Journey through Mirkwood

The Journey through Mirkwood is the longest and most harrowing ordeal of Thorin and Company's quest, a passage through a dark, enchanted forest that systematically strips them of food, water, hope, and companionship. It is here that Bilbo Baggins, left alone and invisible, kills a giant spider, names his sword Sting, and rescues his dwarf companions from the spiders' webs, transforming from a reluctant burglar into a decisive leader. The journey ends not with a triumphant exit but with the company's capture by the Wood-elves and their subsequent escape in wine barrels, a desperate plan conceived and executed by Bilbo alone.

The Forest's Oppressive Nature

From the moment they plunged into the forest, the company found themselves in a world of perpetual twilight and stifling stillness. The entrance was like an arch leading into a gloomy tunnel formed by two great trees leaning together, and soon the light at the gate became a little bright hole far behind. The path was narrow and wound in and out among the trunks, and the quiet was so deep that their feet seemed to thump along while all the trees leaned over them and listened. There were black squirrels, queer noises, grunts, and scufflings in the undergrowth, but the nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark, dense, with threads extraordinarily thick, often stretched from tree to tree. None stretched across the path, but whether because some magic kept it clear or for some other reason they could not guess. The forest grew to hate them as heartily as they had hated the tunnels of the goblins, and it seemed to offer even less hope of any ending. There was no movement of air under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still, dark, and stuffy. Even the dwarves, used to tunnelling, felt it, but the hobbit, who liked holes to make a house in but not to spend summer days in, felt he was being slowly suffocated. The nights were the worst, becoming pitch-dark so that they could see nothing but eyes: yellow, red, or green eyes that would stare from a little distance and then slowly fade and reappear elsewhere. The eyes Bilbo liked least were horrible, pale, bulbous sort of eyes—insect eyes, he thought, but much too big. They tried lighting watch-fires at night, but it brought hundreds of eyes and thousands of dark-grey and black moths, some nearly as big as a hand, flapping and whirring round their ears, as well as huge bats, black as a top-hat. They gave up fires and sat at night dozing in the enormous uncanny darkness.

Hunger, Thirst, and the Enchanted Stream

As days followed days, the forest seemed just the same, and they began to get anxious. The food would not last forever, and it was already beginning to get low. They tried shooting at squirrels, but wasted many arrows before bringing one down, and when roasted it proved horrible to taste. They were thirsty too, for they had none too much water and had seen neither spring nor stream. Their state was desperate when one day they found their path blocked by a running water, flowing fast and strong but not very wide, black in the gloom. Beorn had warned them against it, so they only thought of how to cross without wetting themselves. Bilbo, kneeling on the brink, cried that there was a boat against the far bank. Fili, the youngest and with the best sight, threw a rope with a hook across the stream, and after several attempts they managed to catch the boat and pull it over. They crossed in groups, but as Bombur was preparing to follow, a flying deer charged into the dwarves, bowling them over, and Bombur stumbled back into the dark water. They pulled him out, but he was already fast asleep, having drunk from the enchanted stream, and he remained asleep for days, a heavy burden they had to carry in turns. After crossing, they heard the dim blowing of horns and the sound of dogs baying, and later saw white deer, a hind and fawns, which glimmered in the shadows before vanishing. The dwarves wasted their last arrows shooting at them, and their bows became useless. They were a gloomy party, burdened with the heavy body of Bombur, and with practically nothing left to eat or drink.

The Elvish Feasts and the Spiders

In their desperate hunger, the company was lured by the sight of elvish feasts in the forest. Three times they saw lights and heard singing, and each time they approached, the lights went out and they were left in complete darkness, lost and separated. The first time, they blundered frantically and gathered themselves by touch, forgetting where the path lay. The second time, they pushed Bilbo forward, but the lights went out again and they could not find him; Dori stumbled over him asleep. The third time, Thorin stepped into the midst of the feasters, and the result was disastrous: the lights went out, and when they returned, Bilbo found himself alone. The dwarves had been captured by giant spiders. Bilbo, waking from a doze, felt something touch him—a strong sticky string against his left hand, and his legs were already wrapped. The great spider came at him, but he beat it off with his hands, remembered his sword, and killed it with a stroke right in the eyes. The killing of the giant spider, all alone in the dark, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, much fiercer and bolder, and he named his sword Sting. He then crept along, wearing his ring, and discovered the spiders talking about the dwarves, who were hanging in bundles from a high branch. He threw stones to distract the spiders, sang songs to infuriate them, and led them away. Then he climbed up, killed the guard spider, and began to rescue the dwarves one by one. With the help of Fili, he hauled up first one dwarf and then another, slashing them free. They rescued Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Dori, and Nori, but five still hung when the spiders returned. Bilbo kept them back while the others worked, and then scrambled down to rescue Bombur, who had been tied up again. The battle began, and Bilbo, seeing they were outnumbered, revealed his ring to the dwarves and used it to draw the spiders off. He reappeared and charged into them, and they finally drove the spiders away. The dwarves, now with a great respect for Bilbo, realized they had lost Thorin, who had been captured by the Wood-elves.

Imprisonment and Escape

The Wood-elves, who were not wicked but distrustful of strangers, had taken Thorin to the Elvenking's halls, a great cave on the eastern edge of Mirkwood. The king questioned Thorin, but he would only say he was starving, and when asked what brought him into the forest, he shut his mouth and would not say another word. The king ordered him kept safe until he felt inclined to tell the truth, even if he waited a hundred years. The other dwarves were soon captured as well, and Bilbo, wearing his ring, slipped away and followed them into the caves. He spent a weary long time in hiding, never daring to take off his ring, and took to wandering about the palace. He discovered a water-gate where empty barrels were cast out into the Forest River, and formed a desperate plan. He stole the keys from the chief guard, who had been made drowsy by the potent wine of Dorwinion, and freed the dwarves one by one. He then led them to the cellars, where they climbed into empty barrels. The elves, thinking the barrels were empty, rolled them through the trapdoors into the river. Bilbo, left behind, caught hold of the last barrel and was pushed over the edge with it, falling into the cold dark water. He clung to the barrel like a rat, and after a miserable journey, the barrels were collected at a shingly shore near the eastern edge of Mirkwood. Bilbo slipped ashore, and the next morning, he managed to get onto the raft of barrels as it was steered down the river to Lake-town. They had escaped the dungeons of the king and were through the wood, but whether alive or dead still remained to be seen.