Discovery of the Secret Door

The Discovery of the Secret Door is the turning point that transforms the dwarves' quest from a desperate, aimless search into a concrete, if still perilous, plan. After days of wearying, fruitless exploration of the western slopes of the Lonely Mountain, the company's spirits had sunk to their lowest. The land about them was bleak and barren, a desolation wrought by the dragon Smaug, and the only signs of life were the great snails that crawled slowly along the walls of the little shut-in bay where they had made their camp. It was Bilbo Baggins, with Fili and Kili, who finally broke the deadlock. Returning one day down the valley and scrambling among the tumbled rocks at its southern corner, Bilbo came upon what looked like rough steps going upward. Following these with growing excitement, the three traced a narrow, often-lost track that wound to the top of the southern ridge and brought them at last to a still narrower ledge, which turned north across the face of the Mountain. Silently, clinging to the rocky wall on their right, they went in single file along the ledge, until the wall opened and they turned into a little steep-walled bay, grassy-floored, still and quiet. Its entrance could not be seen from below because of the overhang of the cliff, nor from further off because it was so small that it looked like a dark crack and no more. It was not a cave and was open to the sky above; but at its inner end a flat wall rose up that in the lower part, close to the ground, was as smooth and upright as masons' work, but without a joint or crevice to be seen. No sign was there of post or lintel or threshold, nor any bar or bolt or key-hole; yet they did not doubt that they had found the door at last.

The Search and the Finding

The discovery came after a long and dispiriting ordeal. The company had moved their camp to a long valley, narrower than the great dale in the South where the Gates of the river stood, and walled with lower spurs of the Mountain. Two of these spurs thrust forward west from the main mass in long steep-sided ridges that fell ever downwards towards the plain. On this western side there were fewer signs of the dragon's marauding feet, and there was some grass for their ponies. From this western camp, shadowed all day by cliff and wall until the sun began to sink towards the forest, day by day they toiled in parties searching for paths up the mountain-side. If the map was true, somewhere high above the cliff at the valley's head must stand the secret door. Day by day they came back to their camp without success. The dwarves beat on the rock, they thrust and pushed at it, they implored it to move, they spoke fragments of broken spells of opening, and nothing stirred. At last, tired out, they rested on the grass at its feet, and then at evening began their long climb down. It was Bilbo, with his sharp eyes and his Tookish persistence, who finally spotted the rough steps that led to the hidden track.

The Door Itself

The secret door was a masterpiece of dwarven craft, designed to be indistinguishable from the natural rock face. It was five feet high and three broad, as the runes on Thror's Map had said, and it was hidden in a little steep-walled bay, grassy-floored, still and quiet. The entrance could not be seen from below because of the overhang of the cliff, nor from further off because it was so small that it looked like a dark crack and no more. The wall itself was smooth and upright as masons' work, but without a joint or crevice to be seen. No sign was there of post or lintel or threshold, nor any bar or bolt or key-hole. The dwarves brought picks and tools of many sorts from Lake-town, and at first they tried to use these. But when they struck the stone the handles splintered and jarred their arms cruelly, and the steel heads broke or bent like lead. Mining work was clearly no good against the magic that had shut this door; and they grew terrified, too, of the echoing noise. The only way to open it was to follow the instructions of the moon-letters that Elrond had read: "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole."

The Significance of the Discovery

The discovery of the secret door was the culmination of the dwarves' long journey from Bag-End to the Lonely Mountain. It was the moment when the quest, which had seemed so remote and legendary, became a tangible reality. The door was the only way into the Mountain that did not lead through the Front Gate, where Smaug was known to emerge. It was the key to the treasure, and the key to the dwarves' revenge. For Bilbo, it was the moment when his role as burglar became truly serious. He had been brought along to do a nasty job, and now the job was about to begin. The discovery also marked a shift in the dwarves' attitude toward Bilbo. They had begun to respect him after his escape from the goblins and his rescue from the spiders, but now they looked to him as their leader. It was Bilbo who had found the path, and it was Bilbo who would have to go through the door first. The discovery of the secret door was the threshold between the long journey and the final, most dangerous part of the adventure.