The Great Goblin's cavern

The Great Goblin's cavern is the central hall of Goblin-town, a vast underground realm carved deep beneath the Misty Mountains. It is a place of terror and oppression, lit by a great red fire and torches along the walls, and crowded with goblins who laugh, stamp, and clap as prisoners are driven in. The cavern serves as the throne-room of the Great Goblin, who sits on a large flat stone in the shadows, surrounded by armed guards carrying axes and bent swords. It is also a prison and a place of torture, where captives are chained, whipped, and forced to work until they die. The goblins who inhabit this place are cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted; they make no beautiful things but are clever at crafting hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and instruments of torture, often using prisoners and slaves to work to their design. The cavern is not merely a natural cave but a space that has been widened and joined by passages, and it contains other living things that have sneaked in from outside to lie up in the dark, including old Gollum, who lives deep down by the dark water at the very roots of the mountain.

Capture and Interrogation

The dwarves and Bilbo are brought to the cavern after being captured by goblins who surprise them in a cave sheltering from a thunderstorm. The goblins, who had taken the ponies and baggage, chain the prisoners' hands behind their backs, link them together in a line, and drag them to the far end of the cavern. There, the Great Goblin interrogates Thorin, demanding to know who they are and what they are doing in the mountains. Thorin replies with a polite but false answer, claiming they are on a journey to visit relatives. However, a goblin driver reveals the sword Orcrist, which Thorin had taken from the trolls' lair. The Great Goblin recognizes the blade, which had killed hundreds of goblins in the wars with the elves of Gondolin, and flies into a rage, ordering the prisoners to be taken away to dark holes full of snakes.

The Killing of the Great Goblin

At the height of the Great Goblin's fury, Gandalf, who had followed the prisoners unseen, extinguishes all the lights in the cavern and causes the great fire to go out in a tower of blue glowing smoke that scatters piercing white sparks among the goblins. In the ensuing chaos, Gandalf's sword Glamdring flashes in its own light, and he drives it through the Great Goblin, killing him instantly. The goblin soldiers flee in terror before the sword, shrieking into the darkness. Gandalf then cuts the chains of the prisoners with Glamdring, which burns with a rage that makes it gleam when goblins are about, and leads the dwarves and Bilbo out of the cavern and through the dark passages of the goblins' realm.

Aftermath and Significance

The death of the Great Goblin has far-reaching consequences. It throws the goblin forces into confusion, allowing the dwarves and Bilbo to escape the mountain. However, it also rekindles the hatred of the goblin race for the dwarves, leading to a vast mustering of goblin armies from all their cities, colonies, and strongholds. This culminates in the Battle of Five Armies, where the goblins, under Bolg, son of the Great Goblin's ally Azog, march to win the dominion of the North. The cavern itself, as the seat of goblin power in the Misty Mountains, represents the dark, oppressive heart of the goblin realm, a place where cruelty and wickedness are the norm, and where the threat of death and torture is ever-present. Its destruction and the death of its master are a turning point in the quest, but they also set in motion the final, terrible conflict of the story.