Student Question
Why do the wood elves capture Thorin in The Hobbit?
Quick answer:
The wood elves capture Thorin because they are wary of strangers in their territory. Upon finding him wandering in Mirkwood, they take him to the Elvenking for questioning. Later, Bilbo and the other dwarves are also captured by the elves after escaping giant spiders. Bilbo, using his magic ring to become invisible, avoids capture and devises a plan to free them. The elves' actions stem from caution rather than malice.
The wood-elves, not to be confused with the evil high-elves, are actually good people. It's just that they're more than a little wary of strangers. So when they find Thorin wandering through a clearing deep in Mirkwood, they capture him and carry him off to be interrogated by the Elvenking.
Bilbo and the other dwarves, while this is happening, experience their own set of troubles. Bilbo has to cut himself and the dwarves loose from giant spiders' webs hanging from the trees. However, as soon as they have made good their escape and realized that Thorin is missing, they are then surrounded on all sides by wood-elves who proceed to take the dwarves to the Elvenking, just as they'd done with the hapless Thorin.
Once again, the king is keen to find out what the dwarves have been up to in Mirkwood. But Bilbo manages to escape capture and subsequent...
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interrogation, as he's wearing a magic ring that makes him invisible. This allows him to walk around the dungeons unseen and whisper to the dwarves about his plan to free them from captivity.
Why do the wood-elves capture the dwarves but not Bilbo in The Hobbit?
Bilbo and most of the dwarves are captured by giant spiders. Bilbo defeats the spider nearest him using his small sword, which he then names Sting. He then cuts himself free with Sting. He sneaks around by wearing his magic ring, which makes him invisible. After finding the dwarves hanging from spider webs, he lures the spiders away and frees them from their bonds.Â
The party then realizes that Thorin is missing. This is because the elves have already captured him. When the elves arrive and capture the other dwarves, Bilbo evades escape because the ring makes him invisible. This allows him to remain free and help his friends yet again.
The ring gets Bilbo out of a lot of troubling situations like this one. In subsequent books, we learn more about the dark side of this item, but for now Bilbo just thinks of it as a useful way to become invisible.