The Hobbit: Chapter 7-8 Summary/Review

Summary

Chapter 7

Beorn

The company is escorted by the Great Eagles to a safe area far from the goblins. Gandalf leads the company to his friend, Beorn. Beorn is a half-man, half bear creature who gives food and other supplies that the dwarves need on their trip. Beorn scouts ahead and find out that the goblins are creating a attack party to kill the dwarves so they can avenge the Great Goblin's death. He advises the
company to travel the the northern pass where they can bypass the more dangerous southern pass. He also warns them the the northern pass between the Mirkwood is also not safe and they should never stray from the path. Gandalf leaves the company again and the dwarves head into the forest.

"....for I have heard that it carries enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness. And in the dim shadows of that place I donít think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the path. That you MUST NOT do, for any reason." (page 132; paragraph 1)

Chapter 8

Great Spiders of Mirkwood

The group goes into the woods and keep seeing strange eyes watching them. They later had to carry Bombur who fell asleep on a boat they found and can't wake up for days. The dwarves and Bilbo saw lights and decide to ignore the warnings and stray off the northern pass. The lights suddenly snuff out and the company gets lost from each other. Everyone gets separated and Bilbo falls asleep exhausted. Bilbo wakes up tied up with sticky webs and really big spiders coming towards him. Bilbo frees
himself with his sword and slays the spiders. After the victory, Bilbo names his sword: Sting.

"I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting." (page 156; paragraph 2)

Bilbo led the spiders away wearing the ring and later frees the poisoned dwarves. They managed to cross into Elvin territory, but are shock that the leader Thorin is still missing. Meanwhile, Thorin is taken prisoners by the elves and refuse to tell them where he and his dwarves are going so the elves hold him in a prison.

Review

I want to talk about Bilbo's newly name sword: Sting. I believe that Tolkien wanted to give the main character, Bilbo, a sword with a name that is unique from all the other legendary swords such as Excalibur and Hrunting. The sword, Sting, is a really unique weapon. Unlike other weapons, Sting is considered more of an Elvin dagger than a sword. However, this dagger also fits well with Bilbo because of his height and size. The sword Sting was named like this because the spiders Bilbo were fighting were getting stung with Bilbo's sword. Bilbo's sword is a ancient Elvin dagger forged and created by weapon-smiths in Gondolin. This little short sword also glows blue when goblins are nearby. Unlike your typical and more famous swords, Sting was never used in battle until it killed several spiders. I believe that this sword be important to Bilbo in the future and will later be use for something even greater.

Bilbo Baggins's sword: Sting