Editing Lonely Mountain

{{short description|Fictional mountain home of dwarves and dragon in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit}}
{{Redirect|Erebor|3=Dwarf (Middle-Earth)}}
{{about|the fictional mountain|the album|Lonely Mountain (album){{!}}''Lonely Mountain'' (album)|the video game|Lonely Mountains: Downhill{{!}}''Lonely Mountains: Downhill''}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name         = Lonely Mountain
| source       = [[Middle-earth]]
| image        = LonelyMountain.jpg
| image_size   = 240px
| caption      = Artist's depiction
| alt_name     = Erebor; the Kingdom under the Mountain
| type         = isolated mountain
| blank_label  = Location
| blank_data   = Northeast of [[Mirkwood]]
| blank_label1 = Lifespan
| blank_label2 = Founder
| blank_data2  = Thráin I
| ruler        = [[Middle-earth dwarf characters#Durin|Kings of Durin's Folk]]:<br/>[1] {{ME-date|TA|1999}}–2210,<br/>[2] 2590–2770,<br/>[3] 2941–[[Fourth Age]];<br/>[[Smaug]]: T.A. 2770–2941
| locations    = the Chamber of Thrór, Dale, the Front Gate, the Great Hall, the Secret Door
}}
In [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[legendarium]], the '''Lonely Mountain''' is a mountain northeast of [[Mirkwood]]. It is the location of the Dwarves' '''Kingdom under the Mountain''' and the town of '''Dale''' lies in a vale on its southern slopes.
In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the mountain is called by the [[Sindarin]] name '''Erebor'''.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 5, ch. 9 "The Last Debate"</ref> The Lonely Mountain is the destination of the protagonists, including the titular Hobbit [[Bilbo Baggins]] in ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and is the scene of the novel's climax.

The mountain has been described as the [[Psychological journeys of Middle-earth|goal of Bilbo's psychological quest]] in ''The Hobbit''; scholars have noted that it and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are both [[Quests in Middle-earth|structured as quests]] to a distant mountain, but that the quests have very different motivations. Further, the mountain is a symbol of adventure in ''The Hobbit'', and of Bilbo's maturation as an individual, while to the Dwarves, it stands for the gain of beauty in return for loss of life.

==Fictional mountain==
{{Further|Tolkien's maps}}

Erebor stands hundreds of miles from the nearest mountain range. Tolkien's rendering of Thrór's map in ''[[The Hobbit]]'' shows it with six ridges stretching out from a central peak that was snowcapped well into spring. The whole mountain is some ten miles in diameter; it contains an immense wealth of gold and jewels.<ref name="An Unexpected Party" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 1 "An Unexpected Party"</ref>

=== Origins ===

Erebor becomes the home of the Folk of [[Durin]], a clan of [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarves]] known as the [[Durin's folk|Longbeards]], after they are driven from their ancestral home of [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Khazad-dûm]]. In the latter days of the Third Age, this Kingdom under the Mountain holds one of the largest dwarvish treasure hoards in Middle-earth.<ref name="Durin's Folk" group=T/> Dale, a town of [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]] built between the two southern spurs of Erebor, grew in harmony with the dwarves.<ref name="Fonstad 1991">[[Karen Wynn Fonstad|Fonstad, Karen Wynn]]. ''[[The Atlas of Middle-earth|The Atlas of Middle-earth (Revised Edition)]]''. [[Houghton Mifflin]], 1991. pp.&nbsp;110–111</ref> The Kingdom under the Mountain is founded by Thráin I the Old, who had discovered the Arkenstone there. His son, Thorin I, leaves the mountain with much of the Folk of Durin to live in the [[Ered Mithrin]] (Grey Mountains) on account of the great riches to be found in that range. After [[Dragon (Middle-earth)|dragons]] plunder their hoards, the Longbeards, led now by Thrór, a descendant of Thorin, return to Erebor to take up the title King under the Mountain. Under Thrór's reign, Erebor becomes a great stronghold where the dwarves are numerous and prosperous.<ref name="Durin's Folk" group=T/><ref name="Harper 2006"/>

