The Hobbit - Chapter 8 and 9

Attended by: 
AelKennyr Rhiano
Belenos Stormchaser
Rhun Darkmoon
Shawn Daysleeper




Chapter 8

Darkness falls upon Bilbo and the dwarves as they enter the bleak forest of Mirkwood. Strange eyes peer out at them from the trees. Soon, the group cannot tell night from day. Everyone can think only of getting out of the stuffy, ominous woods, but there seems to be no end in sight. After a few days, they come to a stream that Beorn had warned them not to touch. They cross using a boat already moored there, but a dwarf, Bombur, falls in and is put into a sleep that lasts for days. The rest of the party is forced to carry him. Hungry, tired, and scared, they begin to despair.

One night, they see a flicker of lights in the trees and, ignoring the warnings of Beorn and Gandalf, they leave the path and move toward the lights. They see elves sitting in a clearing around a fire, feasting and singing. However, the moment they burst into the clearing, the lights are snuffed out, and the dwarves and Bilbo can hardly find one another. The same thing happens twice more. On the last occasion, everyone becomes separated, unable to find one another in the darkness. Soon, Bilbo stops hearing voices and, exhausted, leans against a tree to sleep.

When Bilbo awakens, his legs are bound with sticky thread and an enormous spider is advancing toward him. Whipping out his sword, he slashes his legs free and slays the spider. Flush with victory, he gives his sword a name: Sting. He then goes in search of the dwarves. To his horror, he finds them all hanging from a tree, tied up in the webs of the many spiders that sit atop the branches. Bilbo whips a few stones at the spiders and then leads them away from the dwarves by yelling. Fortunately, he is wearing the ring all the while, so the spiders cannot find him.

Having led the spiders away, Bilbo slips back and cuts the dwarves free. But the spiders soon return, and the dwarves, weak from the spiders’ poison, can hardly fight them off, even with the aid of the invisible Bilbo. Just when the situation looks completely hopeless, the spiders suddenly retreat, and the company realizes that they themselves have retreated into one of the clearings used by elves. There, they rest to ponder their next course of action. A moment later, they realize with horror that Thorin is missing.

Unbeknownst to the others, Thorin was taken prisoner by the elves when he stepped into the clearing before the spider attack. The elves are wood elves, who are good but suspicious of strangers. The Elvenking questions Thorin about his journey. When Thorin refuses to say where the company is going, the elves throw him in the dungeon, but they feed him and are not cruel.

Chapter 9

Soon after Bilbo and the rest of the dwarves escape the spiders, they are surrounded by a company of wood elves and brought blindfolded to the Elvenking’s halls. Bilbo, still wearing his ring, remains undetected. The other dwarves are brought before the king and questioned. Like Thorin, they refuse to reveal their plan to reclaim the treasure from Smaug for fear that the elves will demand a share. Also like Thorin, the dwarves are thrown into the dungeon. Meanwhile, Bilbo, having followed the captured dwarves, walks invisibly through the halls, whispering to the dwarves in their cells and plotting an escape.

The elves exchange goods with the men of Lake Town via barrels that are floated on a river that flows under the elves’ dwelling. Empty barrels are sent floating back down the river from a storeroom. In the storeroom, Bilbo catches a guardsman napping. He steals the guardsman’s keys, frees the dwarves, and puts his plan into action. He helps pack each dwarf into an empty barrel just before the elves return and shove the barrels into the river; then, still invisible, he hops onto an empty barrel. The trapdoors open and the dwarves speed out along the river toward Lake Town.

Analysis
A key turning point in Bilbo’s development comes when he kills the spider that wrapped him in its web as he slept. After killing the spider, Bilbo feels like “a different person.” The spider is the first enemy that Bilbo defeats in combat, and the incident serves as a rite of passage. This change is marked by Bilbo’s decision to name his sword. In ancient epic literature, named swords are important symbols of courage and heroism, so by giving his sword a name, Bilbo signifies his new capacity to lead and succeed. From this point on, Bilbo begins to take action and make plans on his own—his plan to free the dwarves from the wood elves is the first instance of his newfound resolve. The peril and enmity that Bilbo and his group encounter in Mirkwood, combined with Gandalf’s absence and the dwarves’ bad luck, provide Bilbo with a grand opportunity to continue his development into a hero.

