Like Thorin itself, both the names Thrain and Thror come from the same list of dwarf-names, known as the Dvergatal (‘Dwarf-tally’), that provided the names of all the other dwarves who accompany Bilbo (with the sole exception of Balin); see Appendix III.17 This list appears both in Völuspá (‘The Sayings of the Sybil’ [circa 1000 AD]), the first poem in the collection variously known as the Elder Edda or Poetic Edda, in what is generally considered to be an interpolation to the original poem,18 as well as in Gylfaginning, ‘The Deluding of Gylfi’ in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda [1223].
Jean Young, in her translation of the Prose Edda, glosses ‘Thorin’ as ‘Bold One’ (page 41) but does not explain the meaning of the other two dwarf-names. Ursula Dronke, in her edition of Völuspá, translates the three names as ‘Darer’ (þorinn), ‘Yearner’ (þráinn), and ‘Thrive’ (þrór). Of the other dwarf-names associated with this family, ‘Oakenshield’ (Eikinskjaldi/Eikinskialdi) appears in both lists (indeed, it is repeated twice within the Völuspá itself, in stanza 13 line 8 and again in stanza 16 line 2; see Text Note 9), as does Gandalf (Ganndálf/Gandálfr). Young glosses the latter as ‘Sorcerer-elf’ but Dronke, rather surprisingly, prefers ‘Sprite Elf’; the usual translation is ‘Wand-elf’, although Shippey prefers ‘Staff-elf’ (The Road to Middle-Earth, rev. edition [1992], page 88).
From this point onward, references to Thrain, Thorin’s father, and to Thror, his grandfather and last King under the Mountain, appear frequently, as Thorin asserts his claim to the kingship and treasure and returns to the home of his youth.19 It is now easy to overlook, but important to note, that in the original first edition of the book no mention of either Thror’s or Thrain’s name appeared in the text before the scene at Lake Town (see Note 16), with one notable exception which Tolkien had inserted into the text of Chapter VII when creating the typescript. This sole earlier occurrence is important, because remarkably enough it gave a reversed line of descent – i.e., Thorin son of Thror son of Thrain – and because this error was preserved through both typescripts and into the printer’s proofs. Even more remarkably, when correcting those proofs Tolkien initially decided to change every other occurrence of the names to agree with this exception – that is, he adopted the reverse genealogy and decided to make Thror the father and Thrain the grandfather and Last King throughout – instead of simply altering this single anomalous case to match the rest. And, as Christopher Tolkien points out in his discussion of the two competing genealogies in The Treason of Isengard (HME VII.159–60), it is this reversed line of descent (Thorin–Thror–Thrain) which appears on the map with the moon-runes published in the book.
Since the resulting confusion persisted into the early stages of The Lord of the Rings20 and required Tolkien to make adjustments and additions to The Hobbit as late as 1966 to fully resolve (and which he even then did not perfectly achieve), it seems worthwhile to go into the matter in some detail here to understand how two separate and competing genealogies – what we may call the ‘text tradition’ (father Thrain, grandfather Thror) and the reversed genealogy of the ‘map tradition’ (father Thror, grandfather Thrain) – arose, and how Tolkien ultimately solved the problem that traces of these competing traditions left in the story. The best way to do so seems to be to briefly rehearse the various stages by which Tolkien fixed upon the names of these two characters:
• First Phase: Gandalf is the chief dwarf; his father is unnamed; his grandfather is briefly named ‘Fimbulfambi’, then left unnamed. Bladorthin is the wizard (Pryftan Fragment, Bladorthin Typescript).
• Second Phase: Gandalf is the chief dwarf; his father and grandfather are unnamed; Bladorthin is the wizard; Medwed the werebear. (Second Phase manuscript from middle of Chapter I through what is now Chapter IX). In Plot Notes A, written during a brief pause between the composition of Chapters VII and VIII, Tolkien proposes changing several names (Gandalf > Thorin, Bladorthin > Gandalf, Medwed > Beorn) but does not carry out the changes.
