It’s been a moment between posts, alas, the end of the year’s always a hot mess for me and completely killed the momentum I was slowly building in posting – and I’ve been completely unmotivated to do anything extracurricular at all for quite a while, blog writing included.
I did notice a little detail that can be covered relatively quickly, though, and figured that I might as well jot it down and that it might get the creative juices flowing again! Namely, the detail of Bilbo being chosen (at least in part) to join Thorin’s Company to avoid their number being thirteen. This detail is first mentioned by Gandalf, as he strives to persuade the sceptical Dwarves that this timid little hobbit is indeed the right burglar for the job.
“You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal.”
The Hobbit, Chapter I, ‘An Unexpected Party’ by J.R.R. Tolkien
The themes of luck, misfortune, and destiny run through The Hobbit from beginning to end, of course. We are told many times that Bilbo himself was born with an uncommonly good share of luck, and the burglar of the Company certainly proves it – for nearly as often as Thorin and his allies suffer some misfortune, Bilbo (or Gandalf) is there to get them out of it, and often does so with a healthy helping of luck (my personal favourite mention of this in the story being when Bilbo is communicating with the Dwarves – then captive in the Elvenking’s halls – who “saw that he had some wits, as well as luck and a magic ring—and all three are very useful possessions”).
Tolkien has much better things to do than to dwell on Bilbo’s talismanic status within the Company through most of The Hobbit, but Bilbo himself recalls it much later, while boasting of his accomplishments to Smaug – and of all the hobbit’s achievements, the dragon seems least impressed and most amused by this one.
“I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.”
“Lovely titles!” sneered the dragon. “But lucky numbers don’t always come off.”
………
“Ha! Ha! You admit the ‘us’” laughed Smaug. “Why not say ‘us fourteen’ and be done with it, Mr. Lucky Number?”
The Hobbit, Chapter XII, ‘Inside Information’
So, rather than Gandalf’s comment being a throwaway explanation by Tolkien for Bilbo’s inclusion in the party, there is at least some awareness of Bilbo as a “lucky number” that runs right through the story, even if it is not often highlighted.
And, on the face of it, Bilbo’s inclusion in the group would seem to bring a fair share of luck. Through their actions, Smaug is killed, the Goblins rallied under Bolg are scattered and, of course, the kingdom of Erebor is restored…not to mention numerous side-benefits, such as the establishment of the Beornings as protectors of the High Pass, the renewal of friendships between the Men and Elves and Dwarves of north-eastern Middle-earth, and (of course) Bilbo happening upon a fine addition to his jewellery collection.
Yet the Company’s adventure is not an unqualified success either, chiefly due to Thorin’s own failures and eventual death – and indeed, not just Thorin’s death, but the deaths of his nephews Fíli and Kíli. Which slowly brings me round to the point of this post, as I’ve been thinking about important characters and their deaths in Tolkien recently (and will come back to a specific question regarding that theme in a longer and weightier post in the future), including Thorin. Specifically, what struck me is that, no matter how Thorin’s Company is reckoned, the unlucky thirteenth died at the Battle of Five Armies.
If only the Dwarves are counted, then their number is thirteen and one is slain – and there’s a fair argument to be made to count only them, as they are the primary instigators and stand to gain the most from the Quest. Further, by this point, Bilbo has attempted to broker peace by bargaining the Arkenstone and has been cast out by Thorin for his troubles. The Dwarves are, at the moment they join battle, not more nor less than thirteen.
Yet, if Bilbo is reckoned among the Company still, then Thorin’s death leaves thirteen yet again, and so Fíli (or Kíli) is also slain. And, though Gandalf never counts himself a member of the expedition (no share of the treasure is ever promised to him, and he infamously wanders off to do his own thing several times) he nonetheless accompanies the group through much of their journey, and (as can be seen in ‘The Quest for Erebor’ in Unfinished Tales) he played a fair role in aiding and abetting the scheme from beginning to end. Is Gandalf ‘truly’ a member of the Company? Perhaps not. But if he is, then the unlucky thirteenth is still marked for death.
To be honest, it’s a trivial observation, and I don’t know that Tolkien meant anything significant or thought-provoking in choosing three, and specifically three of the Company to die at the Battle of Five Armies. In fact, I’d almost be loath to try and read too deeply into it – sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence, and it’s all too easy to read overly deeply into what seem to be numerical patterns. (I’m particularly fond of the deep and profoundly bizarre rabbit hole that the number 23 can lead one down – a signifier of some mystical fundamental? Or the much less exciting explanation that pretty much any number can be expressed by some combination of various 2s and 3s? I, alas, favour the latter).
The one thought I did have is that, given the themes of luck and destiny that run through The Hobbit, there is something grimly fitting in an attempt to cheat fortune being punished. No matter how the Company is counted, a thirteenth member is killed in the Battle, and less than thirteen of the group survive. I don’t think there’s anything deeper going on, to be honest, but it did strike me as being at the least an intriguing coincidence – and in a creatively barren period, I’ll take what I can!
And like I said, I do at least like the idea that fate cannot be cheated, cannot be turned aside, which is a very prevalent theme in the mythologies Tolkien so loved. If Thorin’s Company numbers 13, then it will end poorly for someone – no matter how that 13 ends up being reckoned.
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