Dwarves Dwarves Dwarves ohgodyescan'twait Dwarves.

The Hobbit.

First things first, I freaking love dwarves. In every piece of literature, film, or interactive media that I've ever seen some variation of the dwarven race appear in, I've loved them. The dwarves of the Lord of the Rings universe are no different, so the fact that a solid half of the cast in "The Hobbit" is dwarven got me a little more than excited to read the book. All of that said, let's talk about Thorin. At first I couldn't WAIT to get into this novel almost completely due to Thorin -- the reason being that he bore several similarities to the dwarven character that I always make in any game that I play that has dwarves in it (keep in mind that I'm a Game Art student, so this isn't completely out of the blue). Reading further on though, I really... unexpectedly came to dislike him. Sure, he started out as the brave n' brash, mead-swilling rogue that I'd expected from the "young, adventuring dwarf" archetype, but when it came down to it, Thorin just wasn't very good at his job. As the leader of his band of foolhardy vagabonds, it was his duty to, for one, have a darn plan when the sh*t hits the fan; as soon as Gandalf left the group, though, everything was just "attack!" or "run!". A leader simply needs more than two speeds. And the whole angle of his heritage and how the dragon's treasures are rightfully his, while necessarily to jump-starting the plot, just give him this wacked-out sense of entitlement and renders him all the more unlikeable! Just as that entitlement is vital to the plot, though, I suppose his reprimandable actions are vital to give the protagonist, Bilbo, all the more credibility as an actual leader -- being incredibly clever, crafty, and concerned with the rest of the group in comparison to its "leader" really helps in Bilbo preventing him from being overshadowed by the rest of the novel's colorful cast. While I didn't get to finish "The Hobbit", I definitely intend to do so in the future, and I'm quite relieved to hear that Thorin, though I don't know though, manages to redeem himself in the eyes of the audience by the time the book is through. It's definitely a relief to me.

 --William Avery