distinguishing mark of Old Norse heroes". We do not open the book to read of the wrath of Thorin the way we learn of the wrath of Achilles in the opening lines of The Iliad. The Tolkien scholar Paul H. Kocher writes that Tolkien characterises Dwarves as having the " cardinal sin of 'possessiveness'", [ 10 ] seen sharply when Bard the Bowman makes what Bilbo feels is a fair offer for a share of Smaug's treasure, and Thorin flatly refuses, his "dwarfish lust for gold fevered by brooding on the dragon's hoard".

The Jesuit John L. Treloar, writing in Mythlore , suggests that Tolkien, a Catholic, explores the seven deadly sins in his Middle-earth writings. He states that in The Hobbit , both Smaug and Thorin exemplify avarice , but respond to it differently. In his view, Smaug is evil and lets avarice destroy him, whereas Thorin, sharing the general weakness of Dwarves for this particular vice, nevertheless has sufficient good will to free himself of it at the time of his death.

Bassham and Bronson compare Thorin's deathbed "conversion" from his greed and pride , as he reconciles himself with Bilbo, to Ebenezer Scrooge 's "big moral transformation" from grumpy miserliness to generosity and cheerfulness in Charles Dickens 's novella A Christmas Carol. In the game The Hobbit Thorin appears as an AI controlled character and one of his seemingly random actions "Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold", which occurs when the player does nothing for a while became quite famous.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Leader of the Dwarves in The Hobbit. Fictional character. Appearances [ edit ]. The Hobbit [ edit ]. The people of Lake-town welcome Thorin in ch. The Lord of the Rings [ edit ]. Unfinished Tales [ edit ].

Origins [ edit ]. Interpretations [ edit ]. Adaptations [ edit ]. Family tree [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Frodo was "staggered" to learn that the mithril shirt's worth "was greater than the value of the whole Shire and everything in it". References [ edit ]. Primary [ edit ].