Thorin's Selfish Quotes

Throughout the novel, The Hobbit, readers got to follow the group of adventurers and get to know one character in particular named Thoirn Oakenshield. Thorin was the next in line to inherit the riches under the mountain and enlisted the help of others to take back his home. Thorin Oakenshield showed traits unfit for a hero such as not being brave, being selfish, and being unable to lead his people to success. Based on Thorin’s actions in the novel, he did not deserve to be deemed a hero nor should he have been given an extravagant burial. All throughout the story, there are event in which Thorin lacked the bravery of a hero. He continuously sent Bilbo ahead of them into danger like when he told Bilbo “‘you must go on and find out all about that light, and what it is for, and if all is perfectly safe and canny,’” (Tolkien 34). It shows how he was willing to send others into the face of danger instead of going himself. Even towards the end of the story after he got to know and like Bilbo he, once again, volunteered him to go straight into danger. This happened in the hidden tunnel in the mountain when Thorin said “‘Now is the time for our …show more content…
Thorin was filed with greed and lust for his treasures and didn’t want to give it away to people, he felt didn’t have a claim on it. Bilbo even grew tired of his behavior and told Bard and the Elvish king “you don’t know Thorin Oakenshield as well as I do now. I assure you, he is quite ready to sit on a heap of gold and starve, as long as you sit here,” (271-272). Not only was he denying help to people who had helped him, he was forcing his friends to follow suit without a choice and “more than one of the dwarves in their hearts felt shame and pity…” (278). This behavior clearly exemplifies Thorin’s unheroic characteristics and shows how he was undeserving of his title and