• Second Phase, continued: Chief dwarf’s name changes to Thorin (between Chapters IX and X). His father and grandfather are given the names Thrain and Thror, respectively (Chapter X). These names are used consistently throughout the rest of the Second Phase manuscript (through the scene on Ravenhill in Chapter XV).
• First Typescript: After breaking off the manuscript at the end of the scene with Roäc, Tolkien returns to the beginning of the story and creates the First Typescript. The name changes proposed more than a year before in Plot Notes A are now carried out: Thorin (Oakenshield) is the chief dwarf throughout, Beorn the werebear, and Gandalf the wizard. Thorin’s father and grandfather are unnamed anywhere before Chapter VII, where their names are accidentally reversed when Medwed’s simple remark ‘if it is true that you are respectable dwarves & not friends of Goblins’ (p. 234) is changed to Beorn’s ‘if it is true that you are Thorin (son of Thror, son of Thrain, I believe), and that your companion is respectable . . .’ (1/1/57:5). The typescript transposes two chapters (so that Ms. Chapters XIII and XIV become Ts. Chapters XIV and XIII, the latter represented by a thirteen-page ‘fair copy’) and breaks off shortly before the manuscript it is replacing did (in the middle of Ts. Chapter XIV rather than early in Ms. Chapter XV), but the majority of the references to Thrain and Thror in Chapters X through XV that had appeared in the Second Phase manuscript carry over unchanged, word-for-word, into the typescript (see Note 19), with Thrain the father and Thror the grandfather.
• Third Phase: Tolkien completes the book after a pause of about a year, writing a short, forty-five page manuscript conclusion from the point where the First Typescript broke off. The Thorin–Thrain–Thror line of descent is still in place. The Gem of Girion now becomes the Arkenstone, and in four places (once in a pasteover insertion into the typescript of Chapter XII,21 twice in Chapter XVI, and once in Chapter XVII) it is called ‘the Arkenstone of Thrain’. In one of these points in the new manuscript, and twice in the typescript that ultimately replaced it (the latter dating from autumn 1936), Thrain is explicitly Thorin’s father rather than his grandfather:
‘What of the Arkenstone of Thrain?’ said [Bard] . . .
‘That stone was my father’s, and is mine’ [Thorin] said. ‘. . . how came you by the heirloom of my house’? (Chapter XVII: new Ms. page 21 & 1st Ts. 1/1/67:1)
and again
. . . and now Thorin spoke of the Arkenstone of Thrain, and bade them eagerly to look for it in every corner.
‘For the Arkenstone of my father,’ he said, ‘is worth more than a river of gold in itself, and to me it is beyond price . . .’ (Chapter XVI: 1st Ts. 1/1/66:1)22
Significantly, Tolkien marked this passage in both the First and Second typescripts, changing ‘father’ to ‘fathers’ (i.e., ‘For the Arkenstone of my fathers, 1/1/66:1 & 1/1/47:1), but for some reason he rescinded this correction in the page proofs – see the first set of proofs (1/2/2: page [273]), where Tolkien altered fathers to father, and the second set of proofs (1/2/3: page [273]), where he pencilled in an ‘s’ after father but then erased it. Had he not done so, and had the reference in the following chapter been brought into line, the entire problem need never have arisen.
• Finally, at some point Tolkien makes ‘Thror’s Map’ [Plate I; to distinguish this from the final version appearing in the published book, I will refer to this version as ‘Thror’s Map I’ (TM.1)], based on the original ‘Fimbulfambi’s Map’ that ended ‘The Pryftan Fragment’ [Frontispiece] (or on a now-lost intermediary map that closely resembled it; see p. 23). This earlier version of the map, which accompanied the submission of the completed book to Allen & Unwin on 3rd October 1936, is neatly labelled in the lower left corner: ‘Thror’s Map · Copied by B.Baggins · For moon-runes hold up to a light’. Beneath the Lonely Mountain in the center is the label ‘Here of old was the land of Thrain King under the Mountain’. In the final version of Thror’s Map [‘Thror’s Map II’ (TM.II); DAA.97] published in the book, made in between 10th December 1936 and 4th January 1937, the lab
el in the lower left has been simplified to ‘Thror’s Map’ and the text beneath the mountain now reads ‘Here of old was Thrain King under the Mountain’. This is the clearest expression of the reverse genealogy: Thrain is the grandfather who was the last King Under the Mountain and Thror is the son who years later made the map before setting out on his own final quest.