=== Erebor in ''The Hobbit'' ===

[[File:Elvenking, Erebor, Esgaroth.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sketch map of Northeast [[Mirkwood]], showing the Elvenking's Halls, the Lonely Mountain of Erebor, and [[Esgaroth]] upon the Long Lake]]
{{further|The Quest of Erebor}}

In the [[Third Age]], while the young [[Thorin II Oakenshield]] is out hunting, the [[Dragon (Middle-earth)|dragon]] [[Smaug]] flies south from the [[Ered Mithrin|Grey Mountains]], kills all the dwarves he could find, and destroys the town of Dale. Smaug takes over the mountain, using the dwarves' hoard as a bed. King Thrór, his son [[Thráin II]], and several companions escape death by a [[secret passage|secret door]]. While Thrór and Thráin later perish, Thorin lives in exile in the [[Ered Luin]], far to the west. On a journey, he meets the [[Wizard (Middle-earth)|wizard]] [[Gandalf]]. Together they [[The Quest of Erebor|form a plan]] to reclaim the mountain. Gandalf insists that burglary is the best approach and recommends the [[hobbit]] [[Bilbo Baggins]].<ref name="Harper 2006">{{cite book |chapter=Lonely Mountain (Erebor) |last=Harper |first=Amelia |pages=384–385 |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |isbn=0-415-96942-5 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2006}}</ref>

Bilbo, Thorin, and [[List of The Hobbit characters#Thorin's company|Thorin's company of twelve other Dwarves]] travel to the Lonely Mountain to regain the treasure. They plan to use the secret door, whose key and map Gandalf had obtained from Thráin, whom he had found at the point of death in the pits of [[Dol Guldur]].<ref name="Harper 2006"/><ref name="An Unexpected Party" group=T/> On [[Middle-earth calendar#Durin's Day|Durin's Day]], when the setting sun and the last moon of autumn are in the sky together, the day's last sunlight falls on the door and exposes its keyhole. The Hobbit enters the mountain and steals a golden cup.<ref name="Harper 2006"/><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 11 "On the Doorstep"</ref><ref name="Inside Information" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 12 "Inside Information"</ref>

Smaug, enraged by the theft, emerges from the mountain and flies south to destroy [[Esgaroth|Lake-town]], which he suspects is the source of the "thieves". During this attack Smaug is killed by [[Bard the Bowman]]; Thorin claims the mountain on learning of Smaug's demise.<ref name="Gathering of the Clouds" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 15 "The Gathering of the Clouds"</ref> However, the Men of Esgaroth, supported by [[Thranduil]] and the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]] of [[Mirkwood]], march in force to the mountain to demand a part of the dragon's hoard as recompense for the destruction. Thorin, mad with greed, refuses all claims and sends word to his second cousin [[Dáin II Ironfoot]], chief of the Dwarves of the [[Iron Hills]], who bring reinforcements. Before battle can begin, an army of [[Orc (Middle-earth)|Orcs]] and [[Warg (Middle-earth)|Warg]]s descends on Erebor. Dwarves, Elves, and Men join ranks against them, leading to the Battle of Five Armies. Thorin's nephews [[Fíli]] and [[Kíli]] are killed, and Thorin is mortally injured;<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 17 "The Clouds Burst"</ref> he dies shortly afterwards. The title of King under the Mountain passes to Dáin.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 19 "The Last Stage"</ref>

=== Erebor in ''The Lord of the Rings'' ===

With the restoration of the Kingdom under the Mountain, the area becomes prosperous again. Dale is rebuilt under Bard's leadership, and Dwarves and Men reforge their friendship. Some of the Dwarves, led by [[Balin (Middle-earth)|Balin]], leave Erebor to reclaim the ancient Dwarvish Kingdom of Moria.<ref name="The Council of Elrond" group=T/> They established a colony there but five years later Balin is killed by an Orc, and soon afterwards Moria is overrun by Orcs and the rest of the Dwarves are killed.<ref name="Durin's Folk" group=T/> [[Gimli (Middle-earth)|Gimli]], a dwarf of Erebor and the son of [[Glóin]], one of Thorin's twelve companions, is chosen to represent his people in the [[Fellowship of the Ring (characters)|Fellowship of the Ring]]; he helps [[Aragorn]] regain the throne of [[Gondor]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a}}, book 2, ch. 3 "The Ring Goes South"</ref>