The narrator’s description of the wood elves as “Good People” who have become less wise, more suspicious, and more dangerous than the high elves, their relatives, illustrates how race and moral condition are closely linked in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. We have not yet encountered any humans in The Hobbit, so it is still difficult to figure where humans fit within Tolkien’s hierarchy of good and evil. From the passing references that we do hear, we get the impression that humans are mortal, often unwise, out of accord with nature, and prone to feuding. Still, humans do not seem to be uniformly evil like the goblins and the Wargs. Soon, at the end of Chapter 9, we encounter more substantial evidence of man when the company, waterlogged but alive, floats toward the human settlement Lake Town, just south of the Lonely Mountain, which is the group’s ultimate destination.

An evil aura pervades the forest of Mirkwood. As Gandalf explains, the evil atmosphere stems mostly from the presence of the mysterious Necromancer in the south of Mirkwood. The Necromancer does not figure in The Hobbit in a significant way but provides another important link between this novel and The Lord of the Rings. The Necromancer later proves to be Sauron, the Dark Lord, who is rebuilding his evil power in Mirkwood before returning to his stronghold of Barad-Dur in the blighted land of Mordor.

Special Quotation for discussion

Somehow [after] the killing of this giant spider . . . [h]e felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach, as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath.

reflection on the quotation


This passage from Chapter 8 depicts Bilbo’s reaction to his narrow escape from the giant spider of Mirkwood, one of the novel’s major turning points. Defeating a foe in combat gives Bilbo a taste of the confidence that he has not previously enjoyed, making him feel “much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach.” From this point forward, Bilbo shows that he is capable of taking the initiative and acting in the best interest of the company rather than his own self-interest, as his ability to ignore his hunger shows. He upstages Thorin as a leader and establishes himself as a hero.

Bilbo’s decision to name his sword is also symbolic. Named swords are marks of reputation and prowess in ancient epic literature, and Bilbo’s naming of his sword essentially represents his laying claim to the mantle of heroism.

Alqualonde

Attended by:
AelKennyr Rhiano
Fand Gloster
Jasper DragonHeart
Rhun Darkmoon
Shawn Daysleeper

Ael began with giving some general information about Alqualonde: Alqualonde, in Tolkien, is the chief city of the Teleri elves who completed the journey West. The city is said to be north and east of Tirion between the Calacirya and Araman in northern Eldamar.  The city was built in a natural harbour made of rock, and was also walled. Other than the great harbours it also housed the Tower of Olwë. The city was covered with the pearls the Elves had found in the sea and jewels which they obtained from the Noldor.  With aid from the Ñoldor, the city was built during the time of the trees, sometime after the elves arrived in Valinor; it was constructed by the Teleri, who loved the seas and the starlight. Olwë, brother of Thingol, lived in Alqualondë and was its lord.

At this point Rhun clarified that this meant that in Tolkien's world and times, Alqualonde was in the eternal twilight of Aman.  Ael agreed that this was so, "Aman is in an eternal twillight. Arien takes the vessel of the sun and traverses across Middle Earth."  He then went on to mention about Elwe.  As you are aware, after Elwe became smitten with the Maia Melian, and they decided to make eyes at each other for...what...a hundred years or so, Olwe took the rest of the Teleri and resumed the journey to Valinor.  Elwe, you all may remember, went on to marry Melian, and became known as Elu Thingol. His people became the Sindar.

Here is what Tolkein wrote of Alqualonde: "Many jewels the Noldor gave them, opals and diamonds and pale crystals, which they strewed upon the shores and scattered in the pools; marvelous were the beaches of Elende in those days. And many pearls they won for themselves from the sea; and their halls were of pearl, and of pearl were the mansions of Olwe at Alqualonde, the Haven of the Swans, lit with many lamps. For that was their city, and the Haven of their ships; and those were made in likeliness of swans, with the beaks of gold and eyes of gold and jet."

In Aman all of the Teleri regard Olwë as their High King, since Elwe was lost to them, and Olwe brought them safely to Valinor. But each time they stopped along their journey, a group of Teleri would stay behind. Thus, many of the elven clans in Middle Earth can trace their roots back to Teleri, either through the groups that stayed or through Elu.

