How It All Goes Down
The Return Journey
- Bilbo wakes up all alone on the battlefield.
- He takes off his ring of invisibility and a man who has been sent to find him carries Bilbo down to the camp (much easier to locate a guy when he's not invisible).
- Gandalf is glad to see Bilbo.
- He quickly brings Bilbo to Thorin, who's dying.
- Thorin tells Bilbo that he wants them to be friends again. He adds, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world" (18.19).
- Thorin passes away, and Bilbo cries.
- Bilbo learns later that the Eagles came upon observing that the goblins were massing their armies for attack.
- Following the Eagles, Beorn appeared alone in his bear shape, seeming "to have grown to almost giant-size in his wrath" (18.22).
- Beorn attacked the goblins and Wargs from the rear and fought right through their ranks.
- With the help of the Eagles and Beorn, the men, elves, and dwarves rallied and fought back the goblins and Wargs.
- They won! And "the mountains had peace for many a year" (18.24).
- Dain has been crowned King under the Mountain.
- Ten of the twelve dwarf companions of Thorin are still alive: Fili and Kili both died defending Thorin. But the other ten stay with Dain.
- Dain hands over a fourteenth portion of the treasure to Bard, as Thorin promised before the war.
- Bard uses the money to rebuild Dale and enrich Lake-town.
- Bilbo comes away with two small chests of treasure – "That will be quite as much as I can manage" (18.37).
- Bilbo and Gandalf ride along with the Elvenking to Mirkwood.
- Beorn accompanies Bilbo and Gandalf to his house close to the Misty Mountains.
- Bilbo and Gandalf spend the winter with Beorn.
- Then Bilbo and Gandalf continue on to Rivendell.