In the [[War of the Ring]], an emissary from [[Sauron]], the lord of [[Mordor]], twice comes to Erebor and speaks to Dáin. The messenger asks for assistance in finding Bilbo Baggins and retrieving [[The One Ring|a stolen ring]], and in return offers Moria and three of the [[Seven Rings|seven Dwarf rings]] to Dáin, who declines to reply.<ref name="The Council of Elrond" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a}}, book 2, ch. 2 "[[The Council of Elrond]]"</ref> Sauron's northern army, including many [[Easterling (Middle-earth)|Easterlings]], then attacks; Dale is overrun, and many Dwarves and Men take refuge in Erebor, which is promptly surrounded. Dáin is killed before the gates of Erebor defending the body of his fallen ally King Brand of Dale. Dáin's son Thorin III Stonehelm and King Bard II withstand the siege and rout Sauron's forces.<ref name="Durin's Folk" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Appendix A, "Annals of the Kings and Rulers", 3 "Durin's Folk"</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Appendix B "The Tale of Years"</ref>

== Analysis ==

=== Goal of psychological quest ===

{{further|Psychological journeys of Middle-earth}}

The [[Jungian psychoanalysis|Jungian psychoanalyst]] Dorothy Matthews, [[Psychological journeys of Middle-earth|viewing ''The Hobbit'' as a psychological quest]], writes that the Lonely Mountain is an apt symbol of Bilbo's [[individuation|maturation as an individual]], as the place where he takes on a leadership role and acts and makes decisions independently.<ref name="Matthews 1975">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Dorothy |editor-last=Lobdell |editor-first=Jared |editor-link=Jared Lobdell |chapter=The Psychological Journey of Bilbo Baggins |title=[[A Tolkien Compass]] |date=1975 |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]] |isbn=978-0875483030 |page=39}}</ref> The Tolkien scholar [[Jared Lobdell]] comments that he is "profoundly unsympathetic" to Matthews's approach, but that she "carries it off well". Lobdell explains, citing [[C. S. Lewis]]'s essay "Psychoanalysis and Literary Criticism", that many different stories could, for instance, have the same [[Freudian]] interpretation, but be quite different as literature. He remarks on the other hand that a [[psychoanalytic]] approach is at least richer than a purely [[Materialism|materialistic]] one.<ref name="Lobdell 1975">{{cite book |last=Lobdell |first=Jared |editor-last=Lobdell |editor-first=Jared |editor-link=Jared Lobdell |chapter=Introduction |title=[[A Tolkien Compass]] |date=1975 |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]] |isbn=978-0875483030 |page=3}}</ref>

The scholar of children's literature William H. Green calls the Lonely Mountain the fourth and final stage of Bilbo's education. He identifies multiple parallels and repetitions of structure between the stages, each one involving a journey, privation, and "unlikely escape". The Lonely Mountain stage, too, symbolically echoes the first stage in [[the Shire]]: before setting out, Bilbo was peacefully smoking a pipe of tobacco at his own front door; at the mountain, the smoke is the dragon's, and its meaning is anything but peaceful.<ref name="Green 1980">{{cite journal |last=Green |first=William H. | title=The Four-Part Structure of Bilbo's Education |journal=[[Children's Literature (journal)|Children's Literature]] |publisher=[[Project Muse]] |volume=8 |issue=1 |year=1980 |issn=1543-3374 |doi=10.1353/chl.0.0634 |pages=133–140}}</ref> The Christian writer [[Joseph Pearce]] views the journey to the Lonely Mountain as a "pilgrimage of grace", a Christian ''[[bildungsroman]]'', at its deepest level. Pearce states further that [[Quests in Middle-earth|Bilbo's quest]] to the mountain parallels [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]'s quest to a different mountain, [[Mount Doom]],  which he calls "a mirror of Everyman's journey through life".<ref name="Pearce2012">{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pearce |title=Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of the Hobbit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBSsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT7 |year=2012 |publisher=TAN Books |isbn=978-1-61890-122-4 |at=Chapter 1}}</ref>

