# The time for revenge!



## Sarah (Dec 27, 2003)

It's probably been answered, but I forgot. Why did the dwarves wait so long for revenge?


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## Illuvatar (Dec 30, 2003)

I think they were to scared. Either that, or noone had the initiative to start an actual expedition. Don't take my word on this though, it's just a guess.


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## Sarah (Dec 30, 2003)

Thanks. I just wanted ppl's opinions on the subject.


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## Inderjit S (Dec 31, 2003)

They didn't have enough strength or initiative.

They had gone through the War between the Orks and Dwarves, in which a lot of Dwarves were killed. Thorin, of course, was bequeathed with the 'burden' of avenging his people and re-taking Erebor. He had been looking for Gandalf prior to them meeting outside Bree. Yet he only became 'convinced' that the quest would work when he was offered the 'hidden' initiative of Thrain's map and key. Thorin (when he was talking to Gandalf) hoped for a military victory over Smaug-but Gandalf rightly announces such a thing is improbable and imprudent.


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## jallan (Dec 31, 2003)

It is not impossible that some Dwarves did seek revenge on Smaug earlier.

It is not impossible that Smaug enjoyed the snacks.


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## Hirila (Jan 14, 2004)

What I read not some time ago, I think it was Unifinished Tales, but can't remember the exact details, is that Thorin and the last dwarves from Erebor lived in the Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains before their quest. And that Thorin was ever thinking of going back to the place of his fathers and somehow get rid of that dragon. But by then, he didn't have the smallest notion where the map with the hidden entrance was. (Of course it was with Gandalf, who received it from Thrain in Dol Guldur, not knowing that indeed this was Thrain, and therefor not knowing that this was the map to Mount Erebor.)
Somewhen the two of them met on the Long Road between the Shire and Rivendell and Thorin convinced Gandalf to come with him to the Ered Luin and listen to what he had to say, basically: ask Gandalf for help. He thought about somehow gathering an army and winning a military victory, but Gandalf was smart enough to know this would be of no success and suggest burglay instead.

And Gandalf came up with the idea of making a Hobbit part of the company that set out. And only at Bilbo's house did he remember the map and connect it to the Quest of Erebor.

And only then Thorin really began to have a plan about what to do.

So the simple reason he didn't do anything earlier was, that he just didn't know what to do.
(As was often the case on the quest.)


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## Eledhwen (Feb 16, 2004)

The Dwarves had not been inactive, they were ever seeking to regain what was rightfully theirs. Thorin gained his appelation 'Oakenshield' in the great battle at Moria Gate against Azog. However, Smaug's almost total destruction of the people of Erebor set him apart as a foe that needed something different. As Gandalf pointed out, armies would be no use, they would be incinerated before they got close, and then there's the enchantment to deal with. Someone needed to get close to the dragon without making direct eye contact, same as the destruction of Glaurung. Thorin may have continued to brood on the possibilities until his dying day, were it not for the fact that Gandalf saw the need to remove the dragon, which the enemy could use to terrible effect against Rivendell and Lothlorien. Gandalf's foresight was great, for such destruction would leave no haven for the stricken fellowship.


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