[sindohte]

Discussion on the chapter - Riddles in the Dark will officially begin on Monday 10/4.

Queenoftheshire will begin the discussion of this chapter.

Anyone wandering by this thread should feel free to raise questions or make comments.

Please try to keep the comments on this thread strictly related to discussion of the Hobbit.

[sindohte]

Hey there Hobbits and Hobbit-lovers. The show or in this case, the reading group will go on. We will give Queenoftheshire one more day to post a chapter summary. If I am not able to get a hold of her before then, I will have figured out something by then because we do not want to get off schedule

Until later,
S

[sindohte]

The chapter starts off with Bilbo discovering "...a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel." All that I have to say is that Tolkien certainly has the gift for understatement. Bilbo is off by himself in a tunnel after getting separated from the rest of the group after being chased by the goblins. He goes wandering off to find a way out of the tunnel and encounters Gollum. Peter Jackson and crew did an awesome job of translating Tolkien's description of Gollum into the creation we saw up on the big screen.

Bilbo and Gollum then engage in a back and forth game of guessing riddles. This goes on for a bit until Bilbo asks Gollum to solve the riddle of what is in his pocket. If Gollum is unable to answer after three attempts, he has to show Bilbo how to get out of the tunnels. Of course we are dealing with Gollum here so things are not going to go smoothly according to plan.

After incorrectly guessing that Bilbo has his hands, a knife, string or nothing in his pocket, Gollum gets mad and leaves briefly to get his birthday-present from the little island where he hangs out. It turns out that our tricksey friend plans on getting the Ring so that he can put it on and strangle Bilbo while invisible. Gollum discovers that his ring is gone and starts freaking out. He puts two and two together and figures out that the ring had fallen off after killing a goblin earlier that day.

Gollum goes off to search for the ring and Bilbo flows after him. As a result of Gollum's little monologue, Bilbo learns that the ring he has discovered is a magic ring that grants invisibility to the wearer. It also seems like wearing the ring allowed Bilbo to understand some of the abject loneliness and paranoia that Gollum felt for so many years. Bilbo makes a run for it at and manages to get away from Gollum, but runs into a group of goblins. However thanks to the ring he manages to escape.