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly when TM.I was made. It seems probable that it was during the creation of the First Typescript [e.g., sometime in 1932] – that is, after the emergence of the names Thror and Thrain during the writing of Chapter X and long enough afterwards that Tolkien had forgotten the original sequence, just as he did when typing the typescript version of Chapter VII. However, it might have been slightly later, during the composition of the final chapters [e.g., December 1932–January 1933], when the references to ‘the Arkenstone of Thrain’ seem to indicate that Tolkien had become either confused or ambivalent about the correct sequence. It could even be as late as the late summer and early fall of 1936, when Tolkien finally extended the typescript all the way to the end of the book (see Christopher Tolkien’s letter to Father Christmas, December 1937, cited in the Foreword to the 50th anniversary edition, page vii).
In summary, then, the preponderance of evidence from what we may call the text tradition is overwhelmingly in favor of the original genealogy: Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. However, in several places (Beorn’s reference to Thorin’s ancestry, at least some of the references to the Arkenstone of Thrain, and most importantly on the Map) Tolkien either explicitly or implicitly uses the reverse genealogy instead. Whether this was entirely the result of confusion on his part or deliberate choice is impossible to say, but the evidence suggests the former; it seems unlikely, for example, that Tolkien would deliberately revert to the rejected reverse genealogy when drafting the Council of Elrond scenes in ‘The New Hobbit’ (see Note 20) when he had already committed to the other line of descent in print just two years before (cf. HME VI.403). We have here, therefore, a rare case of Tolkien’s losing track of some detail in the course of revising the book; he managed at the last minute to bring the text into accord (with the exception of two of the references to the Arkenstone) but failed to get the troublesome map to agree with it.
Not until years later did he return to the matter, when as part of the 1947 revisions that became the Second Edition of The Hobbit he resorted to what Taum Santoski called the typically Tolkienesque solution of leaving both contradictory pieces of information in place and adding a third element that took both into account and resolved their apparent contradiction: the invention of Thrain the Old. For a detailed discussion of this new character, and the reasons for his insertion into the story, see The Fourth Phase: The 1947 Hobbit, pp. 780, 788, & 791.
Chapter XI
The Lonely Mountain
As before, the story continues without chapter break, in this case near the bottom of manuscript page 136 (1/1/12:1). This brief chapter is written quickly, with many abbreviations (‘R. Running’) and minor errors or omissions, which I have for the most part silently expanded or corrected. Perhaps significantly, it is a fairly clean text, with relatively few changes made in the course of composition; thanks to the brief sketch of these events in Plot Notes B (see pp. 362–3), Tolkien knew what he wanted to happen in this part of the story and seems to have simply concentrated on getting it down in full without for the moment worrying about details of phrasing.
They rowed right up it in two days’
‘Not at any [rate] until the songs had come true’ said they. Still there was no need for any guard. The lands were wide and empty. Here they joined the horses that had been sent for them; and bade farewell to their escort. The next day packing what they could carry on horseback they set out, Bilbo riding with Balin on one horse, leading another heavily laden beside them; the others were ahead in single file, picking [added: out] a slow road. They made due North, slanting away from the River Running and drawing nearer & nearer to a great spur of the Mountain that was flung out Southward towards them.
It was a weary journey, and a quiet and stealthy one. There was no laughter or song, and the pride and hopes which had stirred in all their hearts (esp. Thorin’s) at the singing of the old songs by the lake had died away to a plodding gloom. They knew they were drawing near to the end of their journey – and that it might be a very horrible end. The land grew barren, though once, as Thorin said, it had been green and fair. There was little grass. Soon there were neither bush nor tree, and only broken stumps to speak of ones long vanished. They were come to the desolation of the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year.
