Bilbo Steals the Keys
Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit burglar of Thorin and Company, executed a daring theft of the keys from the chief guard and the butler of the Elvenking's Halls, a crucial act that unlocked the dwarves' cells and made possible their escape from captivity. This key theft, carried out while the two elves lay in a drunken stupor, was the turning point in the company's imprisonment and the direct prelude to their unconventional flight down the Forest River inside empty wine barrels.
The Plan and the Opportunity
After weeks of skulking invisibly through the Elvenking's palace, Bilbo had learned the layout of the cells and the habits of the guards. His desperate plan crystallized when he overheard the king's butler invite the chief of the guards to taste a new wine, a heady vintage from the great gardens of Dorwinion meant only for the king's feasts. The two elves retired to a small cellar, where they drank from large flagons. The wine proved potent enough to make even wood-elves drowsy; soon the chief guard nodded and fell fast asleep, followed by the butler, who went on talking and laughing to himself before his head too dropped to the table. Seizing the moment, Bilbo crept in and took the great bunch of keys from the chief guard's belt. The keys were heavy, and despite his ring of invisibility, Bilbo could not prevent them from clinking and clanking as he hurried along the passages, his heart in his mouth.
The Liberation of the Dwarves
With the keys in hand, Bilbo moved swiftly from cell to cell, unlocking each door and locking it again behind the freed dwarf. He urged them to follow him in silence, insisting that this was their last chance and that they must all escape together or none. Despite the darkness and the dwarves' stiffness from long imprisonment, they met no guards, for nearly all the king's folk were merrymaking at a great autumn feast in the halls above. At last, after much blundering, they reached Thorin's dungeon, far down in a deep place not far from the cellars. Thorin, astonished and grateful, acknowledged Bilbo's skill as a burglar, but when Bilbo explained his plan—to hide the dwarves in empty barrels that would be cast through a trapdoor into the river—the dwarves grumbled loudly, fearing they would be bruised, battered, and drowned. Bilbo, annoyed, offered to lock them back in their cells, which quickly silenced their complaints. They had no choice but to follow his scheme.
The Barrel Escape
Bilbo led the dwarves down into the lowest cellars, where rows of empty barrels stood waiting. They found thirteen with room enough for a dwarf each, and Bilbo packed them in with straw as best he could, though Thorin and Balin grumbled about the cramped conditions and lack of air. Just as the last lid was fitted, elves arrived to roll the barrels to the water-gate. They sang as they worked, and one by one the barrels—some truly empty, some containing a dwarf—rumbled to the dark opening and were pushed into the cold water below. Bilbo, however, had no barrel of his own. In desperation, as the very last barrel was being rolled to the doors, he caught hold of it and was pushed over the edge with it, plunging into the icy water. He clung to the barrel like a rat, shivering and struggling to keep his head above the surface as the current carried the bobbing mass of casks and tubs out under the water-gate and into the open stream. Thus the entire company escaped the dungeons of the Elvenking, though whether alive or dead remained to be seen.
