Thorin Oakenshield

**Thorin II**, also known as **Thorin Oakenshield** was the deuteragonist and a main character in *The Hobbit*. He is portrayed by Richard Armitage.

## History

### Background

Thorin was born in the Lonely Mountain to Thráin II and his wife in TA  2746. He had a younger brother named Frerin and a younger sister named Dís.  He would often stand by his grandfather, Thrór's throne alongside his brother, sister and their parents. At an unknown point of time, Thorin lost his mother, sometime after the birth of his sister Dís, but no one knows when Thorin lost his mother, probably either in battle, in childbirth or during the sack of Erebor.

One evening, Thorin and his friend, Balin were out in the balcony, where they heard the sounds of a hurricane. Thorin told Balin to sound the alarm and call out the guard. When the elder dwarf asked what it was, the prince knew it was a dragon.  During the invasion, Dale had been attacked and Erebor had been attacked. Thorin was also the only survivor of Smaug's attack at the front gate.

Because Smaug was a greater foe than the dwarves in history have ever faced (besides the Balrogs that resided in Moria), Durin's Folk made their way out of the Mountain while others went to find another way out (but ended being found and killed by Smaug after all. Thorin went to retrieve his grandfather before he could ever chase after the Arkenstone. Thorin made his way out of the mountain, where he noticed a band of elves on the hill led the Dwarves' ally, King Thranduil. Thorin begs for the King's help, however, Thranduil and the elves of Mirkwood turned their backs on Thorin and his family, and retreated back to Mirkwood, thus causing Thorin's long-living hatred towards Elves.

Thorin led his people to live in the villages of men and other dwarves, where he became a blacksmith. However, Thorin would never forgive the elves, or forget the events that had caused his family to lose their status and their home.

Sometime in his young adult life, Thorin went with his father and grandfather into battle, with knowledge that Thrór gave his Ring of Power to Thráin for safekeeping. During the Battle, Thorin went to confront Azog the Defiler but was held back by his father. While Thorin urged to his father that he would fight by Thráin's side, the man refused to have Thorin throw his life away and confronted Azog himself. When Thráin never returned, Thorin charged the Pale Orc himself. Unknown to him, Balin watched the entire exchange in the battle. Thorin earned the nickname "Oakenshield" after using a branch from an oak tree as a shield after Thorin's original dwarven battle shield was destroyed.During this battle, Thorin had cut off Azog's arm, rendering him mortally wounded. As Azog was taken back to the mines of Moria, Thorin led his people against the orcs and won the battle.

However, though it was a victory, Thorin was still grieving as he looked for his father's body after half the dwarves told Thorin his father was dead. However, Thorin noticed that Thráin was not among the dead, which was led Thorin to believe that his father may be still alive.

Thorin traveled throughout all of Middle-earth after learning that Thrain was spotted in the wild lands of Dunland. However, he found no sign of his father and rested in the Prancing Pony in Bree.

### An Unexpected Journey

Thorin first appears in Bag End, where he is introduced to Bilbo Baggins by Gandalf the Grey. Throughout the film, Thorin expresses his disinterested in having Bilbo as a companion and doubts the hobbit's abilities and status as a burglar.

During the climax, Thorin came face to face with Azog the Defiler, but was nearly killed when they face each other off after fifty years. Bilbo later rescued Thorin, by killing Oakenshield’s would-be executioner and protecting the dwarf king's unconscious body. Later, Gandalf awoke Oakenshield, who rescinded his actions for Bilbo earlier and happily embraced the hobbit, finally accepting Bilbo into their company.

### *The Desolation of Smaug*

Thorin led his company straight through the lands of Beorn and the forest, Mirkwood. However, during their entire trip through Mirkwood, Thorin and the others began losing their minds and ended up getting lost in the forest.

### *The Battle of the Five Armies*

Thorin's sanity begins taking a toll on his health and everyone around him. He barely sleeps and eat, and makes the others search day and night for the Arkenstone. He decrees if no one withholds the stone from him, Thorin will kill the person who holds it, which is unknowingly in Bilbo's possession. Thorin's madness delves deeper when people from Lake-town and the elves of Mirkwood, and only briefly moved from dragon sickness on sight of Bilbo's acorn he found in Beorn's gardens.

Thorin later seals up the mountain and later gives Bilbo a mithril vest, while telling the hobbit of his suspicions that one of the *dwarves* are withholding the Arkenstone. The next day, however, Bilbo reveals he was the one who had the Arkenstone, but withheld the jewel from Thorin for the King's sake. However, Thorin attempted to kill his former friend, but released him to Gandalf, promising to never trust a hobbit or wizard again.

During the Battle of Five Armies, Thorin returns to his normal self after Dwalin and Kili confront him. He leads the rest of the company out on the battlefield. However, he goes to Ravenhill with assistance from Dwalin, Fili and Kili. During the skirmish on Ravenhill, Thorin sees Bilbo, who came to warn them of Azog's plans. At the last moment, Thorin realizes he led his friends into a trap.

After Fíli is killed, Thorin charges Azog to avenge his nephew's death. Legolas returns Thorin's sword, Orcrist. Azog mortally wounds Thorin in the chest while the dwarf king slays Azog at last. Just as he lies dying, Bilbo runs up to Thorin's broken body, trying to stop the bleeding. However, Thorin apologizes to the hobbit he finally calls a true friend and tells Bilbo to enjoy the life he has in Bag End.

In the aftermath, Thorin is buried in the Mountain with the Arkenstone, with Bilbo remembering him fondly.

### *The Fellowship of the Ring*

Thorin is only mentioned in *The Fellowship of the Ring* extended edition, where Gandalf recalls Bilbo receiving the mithril shirt from Thorin. He was unaware that the mithril shirt was being worn by Frodo, the nephew of Thorin's friend, Bilbo

## Family/Relationships

* **Thráin** (father)
* **Unnamed princess** (mother)
* **Frerin** (paternal brother)
* **Dís** (paternal younger sister)
* **Thrór** (paternal grandfather)
* **Dáin I** (paternal great-grandfather)
* **Náin II** (paternal great-great-grandfather)
* **Unnamed brother-in-law**
* **Fíli** (paternal nephew)
* **Kíli** (paternal nephew)
* **Frór** (paternal great-uncle)
* **Grór** (paternal great-grandfather)
* **Borin** (paternal great-great-uncle)
* **Farin** (paternal first cousin twice removed)
* **Náin** (paternal first cousin once removed)
* **Dáin Ironfoot** (paternal second cousin)
* **Fundin** (paternal second cousin once removed)
* **Gróin** (paternal second cousin once removed)
* **Balin** (paternal third cousin/companion)
* **Dwalin** (paternal third cousin/companion)
* **Óin (son of Gróin)** (paternal third cousin/companion)
* **Glóin (son of Gróin)**(paternal third cousin/companion)
* **Thorin III Stonehelm** (paternal second cousin once removed)
* **Gimli** (paternal third cousin once removed)
* **Bilbo Baggins** (close friend)

## Trivia

* Thorin is based on the character of the same bame from *The Hobbit* by J. R. R. Tolkien.
* His mother's identity is unknown, so are the identities of his grandmother and brother-in-law
* An abandoned concept had Dwalin trying to race to Thorin's aid when he was fighting Azog. However, the filmmakers decided against it and cut the scene because they knew a great warrior like Dwalin would not fail to save his king and best friend.
* He had no love interests, which was odd for a dwarf king, since most of the dwarves presumably had wives to father children.

## Appearances

* *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*
* *The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug*
* *The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*
* *The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring* (mentioned only)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug*
2. ↑ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey