Even More Hobbitary Commentary

*Warning!  Writing about this subject is difficult to do without dropping spoilers.  I've tried the best I can to avoid giving anything big and important away, but please forgive me if I accidentally give something away, or make what I'm trying to avoid too obvious.  But, if you remember the details from the Hobbit book, you shouldn't have a problem.*

6. Thorin's Grudge

Needless to say, I think Thorin's grudge against the Elves is, well, unhealthy.

It's been eating at his mind for who knows how long.  About 2 minutes of the 8-10 minute intro consist of what happens to him and his people after the Elves refuse to help them.  One of my favorite 2-second clips in An Unexpected Journey happens because the Elves refused to help them.  And that 2-second clip happens to be accompanied by the last words of Bilbo's narration; "[Thorin] never forgave, and he never forgot."  Ouch.

But, think about it.  What does being angry at someone for years accomplish?  Thorin can vent his anger all he wants.  He can think of all the nasty things he wants to say to that Elf King all day and all night.  He can imagine squashing the Elf King as he works at his anvil (in the aforementioned 2-second clip).  But, what is he accomplishing?  Nothing.  Zip.  Nada.  It just makes him angrier and effects his judgement and personality.

First and foremost, trying to get him to see reason becomes a real chore, which would explain why Gandalf gets so frustrated with him.

Second, if you've read The Hobbit and watched the 1st movie, you just know the Elf King guy is going to come back into the story.  You just know they're going to have a conversation that goes somewhere along the lines of;

Elf King: Why were you trespassing in my woods?

Thorin: (tersely) Why didn't you help my people when Erebor was attacked?

Elf King: Do not waste my time, Dwarf.  Are you going to tell me what you were doing in my woods or not?

Thorin: You betrayed my grandfather, and my father.  I'm not going to tell you anything.

They have a conversation in the book when Thorin is captured by the elves (while Bilbo is busy rescuing the other 12 dwarves from their episode with the giant spiders).  Only, their book-conversation  is mostly the Elf King trying to get answers, and Thorin using the traditional if not partially cliched broken record answer, "We were starving".  Which was true.  Supplies had run short.  They'd stupidly left the path and gotten hopelessly lost in the woods.  They were literally starving.  And probably would have too, if they hadn't been captured.

However, somehow, I'm having a hard time imaging the Richard Armitage Throin using this excuse.  However, I'm also having a hard time imagining Martin Freeman running around, singing a nonsensical   song while he stabs spiders.  We shall see in December.

In any event, weeks (book-wise) or possibly days (movie-wise) could have been avoided if Thorin hadn't had a grudge (movie-wise), and if Elves and Dwarves had gotten along to begin with (book-wise).

From a filmmaker's perspective, I can kind of understand why they gave Thorin an Elf-grudge.  It's a subplot in and of itself.  It effects his actions, his decisions, and pretty much everything else.  It gives him and the Elf King more to talk about when they eventually meet up in Mirkwood.  It gives him more of a reason to resent the Elves showing up for the Battle of Five Armies (which I've calculated might actually turn into the Battle of Seven or Eight Armies).  And, it gives him a larger character change reversal thing when he decides to fight with the Elves against the Orcs, Goblins, Wargs, and whatever other bad critters who show up to join in the battle.

As a storyteller and writer, and as a human living in a broken world, I can understand why Thorin would hold a grudge.  He's been wronged (I think we can all agree on this point).  It is a natural human response to want revenge.  Revenge generally isn't the best idea, but if you're Thorin, your home has been stolen, your grandfather's allies have betrayed you, and you're accompanied by a narration that ends, "He never forgave, and he never forgot", (not to mention the line in the Neil Finn song that plays during the end credits of the first movie, "Some kinds we never forgive."), forgiving and forgetting can be very difficult, and revenge seems really appealing.

But, it is arguable, at least movie-wise, that if Thorin had somehow managed to forgive the Elves sooner, he might have been King Under the Mountain a lot longer.  His grudge has literal, physical, irreversible consequences for Thorin and the rest of his companions, and even his kingdom he's been fighting so hard to get back.

In real life, here on planet earth, where Elves and Hobbits are just figments of our imagination (and actors on the television), we teach our kids that holding a grudge is unhealthy.  God very clearly tells us to forgive and forget (very easily said for us humans, but not at all easy for us humans to do).

The same holds true for Thorin, fantasy character in fantasy land in fantasy book turned movie though he be.  His grudge is emotionally unhealthy and gets him no where.  Except, maybe, six feet underground.