How It All Goes Down
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
- Bilbo has come out the other side of the Misty Mountains.
- But what is he supposed to do next? He's alone in the middle of the wild!
- Fortunately, as he walks along, he soon overhears arguing voices: it's the dwarves and Gandalf.
- He decides to sneak up on them and give the group a bit of a surprise.
- So Bilbo puts his ring on and walks right up to their fire before announcing, "And here's the burglar!" (6.13).
- Everyone is very impressed by Bilbo's skills.
- But they're not out of the woods yet: the goblins will come hunting the dwarves when night comes, so they have to find some place safe.
- After a long evening of travel, they stumble into a moonlit clearing.
- They hear wolves howling nearby.
- Gandalf tells everyone, "Up the trees quick!" (6.52).
- They all get up into the trees just in time to avoid being eaten by Wargs – "for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild are named" (6.59).
- The Wargs keep pouring in to the clearing. They're waiting for the goblins to arrive.
- Gandalf starts setting pine cones on fire and hurling them like grenades at the Wargs in the clearing.
- The sounds of the Wargs "howling [...] crying and yammering" (6.65) attracts the attention of the Lord of the Eagles.
- The Lord of the Eagles gathers a bunch of his eagle friends and flies out to investigate.
- Meanwhile, the burning Wargs have been running around setting the clearing on fire.
- So, all the dwarves, Gandalf, and Bilbo are caught in burning trees.
- The goblins have arrived, and they are dancing around these trees singing, "Bake and toast 'em, fry and roast 'em! / till beards blaze and eyes glaze" (6.75). (Eep!)
- Luckily, before these horrible things happen, the eagles swoop in and rescue our friends.
- Gandalf is friends with the Lord of the Eagles, so the Lord of the Eagles agrees to bring them all far away from the Misty Mountains.