Lord of the Rings: 9 Secrets of Thorin

Thorin is the leader of the dwarves who, alongside Gandalf and Bilbo, sets out to fight the dragon Smaug and liberate the city of Erebor. This character was imagined as a hero with a tragic destiny by Tolkien. From his place in Tolkien’s writings to his role in Peter Jackson’s films and the expanded universe, let’s take a look at 8 facts you may not know about Thorin.

#9 Thorin and Gandalf have a surprising thing in common

In Tolkien’s very first handwritten drafts of The Hobbit, A haughty and pompous leader of the Dwarf troop is then called “Gandalf”, while the magician is called “Bladorthin”. In fact, the characters only find their final names at a fairly late stage in the writing process. In this regard, Tolkien creates a note in which he indicates that he is not entirely satisfied with the names and wishes to change them. But it was only after a break of several months that the “Gandalf” of the first drafts finally became “Thorin”.

#8 One of Thorin’s family members has a unique place in Tolkien’s work

Thorin is the son of Thráin II, but is not his only son. Indeed, it is not always known, but Thorin has a brother named Frerin and also a sister named Dís, which holds a very special place in Tolkien’s work.

Frerin: He is the second son of Thráin II, younger brother of Thorin Oakenshield, but elder brother of the dwarf Dís. Little is known of him, except that‘he died young while participating in a decisive battle in the War between the Dwarves and the Orcs, taking place before the Gate of Khazad-dûm, called the Battle of Azanulbizar. A priori and according to Thorin, Physically, he looks a lot like his nephew Fili.

So she is obviously also the daughter of Thráin II and the sister of Frerin and Thorin II, but She is also the mother of two other dwarves who participated in the reconquest of Erebor alongside Thorin: Fíli and Kíli. The identity of her husband is unknown. The most interesting element, and what makes Dís a little different in Tolkien’s writings, is thatShe is the only female dwarf ever named by the author.

#7 For Thorin, the adventure begins in the same place as Aragorn

In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf arranges a secret meeting with Frodo and Sam at the Prancing Pony Inn. in the city of Bree. Unfortunately, Gandalf is imprisoned by Saruman and cannot join the Hobbits who are now pursued by the Nazgûl. Fortunately, once he arrives at the Prancing Pony InnFrodon meets Aragorn who will now watch over them.Now, this scene actually echoes the meeting of Gandalf and Thorin, who also met in secret at the Prancing Pony Inn. Indeed, It was there that Gandalf gave Thorin a map and key he had received from Thráin at Dol Guldur before his death. It was there that Gandalf the Grey and Thorin set in motion a plan to retake the dwarven city of Erebor, which was now in the hands of the terrible Dragon Smaug.

#6 Thorin’s father possessed one of the seven rings of power of the dwarf lords

The Rings of Power are twenty magical rings intended as the cornerstone of a plan devised by the Dark Lord Sauron, who hoped to use it to dominate Middle-earth. Sauron, under the guise of a more amiable being, seduced important leaders of the different populations (humans, elves and dwarves) on both sides of the continent and offered them his rings. Through his master Ring, Sauron could have manipulated all those who possessed the other rings. With this idea, Seven rings were given to the Dwarves, one for each of the great Dwarf lords.

Unfortunately for Sauron, the rings failed to corrupt the Dwarves. in the same way that they corrupted the lords of Men who transformed themselves into Nazgûl. After this failure, Sauron had great difficulty in recovering the rings of the dwarves that he hoped to be able to take back and surely redistribute to more malleable spirits. Four of these dwarven rings were destroyed by dragons. However, Sauron still recovered two of them. The last was in the hands of Thráin II, the father of Thorin Oakenshield. He was imprisoned by Sauron in the dungeons of Dol Guldur, and the Ring was taken from him.

#5 Gold is more dangerous to Thorin than the rings of power

As we have just seen, Dwarves have an astonishing resistance to magic. or the corruption of the Dark Lord. However, Tolkien has developed a strange contradiction in the Dwarves that will be a fatal weakness to Thorin. Indeed, although very resistant to magic, theThe Dwarves are unable to resist what Tolkien calls “dragon sickness.” This sickness is a kind of fascination with gold. and valuable material goods.

Originally, In the first drafts, the Dwarves were not to succumb to the “dragon sickness”, but on the contrary, be particularly resistant to it; greed or fascination with objects of power (the rings or the Silmarils) had to be found on the side of the Elves and Men, and constitute an external and latent threat to Bilbo and his fellow Dwarves. Making the Dwarves particularly prone (and no longer immune) to the “dragon sickness” allows Tolkien to make his characters more complex and Thorin’s journey more tragic.