We then looked at a little back history of the Elves. The Great Journey, or the Great March was the journey that the Elves known as the Eldar took from Cuiviénen, the place of their awakening, to Valinor in Aman.  The Eldar are those elves of the awakening.  After the War of the Valar against Melkor much of northern Middle-earth was broken, and then Oromë returned to take the Eldar with him into the West. The majority of the Elves departed, but a part remained behind, becoming known as the Avari, in the Sundering of the Elves.


Oromë guided the Eldar north of the Sea of Helcar, passing under the smoke of the ruined Iron Mountains (Ered Engrin). Some Eldar fled in fear, and disappeared from history. Later the host passed through a great forest (the later Mirkwood) on the path where later was the Dwarf-Road, and then long waited at the shores of a Great River (Anduin) while Oromë sought a way to get them over the Hithaeglir or the Misty Mountains, which were much higher in those days.

The Vanyar and Ñoldor were ferried across Belegaer or the Great Sea on Tol Eressëa, which would later be permanently anchored of the coast of Aman by Ulmo, while the Teleri finally entered Beleriand. When Ulmo returned for them the greater part of the Teleri finally crossed Belegaer. Thus the first city of the Teleri elves in Valinor is on Tol Eressea, the lonely isle

It was noted that, contrary to what some have claimed rpwise, however, Olwe never stepped down as Lord of Tol Eressea.

In Tolkien, however, the most noteworthy event that occurred in the peaceful, tranquil Swanhaven was the First kinslaying. The Kinslayings are the collective term for the three battles fought between the Eldar.

The first battle, the Kinslaying at Alqualondë (Swanhaven), appears in print in The Silmarillion. It involves the Noldorin Elves under their king, Fëanor, against their fellow Elves, the Teleri. Fëanor had induced the Noldor to leave Valinor to make war upon the Dark Lord Morgoth in revenge for the theft of his Silmarilli jewels and the murder of his father Finwë. As the easiest route to Middle-earth was by sea, Fëanor and his sons led one host of the Noldor to the city of Alqualondë and asked the seafaring Teleri of Alqualondë for their vessels. The Teleri refused to help them defy the Valar. Bitter fighting broke out (although it is not clear who began the fighting, the Silmarillion states that fighting began when the Noldor attempted to take control of the Teleri's ships) and eventually many (perhaps hundreds) of Elves on both sides were slain. Though the Teleri were lightly armed, they were able to defend themselves to some degree until a second host of the Noldor, led by Fëanor's half-nephew Fingon, arrived together with some of his father Fingolfin's people. Fingon's people assumed erroneously that the Teleri had attacked the Noldor under orders of the Valar. In the end, many of the Fëanor had induced the Noldor to leave Valinor to make war upon the Dark Lord Morgoth in revenge for the theft of his Silmarilli jewels and the murder of his father Finwë. As the easiest route to Middle-earth was by sea, Fëanor and his sons led one host of the Noldor to the city of Alqualondë and asked the seafaring Teleri of Alqualondë for their vessels. The Teleri refused to help them defy the Valar. Bitter fighting broke out (although it is not clear who began the fighting, the Silmarillion states that fighting began when the Noldor attempted to take control of the Teleri's ships) and eventually many (perhaps hundreds) of Elves on both sides were slain. Though the Teleri were lightly armed, they were able to defend themselves to some degree until a second host of the Noldor, led by Fëanor's half-nephew Fingon, arrived together with some of his father Fingolfin's people. Fingon's people assumed erroneously that the Teleri had attacked the Noldor under orders of the Valar.  

It was commented that for those seeing this as a religious work, The Kinslaying was the elves' equivalent of man's Original Sin, in that they fell to evil and were expelled from paradise.

The second battle is the Sack of Doriath where Dior was killed by the Sons of Fëanor.

The third battle in the Kinslaying is the attack by the Sons of Fëanor on the Mouths of Sirion where Elwing was attacked. The last Kinslaying is considered the cruellest of them all because many women and children were also murdered by the Fëanorians.

It was stated by Eönwë herald of Manwë that because of these evil deeds the remaining Sons of Fëanor had lost all right to the Silmarils, and when Maedhros and Maglor finally retrieved them, the Silmarils burned their hands, driving Maedhros to suicide and Maglor to wander the Earth forever.

It was at this point that Rhun commented, 'The silmarills almost seemed to carry the same king of affect on characters as the One Ring?'  Ael agreed that the inspired a greed for power.  The discussion finished with a link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/711862/1/Alqualonde