They reached the skirts of the mountain without meeting serious danger, all the same. There was no sign of the dragon. The mountain lay dark and silent before them, and ever more above them. They made their first settled camp on the lowest slopes of the great southern spur – I have marked it on the copy of Thror’s map; as he did himself, though of course it was not there when Bladorthin had it.TN2 Before setting out to search the western slopes for the hidden door, on which all their hopes rested, Thorin sent out a scouting expedition to spy out the land to the east by the Front Gate. Bilbo went with them – and Balin and Fili and Kili. After a couple of days of silent journey they came back to the Running River, which here took a [?sudden >] great western turn and flowed towards the mountain, which stretched out great arms to meet it. The bank was rocky, tall, and steep here, and gazing out from the brink, over the narrow river, foaming and splashing over boulders, they could see in a wide valley shadowed by the mountain’s arms, the grey ruins far-off of ancient [?towers >] houses, towers, and walls.
‘There lies all that is left of Dale’ said Balin. ‘The mountain’s sides were green with woods then, and all this valley rich and sheltered.’ He looked both sad and grim as he said this: he had been one of Thorin’s companions on the day the Dragon came.TN3 They did not dare to follow the river much further towards the gate; but they went on until lying hidden behind a rock they could look out, and see the dark cavernous opening in a great wall between the mountain’s arms, out of which the water ran. And out of which too there was coming steam and a dark smoke. Nothing else moved in the waste, save the vapour and the river [> water], and every now and again a dark and ominous raven. The only sound was the sound of stony water, and every now and again a raven’s croak. Balin shuddered. ‘Let us return’ he said. ‘We can do no good here! And I do not like those dark birds; they look like spies of evil’.TN4
‘The dragon is still alive and in the halls under the Mountain then?’ said the hobbit. ‘Or I imagine so from the smoke’.
‘That doesn’t prove it’ said Balin; ‘though I don’t doubt you are right. But he might be gone [added: away] some time, and [> or] he might be lying on the mountain’s-side watching us [> keeping watch], and still I expect smokes and steams would come out of the gates because of the heat he leaves behind’.
With such gloomy thoughts, followed ever by croaking ravens, they made their weary way back to the others and the camp. A year and more had passed since they had been guests at the fair house of Elrond, in June; and now the summer of the year after was drawing to a bleak end, and they were alone in the perilous waste.TN5 They were at the end of their journey, but as far as ever it seemed from the end of their quest. None of them had much spirit left.
Now strange to say Bilbo had more than any of them. He would often borrow Thorin’s map and gaze at it, pondering the runes, and the message of the moon-letters Elrond had read.TN6 It was he who made them begin the dangerous search upon the western slopes for the secret door.TN7 They mo
ved their camp to a long valley deeper and narrower than that one where stood the great gates of the River, but hemmed in with lower spurs. Two of these here [sprouted >] thrust forward West from the main mass of the mountain, great long ridges with steep sides, [that] fell ever downwards towards the plain. Here there was less sign of the dragon’s marauding feet, and there was grass for their ponies.TN8 From their second camp, shadowed all day by cliff and wall until the sun began to sink west towards the forest, day by day they toiled in parties seeking for paths up the mountain side. If the map was true somewhere high above the cliff at the valley head must stand the secret door, now their only hope. Day by day they came back weary to the camp without success.
But at last they found what they were seeking. Fili and Kili and the hobbit went back one day near to the [end of the >] Southern corner of the valley, and here scrambling up some loose rocks they came suddenly on what looked like rough steps. Following these excitedly they came upon traces of a narrow track, often lost, often found again, that wandered onto the top of the sunken ridge and brought them at last to a narrow ledge. This turned north and looking down they saw they were at the top of the [valley >] cliff at the valley head, looking down on their own camp below.TN9 Silently, clinging to the rocky wall on their right they went in single file along the ledge till the wall opened and they turned into a little steep walled bay, grassy floored, still and quiet. At its end a flat wall rose up at its lower part close to the ground as smooth and upright as man’s work, but without a joint or crack. No sign was there of post nor lintel nor threshold; no sign of bar or bolt or key. Yet they did not doubt they had found the door at last. They beat on it, and they pushed, they implored it to open, they spoke fragments of broken magic, and nothing stirred. At last tired out they rested before their long climb down.TN10
The History of the Hobbit Page 58