greypilgrim said:
From "An Unexpected Party"...
"Of course there is a mark," said
Gandalf. "I put it there myself. For very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your expedition, and I chose
Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the wrong man or the wrong house and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like.."
What was Gandalf up to? What were the "very good reasons" he had for picking
Bilbo?
There was "more about him" than anyone knew, except Gandalf. He knew that Bilbo had that Took element in him, and more spirit than the average
hobbit. He knew that there was more good stuff in Bilbo than even Bilbo knew.
There is some interesting matter from "Unfinished
Tales:"
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The "He" of the opening sentence is Gandalf, "we" are
Frodo,
Peregrin,
Meriadoc, and
Gimli, and "I" is Frodo, the recorder of the conversation; the scene is a house in
Minas Tirith, after the coronation of
King Elessar.
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He would say no more that day. But later we brought the matter again, and he told us the whole strange story; how he came to arrange the journey to
Erebor, why he thought of Bilbo, and how he persuaded the proud
Thorin Oakenshield to take him into his company.
•
(Gandalf: ) Somehow I had been attracted by Bilbo long before, as a child, and a young hobbit: he had not quite come of age when I had last seen him. He had stayed in my mind ever since, with his eagerness and his bright eyes, and his love of tales, and his questions about the wide world outside
the Shire. As soon as I entered the Shire I heard news of him. He was getting talked about, it seemed. Both his parents had died early for Shire-folk, at about eighty; and he had never married. He was already growing a bit queer, they said, and went off for days by himself. He could be seen talking to strangers, even
Dwarves.
"Even Dwarves!' Suddenly in my mind these three things came together: the great
Dragon with his lust, and his keen hearing and scent; the sturdy heavy-booted Dwarves with their old burning grudge; and the quick, soft-footed Hobbit, sick at heart (I guessed) for a sight of the wide world. I laughed at myself; but I went off at once to have a look at Bilbo, to see what twenty years had done to him, and whether he was as promising as gossip seemed to make out.
•
'Off again,' said one Hobbit. It was Holman, the gardener, I believe. 'Off again. He'll go right off one of these days, if he isn't careful. Why, I asked him where he was going, and when he would be back, and I don't know he says; and then he looks at me queerly. It depends if I meet any, Holman, he says. It's the
Elves New Year tomorrow! A pity, and him so kind a body. You wouldn't find a better from the Downs to the River.' "Better and better!' I thought. 'I think I shall risk it.'
•
"But that was not enough for me. I knew in my heart that Bilbo must go with him, or the whole quest would be a failure – or, as I should say now, the far more important
events by the way would not come to pass.
•
'Listen to me, Thorin Oakenshield !' I said. 'If this hobbit goes with you, you will succeed. If not, you will fail. A foresight is on me, and I am warning you.'
•
I do not give my love or trust lightly, Thorin; but I am fond of this Hobbit, and wish him well. Treat him well, and you shall have my friendship to the end of your days.'
"I said that without hope of persuading him; but I could have said nothing better. Dwarves understand devotion to friends and
gratitude to those who help them. 'Very well,' Thorin said at last after a silence. 'He shall set out with my company, if he dares (which I doubt). But if you insist on burdening me with him, you must come too and look after your darling.'
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Barley