Óin

Oin was Gloin’s older brother, Gimli’s and Dwalin’s cousin. He normally wears a cloak with a brown hood when he travels. He was part of the Battle of Azanulbizar and Thorin Oakenshield was with him. TA 2941 marked the year when he went with Thorin and Company [1] to get the Lonely Mountain back and he wore his usual clothes. Oin believed, along with other Dwarves, that Bilbo will join them to repossess the Lonely Mountain. Oin and Gloin, his brother, were ordinarily the ones in charge of the preparation of the Company’s fire. He survived in the Battle of the Five Armies when he fought and then went on to live in the Lonely Mountains with a lot of other Dwarves from the Company of Thorin.

Later Years

After 48 years, in the Third Age 2989, Oin and Balin, along with others, traveled to Moira, to reclaim the realm for Durin’s Folk Dwarves. When Balin was Lord of Moira, as written in the Book of Mazarbul, he sent Oin to find the Upper Armories of the Third Deep, which he thought was towards the west of Hollin Gate (this is the gate going out of Moira in the west. After five years, Oin met with Balin again, and then the Moira Orcs came to attack. Orcs were at the Bridge of Khazad-dum so the dwarves could not flee out of the eastern gate. Therefore, they tried to go to the Hollin Gate to escape. Unfortunately, there was water outside of the door and it was as high as the wall, so the Watcher in the Water [2] seized Oin. He was believed to have been ripped apart as well as eaten.

Oin’s Portrayal in The Hobbit

The Hobbit Trilogy’s director Peter Jackson cast John Callen to play Oin in the movie. He was an aggressive and powerful warrior just as much as the others in Thorin’s party despite having a hearing impediment and requiring a trumpet in his ear to help him. This was eventually crushed by goblins from Goblin-town. Oin was also fatally skillful with an iron-headed staff. One scene in the movie shows him swinging the staff over his head several times and knocked a lot of goblins all at once. In the studio release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: A Visual Companion, author Jude Fisher gave depth to Oin’s character by giving information about him. Oin was also a midwife to some Dwarven women and that he was the one who delivered Gimli, his nephew to the world, but Gimli fell, headfirst, when Oin dropped him. Guillermo Del Torro, the co-writer of The Hobbit Trilogy, was said to have added the ear trumpet of Oin as a pun since Oin in Spanish means “they hear.” In the movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Oin stayed in Lake-town with Kili and Fili when Kili was struck by a poisonous orc arrow as they were trying to get out of Mirkwood, and he knew that he wants to help Kili be healed. When he was trying to bring down Kili’s temperature, he asked for Kingsfoil from Bard and he said that this weed is what they feed to the pigs. So Bofur went and searched for it. Eventually, Tauriel used the same weed to treat Kili’s wounds and then Oin told Fili that he learned about Elvish medicine and its wonders and wishes to see it for himself.

Medical Skills

In the films, Oin was depicted as the medic for the company. He was oftentimes seen holding numerous jars and bottles in the movie, where he stores his ointments and other natural medicines. In the second movie, he stayed at Lake Town when Kili was injured, stabbed by a Morgul shaft. Thorin asked him to join going to the Mountain but Oin said that it was his duty to stay where there is somebody wounded.​