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Guide to The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Chapter 18

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The Return Journey is the eighteenth chapter of J.R.R Tolkien's Guide to The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit.

Synopsis

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Bilbo awakes and is brought before a dying Thorin, who repents his words at the front gate and departs in friendship with him. Later, Bilbo is told of what happened while he was unconscious, about Beorn’s arrival and fight with the Bolg, and the deaths of Fili and Kili. Thorin is buried with the Arkenstone and his sword Orcrist, and Bilbo soon heads home with two small chests of treasure. Bilbo, Gandalf and Beorn travel to the border of Mirkwood with Thranduil and the remainder of his host; from there Gandalf, and Bilbo go with Beorn around Mirkwood to Beorn's house. They stay with Beorn for a while, but soon head off, over the Misty Mountains.

When Bilbo awakens, he is still lying with a bad headache on the side of the mountain, but is otherwise unharmed. From the camps below, he sees that his side has won the battle against the goblins and Wargs. A man comes searching for Bilbo, but cannot find him until the Hobbit takes off the ring. Bilbo is carried back to the camp where Gandalf waits and is delighted to see he is alive. However, there is sad business to attend to: Bilbo must say farewell to Thorin, who was mortally wounded. Thorin asks Bilbo’s forgiveness for the harsh words spoken earlier.

Fili and Kili have also been killed, but the remaining Dwarves survived and take up residence in the Lonely Mountain, where Dain is crowned the new King under the Mountain. Gandalf describes the end of the battle for Bilbo: the Eagles, watching the movements of the goblins, came just in time and turned the tide of battle. Yet things still might have gone badly were it not for the sudden appearance of Beorn in the shape of a bear, massive and enraged. This sent the rest of the goblins scattering, and now they are all either dead or in hiding.

After a few days, Bilbo decides it is time to begin his return journey home. Dain gives Bilbo two chests of treasure (one with silver and one with gold) for his service to the Company, and Bilbo departs with Gandalf, Beorn and the Elves. They head to the eastern edge of Mirkwood, where they bid farewell to the Elves, and travel around the forest to the north and eventually reach Beorn's house. Bilbo and Gandalf rest there for a couple of weeks before heading toward the Misty Mountains. They take the same trail where they were previously captured by the goblins, but it is much more peaceful now. Bilbo takes one last look towards the east, where he can see the top of the Lonely Mountain in the distance, before continuing his journey home.

Characters

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Dramatis personae

Bilbo Baggins Thorin Oakenshield Gandalf Bard the Bowman Elvenking Other characters

Dáin II Ironfoot Beorn Fíli and Kíli Balin Dwalin Óin Glóin Bifur Bofur Bombur Ori Nori Dori Species and creatures

Hobbits Dwarves Men Elves Goblins Eagles Locations

Lonely Mountain Dale Mirkwood Forest River Misty Mountains Events

Death of Thorin Oakenshield Deaths of Fíli and Kíli Dain II becomes King under the Mountain. Objects and artifacts

Arkenstone Orcrist

Translations around the world

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Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Die Terugkeer Reis
Albanian Udhëtimi i kthimit
Amharic ዳግመኛ መምጣት ጉዞ
Arabic عودة رحلة
Armenian Վերադարձ ճամփորդությունը
Azerbaijani Qayıtmaq Səfər
Belarusian Cyrillic Зваротны шлях
Bengali ফিরতি যাত্রা
Bosnian Povratak putovanje
Bulgarian Cyrillic Пътуването на връщане
Burmese အဆိုပါသို့ပြန်သွားသည်ခရီး
Cambodian ត្រឡប់មកវិញធ្វើដំណើរ
Catalan El Viatge de Tornada
Chinese (Taiwan) 回程旅程
Chinese (Mainland) 返乡之路
Croatian Povratak Putovanje
Czech Zpáteční cestu
Danish Hjemrejsen
Dutch De Terugreis
Esperanto La Reveno Vojaĝo
Estonian Tagasisõiduks
Fijian Na ilakolako lesu mai
Filipino Ang Pagbabalik Paglalakbays
Finnish Paluumatka
French Le Voyage de Retour
German Die Rückreise
Greek Το ταξίδι της επιστροφής
Gujarati વળતો પ્રવાસ
Hebrew בדרך חזרה
Hindi वापसी यात्रा
Hungarian Az oda-vissza út
Icelandic Afrakstur Ferð
Indonesian Perjalanan pulang ?
Irish Gaelic An Turas Tuairisceán
Italian Il Viaggio di Ritorno
Japanese リターン・ジャーニー
Javanese Lelampahan Bali
Kazakh Cyrillic қайтару саяхат
Kannada ರಿಟರ್ನ್ ಜರ್ನಿ
Korean 귀국 여정
Kyrgyz Cyrillic кайра жол
Laotian ການເດີນທາງກັບຄືນ
Latvian Atpakaļceļam
Luxembourgish D'Heemrees Perjalanan
Malagasy Nanao ny Diany Miverina
Malay Perjalanan pergi balik
Maltese Il-vjaġġ tar-ritorn
Marathi परत प्रवास
Mongolian Cyrillic буцах Аялал
Nepalese फिर्ती यात्रा
Norwegian Hjemreisen
Pashto د بیرته ستنیدو سفر
Persian سفر بازگشت
Polish Podróż powrotna
Portuguese A Viagem de Regresso
Punjabi ਵਾਪਸੀ ਜਰਨੀ
Russian Обратный путь
Serbian повратак путовање (Cyrillic) Povratak Putovanje (Latin)
Scottish Gaelic An Turas-tillidh
Samoan O le Malaga Toe Foi
Sesotho Ea Khutla Leeto
Sindhi هن واپسيء جي سفر
Sinhalese නැවත පැමිණෙන මගීන්
Slovak Spiatočnú cestu
Slovenian Povratna Vožnja
Somalian Safarka ku Noqoshada
Spanish El Viaje de Vuelta
Sudanese Perjalanan Mulang
Swahili Safari ya kurudi
Swedish Återresan
Tajik Cyrillic Дар сафар Бозгашти
Telugu రిటర్న్ జర్నీ
Thai เดินทางกลับ
Turkish Dönüş yolculuğu
Urdu اس سفر سے واپسی
Uzbek Қайтиш Саёҳат (Cyrillic) Qaytish Sayohat (Latin)
Vietnamese Hành trình trở về
Welsh Y Daith Dychwelyd
Yiddish דער צוריקקער נסיעה
Yucatec Maya Le náachil paache'