Two scholars of literature, [[Paul H. Kocher|Paul Kocher]] and [[Randel Helms]] analyse Bilbo's journey to the lonely mountain, describing it as the goal of his quest and the point at which it is achieved. Both compare the quest in ''The Hobbit'' with that of ''The Lord of the Rings'', noting that the two novels, for all their differences including the reason for the quests, are structurally similar.<ref name="Kocher 1974">{{cite book |last=Kocher |first=Paul |author-link=Paul H. Kocher |title=Master of Middle-earth, the Achievement of J. R. R. Tolkien |title-link=Master of Middle-Earth |year=1974 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |pages=31–32}}</ref><ref name="Helms 1974">{{cite book |last=Helms |first=Randel |author-link=Randel Helms |title=Tolkien's World |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |location=Boston |year=1974 |isbn=0-395-18490-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/tolkiensworld00helm |pages=21–22}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+  [[Randel Helms]]'s analysis of quest structure in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''<ref name="Helms 1974"/>
|- 
! Event !! ''The Hobbit'' !! ''The Lord of the Rings''
|-
| Start 
| colspan=2 style="text-align: center;" | From [[Bag End]] in [[the Shire]] 
|-
| End of 1st phase || Trip down River Running, nearing [[Erebor]] || Trip down [[River Anduin]], nearing [[Mordor]]
|-
| Approaching the goal || Cross the dragon's withered hearth || Cross the evil polluted plain of [[Gorgoroth (Middle-earth)|Gorgoroth]]
|-
| Achieving the quest || Enter hole in side of the Lonely Mountain || Enter hole in side of [[Mount Doom]]
|-
| Success marked by
| colspan=2 style="text-align: center;" | Arrival of [[Eagles in Middle-earth|Great Eagles]]
|- 
| Returning home || Have to stop auction of Bag End || Have to [[The Scouring of the Shire|scour the Shire]] of [[Saruman|Sharkey's]] evil
|}

=== 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"/>

== Adaptations ==
[[File:Tongariro Northern Circuit, New Zealand (5).JPG|thumb|New Zealand's [[Mount Ruapehu]]<!--says the cited source--> stood in for the Lonely Mountain in [[Peter Jackson]]'s film adaptations of ''The Hobbit''.<ref name="Plush 2017"/>]]

''[[The Lonely Mountain (board game)|The Lonely Mountain: Lair of Smaug the Dragon]]'' is a board game produced in 1985 by [[Iron Crown Enterprises]], designed by Coleman Charlton, which features groups of adventurers, either [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarves]], [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]], [[Orc (Middle-earth)|Orcs]] or [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]] entering Smaug's Lair to capture his treasure before he awakens.<ref name="white_dwarf_57">''Newsboard'', ''Fellowship Follows'', [[White Dwarf (magazine)]] #57, September 1984, p. 45</ref>

"Erebor", specifically the southern spurs of the Mountain and Dale, is a playable map in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II]]''. It has three gates, including the one Tolkien described and two which cannot be closed, to allow those playing as invading forces to easily enter the stronghold.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rorie |first1=Matthew |title=The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II Walkthrough |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-battle-for-middle-earth-ii-walkthrough/1100-6146219/ |publisher=Gamespot |access-date=16 August 2020}}</ref>

The Lonely Mountain appears in [[Peter Jackson]]'s film adaptations of ''The Hobbit'':  ''[[The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey|An Unexpected Journey]]'', ''[[The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug|The Desolation of Smaug]]'', and ''[[The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies|The Battle of the Five Armies]]''. The actual setting was [[Mount Ruapehu]] in New Zealand.<ref name="Plush 2017">{{cite news |last=Plush |first=Hazel |title=10 epic Middle Earth locations that really exist in New Zealand |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/new-zealand/articles/real-life-new-zealand-filming-locations-that-starred-in-the-hobbit-middle-earth/ |access-date=16 August 2020 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=21 September 2017}}</ref>

== References ==

=== Primary ===

{{Reflist|group=T|28em}}

=== Secondary ===
{{Reflist|28em}}

=== Sources ===

* {{ME-ref|TH}}
* {{ME-ref|FOTR}}
* {{ME-ref|ROTK}}

{{Hobbit}}

[[Category:Middle-earth realms]]
[[Category:Fictional kingdoms]]
[[Category:Fictional mountains]]