2019/2020 LE blogs

Chapter 9 - Barrels out of bond When the dwarves and Bilbo were wandering in the forest to find the elven path again, they were abruptly surrounded by many wood elves armed with bows. The dwarves were too hungry and tired to resist being caught, but Bilbo slipped on his ring and quietly crept out from the place. The elves took the dwarves to their king and the king asked the same questions that he asked Thorin. Same as Thorin, the dwarves refuse to tell the purpose of their journey so they all get locked up in the dungeons (they were served food and drink too). Meanwhile, invisible Bilbo who slipped inside the elves' cave was devising a plan to escape the elves' cave but there was one problem; doors were locked by magic. The wood elves were trading goods using barrels with Men in Lake-Town down the river. The barrels from Lake-Town were carried upstream to the elves and the empty barrels were floated down the river. Bilbo steals the dungeon keys from a drunken elf, frees the ...

Chapter 8 - Flies and Spiders Mirkwood was dark and gloomy, creepy eyes stared at the party from the darkness and queer noises came from the forest floor. The forest made the party tired, scared and anxious. They did not have much food and were hungry too. They came to the black stream.  Beorn had told them to never touch the water. Unluckily Bombur falls in the stream and falls asleep, they rescued him and they all managed to cross the river using a boat which was already on the river.  The party saw a flicker of lights in the forest and realized that the wood elves were having a feast. They were so hungry that they ignored Beorn and Gandalf's warning not to wander off the path.  The party goes off the elven road and tried to go to the lights, but when they got closer to the light, the light suddenly disappeared and pure darkness fell upon the party. This happens 3 times, and they get separated from each other, completely losing the way back to the elven road. Bilbo wa...

chapter 7 - Queer Lodgings The party ate a poor breakfast, then they rode on top of the eagles to the top of the rocks, near the river. I wondered why the eagles didn't take them directly near the Lonely Mountain. Gandalf told the dwarves that he had to leave to go somewhere and that really made the dwarves and Bilbo upset. However, Gandalf was able to stay with the party for a few more days. Gandalf then leads the party to Beorn's house. Beorn is a skin-changer, he is sometimes a big man and sometimes a giant furry bear. Beorn lives with smart animals that can talk and behaves like humans such as serving food. He is unfriendly and doesn't favour dwarves, but Gandalf's intelligent plan convinces Beorn to shelter the party for a few days. Gandalf tells Beorn his story about escaping from Goblin-town and fighting with goblins and Wargs. As he told the story, he takes in the dwarves two at a time so Beorn doesn't get surprised. Beorn was well entertained by this stor...

Chapter 6 - Out of the frying-pan into the fire After escaping from Goblin-Town, Bilbo (still invisible) realizes that he was on the other side of the Misty Mountains. He was afraid that he will never see the dwarves and Gandalf if he was in the middle of nowhere, but fortunately, he finds the dwarves discussing something. They thought Bilbo was still in Goblin-Town and were discussing whether or not they should leave without Bilbo. Gandalf felt guilty because he was the one who chose to take Bilbo on a journey so he felt responsible. Then Bilbo takes off the ring and surprises the dwarves and Gandalf. The dwarves were curious about how he managed to escape from the goblins. Bilbo explained that he used his burglar ability to escape. He told the dwarves about Gollum and about the riddles too but didn't mention the ring. Before the sun goes down, the party had to travel to a further and safer place because the goblins will start searching for the party during the night. They wer...

Chapter 5 - Riddles in the dark When Bilbo became conscious again, he opened his eyes to pure darkness. It was so dark and silent he didn't know if he was awake or asleep. He crawled without knowing where he is going for a while and found a ring that was on the stone floor. It was the ring of power which was very important and powerful. Not realizing what the ring was, Bilbo puts the ring in his pocket without thinking anything. He finds out that his sword he took from the trolls was shining in the darkness (it was an elvish sword that shines when any goblins were near him). Thinking that there's no meaning staying at the place he was, he went forward until he was at the edge of an underground lake. There lived Gollum, a slimy, small creature with two big eyes. He talked to himself because he never had anyone else to talk to. He hisses creepily and talks in weird grammar. He ate fish and meat, now he was looking at the prey (Bilbo) that came to his lake. However, he was a...

Chapter 4 - Over Hill And Under Hill Now the party was climbing the dangerous path of the Misty Mountains. They could see the lands they've passed and Bilbo knew he was so far away from his comfy hobbit-hole. Very unluckily a terrible thunderstorm had hit the Misty Mountains and the stone-giants were playing catch using rocks instead of a ball (which was really dangerous for the party). The rain was blown by the wind and hitting the party, so they evacuated to a small cave that Fili and Kili found. They were in a horrible state similar to chapter 2. The party was relieved and soon they were sleeping. However, actually, the cave was the front porch of Goblin-Town. A crack had opened in the back of the cave, ugly goblins came out of the crack and carried the dwarves and Bilbo inside to the deep, dark mountain. Fortunately, Gandalf was woken up by Bilbo's screaming and was able to kill several goblins but he was separated from the rest of the party. The goblins were a savage c...

Chapter 3 - A Short Rest After the incident with the trolls, the party didn't sing or tell stories even when the weather improved; they thought that danger was nearby and were wary. The party went through vast grasslands and narrow valleys with dangerous steep sides and after a long time, they arrived at Rivendell. Elrond, a noble elf-lord lived in Rivendell and the party was welcomed by him. In Rivendell, the party settled there for two weeks and rested. Rivendell was so comfortable that Bilbo thought he wouldn't go to his hobbit-hole even if he could. Gandalf asked Elrond to read the moon runes on the map that showed the location of the secret entrance into the Lonely Mountain (the dwarves' home where the dragon Smaug is now).  Elrond read the runes which said, "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole". Durin's Day was the dwarves' New Year's Day.  The par...