# distances that don't addup



## reem (Feb 9, 2003)

on page 259 it says:
'Then they (the orcs) marched and gathered by hill and valley, going ever by tunnel or under dark, until around and beneath the great mountain Gundabad of the North, where was their (the orcs) capital, a vast host was assembled ready to sweep down in time of storm unawares upon the South. Then they learned of the death of Smaug, and joy was in their hearts; and they hastened night after night through the mountains, and came thus at last on a sudden from the North hard on the heels of Dain...'

ok, now if you look at the map given at the end of the book it shows you that the Iron Hills (where Dain and his dwarvish army come from) is in the complete opposite direction if Gundabad where the orcs were comming from. so how could the orcs be the heels of Dain? their comming from the opposite directions! if anything they would be in each other's faces! unless Tolkien means that they arrived soon after Dain did...ooohh! ok never mind hehe typical moi
reem


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## Wolfshead (Feb 17, 2003)

That's a good point. They were coming from complete opposite directions. Maybe either Dain or the orcs had to come at Erebor from the other side, meaning the opposing force could then be behind them. For geographical reasons. Or perhaps it does mean that the orcs arrived just after Dain. But I think that unlikely.


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## Glomund (Feb 20, 2003)

Well, it could be that it was meant that they arrived soon after the dwarves. And the goblins came from the north and dwarves from the east, not completely opposite, and so it is easier to imagine one side or the other swinging a little out of their way to be behind the other if you follow that train of thought.


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