# I don't understand this



## Turin (Aug 12, 2003)

Here's the quote from AN UNEXPECTED PARTY in the HOBBIT:


> "And there was Gandalf behind, leaning on his staff and laughing. He had made quite a dent on the beautiful door; he had also, by the way, knocked out the secret mark that he had put there the morning before."



This has been bothering me for a long time, how could you knock out a dent or "secret mark" from the outside of a door?


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## Idril (Aug 12, 2003)

Magic  Gandalf's staff was obviously a conduit for his 'magical powers'.


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## Turin (Aug 12, 2003)

In the book I think it would say something about him using magic, and I'm looking for a more full answer.


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## Gothmog (Aug 12, 2003)

If the mark has been only lightly inscribed on the door then any knock hard enough to put a dent in the door would be sufficent to hide the fact that a mark had been put there in the first place.

The door was made of Wood. It is not difficult to put a dent in wood even with another piece of Wood.

You may ask if the mark was only lightly inscribed just how did the Dwarves see it? Gandalf himself told the Dwarves which house to go to, so they would be looking for the mark and would not expect to see it deeply engraved on the door.

So no magic, just a heavy blow from the stick of Gandalf.


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## YayGollum (Aug 12, 2003)

I don't know. I was guessing that he made a smaller mark that was easy for him to erase by making a bigger dent with his stick.


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## Wolfshead (Aug 13, 2003)

It is as Gothmog says, I believe. No magic required. And it would have had to have been a light mark, or Bilbo would have spotted it and become suspicious.


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## Turin (Aug 13, 2003)

Ah ok I think I understand now.


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## Eledhwen (Sep 1, 2003)

Door paint 6000 years ago in The Shire probably wasn't what it is today - it was unlikely to be like Dulux High Gloss Green. I expect a mineral based paint was used for walls (a chalky whitewash?) and something more oily for doors used more as a preservative than decoration. Bilbo, of course, could afford something with more colour added, but Gandalf would still be able to knock out any scraped mark he had made in it as it was freshly painted and oil doesn't dry very quickly


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