Editing Lonely Mountain (section)

=== Gain and loss ===

The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] notes that in ''The Hobbit'', the lonely mountain is a symbol of adventure, and the "true end" of the story is the moment when Bilbo looks back from a high pass and sees "There far away was the Lonely Mountain on the edge of eyesight. On its highest peak snow yet unmelted was gleaming pale. 'So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!' said Bilbo, and he turned his back on his adventure."<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 18 "The Return Journey"</ref><ref name="Shippey 2005">{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261102750 |pages=105–106}}</ref>

Amelia Harper, in the ''[[J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'', writes that the mountain's history, as usual for the Dwarves, was a tale of "beauty gained and lives lost".<ref name="Harper 2006"/>