#4 Thorin’s weapon scares the goblins

The population of Gondolin at its inception included both Noldor and Sindar Elves. All were ruled by the Elven King Turgon. Although pacifists and living hidden away from the conflicts of Middle-earth, they eventually had to confront the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. King Turgon then asked for a sword to be forged for him. The craftsmen then created a sword for the king and a second, defined as its “sister blade”. Wielded by King Turgon and the lords of Gondolin, These two swords were named Glamdring, which means “Hammer of Enemies”, and Orcrist, which means “Goblin Cleaver”after they had massacred many members of this population on the battlefield.

After defeating three trolls, Gandalf and the dwarf Thorin found Glamdring and Orcristwho had been extinct for hundreds of years, and made them their blades. So when the Goblin King finally captured Thorin, he didn’t realize it right away, but he had made a terrible mistake. When the Great Goblin realized that the Dwarf was armed with Orcrist, panic broke out, because the sword is considered a being in its own right and extremely feared by the Goblins. Worse still, at this precise moment, Gandalf joins Thorin armed with Glamdring. For the Goblins, it is a real nightmare that begins and even leads to the death of their king.

#3 Thorin respects Bilbo enormously

At the beginning of the novel The HobbitThorin Oakenshield has no real affection for Hobbits. He even comes across as rather suspicious of them and mocks Bilbo’s comfortable life, but the extent of this mockery and his disdain in the book is considerably less than that put forward in the films. When at the end of the book, Thorin is taken by the “dragon sickness” and that he becomes particularly greedy and aggressive to the point of triggering the Battle of the Five Armies, the character begins a final arc of redemption which will be partly inspired by Bilbo.

As chaos reigns outside, Thorin pulls himself together and will do everything to be worthy of his status as king. In fact, once it was all over, Thorin openly admitted that “if more of us valued food, joy, and song rather than hoarded gold, the world would be a happier place.” Thorin then emerges from the mountain where he was hiding and provides decisive aid to the Elven, Dwarven, and Human armies who must face the fearsome Orcs and Wargs who attack them. He fought bravely, but was mortally wounded. by Orcs and not Azog as in the movie, since in the novel Azog has been dead for a long time at that point in the story (as explained in detail here). It is Beorn who brings Thorin to safety after killing the Orc Bolg.

Before dying, Thorin makes peace with Bilbo praising the Hobbit’s courage and good character, and apologizing for any hurtful words he may have said. As he prepares to die, Thorin now recognizes Bilbo’s fundamentally benevolent intentions. Thorin’s last words are actually addressed to Bilbo: “If more of us valued food, good cheer, and song more than hoarded gold, the world would be a happier place. But, happy or sad, I must now leave it. Farewell.”

#2 Thorin is a human

The fairy tale aspect and especially the less voluminous nature of the novel The Hobbit of Tolkien allowed it to experience several adaptations. One of the least known versions in France is a surprising cartoon made by Gene Deitch in 1966. This version of The Hobbit is a particularly simplified and modified adaptation of the story, lasting no more than 12 minutes. In this animated short film with a strange aesthetic, Thorin II Oakenshield is actually a human general.He is one of the three survivors in Erebor, alongside a new character invented for the occasion: “Princess Mika”, who even ends up marrying Bilbo at the end of the adventure.

#1 Thorin could be reincarnated

King Durin I, known as Durin the Deathless, is the eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves. He is known as the Immortal because he lived longer than any other known dwarf. However, Some believe that Durin was reincarnated six times, each time retaining the memories of his past lives and his name Durin. Although this is never explicitly confirmed or denied by Tolkien, there is reference in his work to the fact that the dwarves at least believe in reincarnation. Even if they do not necessarily believe in a possible reincarnation of every dwarf, they have a priori developed a belief according to which their greatest ancestors could return. In fact, It is not impossible that some of Thorin’s companions, present at his funeral, had at least a little hope for his return.

And if you liked this article, don’t hesitate to discover 9 facts you didn’t know about The Goblin King part 1 and 2, Azog, Sauron, Elrond, The Balrog, Gollum, the oliphants, Shelob, Eowyn, Eomer, Boromir, Denethor, Faramir, Gandalf the Grey, Elendil, Gimli, Bombur, Théoden, Bilbo, Arwen, Merry, Gollum, The Uruk-hai, the Elves, Smaug, Radagast, Treebeard, The Mouth of Sauron, The Easterlings, Grima Wormtongue, Bard, Beorn, Dunharrow’s Army of the Dead and The Witch-king of Angmar.