I'm reading The Hobbit again, as I live-action roleplay as a Tolkien scholar in an attempt to understand Middle Earth, its lore, and its effect on modern gaming. I'm reviewing each chapter of the book as I read, and this is my review of Chapter 13: Not at home.
This review contains spoilers.
Smaug has left his lair to hunt for lake men, and so Bilbo and the dwarves have gone into hiding. After a couple of days of hiding and hearing no indication that Smaug has returned, they venture to escape. The magical door through which they entered the tunnel has been destroyed by debris on the other side, so they have no choice but to continue toward the dragon's lair.
Once in Smaug's chamber, Bilbo puts on the Ring and scouts it out. He stumbles upon the Arkenstone and pockets it, suddenly both proud of himself for living up to his job title of burglar, and ashamed for stealing from the dwarves. He drops his torch when a bat gives him a fright, though, which forces the dwarves to enter the chamber for themselves to find him, and they're instantly distracted by the mountains of gold that all but paves their path.
Eventually, Bilbo and the dwarves are convinced that Smaug isn't returning at all, and Thorin starts to make plans for his future kingdom.
Bilbo continues his steady progression of living up to his role as party burglar, but this time it feels a little different. We do get some interesting insight into his thought process, and it's surprisingly like the old RPG argument, classically made by players doing something that harms the rest of the party, "it's what my character would do." Bilbo justifies taking the Arkenstone by reasoning that he is a burglar, after all, and anyway the dwarves had promised him a cut of the profits. Deep down, he seems to know that taking something in secret feels wrong because, right or wrong, it is definitively deceptive.
It's hard to know whether the Arkenstone is influencing Bilbo. I got the feeling that Tolkien meant that it was magically influencing him, but I think it's possible to read it both ways. This is something I love about tales of Middle Earth. It's often hard to tell when something's magic. There are no particle effects in this game engine. Something fantastic happens, and it could have been the work of a wizard or just a happy accident, or both.
This is also the chapter in which Bilbo, without any fanfare, gains his mithral chainmail shirt. Described as "silver steel" made by elves, this probably is not intended as a magical item. I think it's somewhat become almost magical, or definitely mystical anyway, to many readers because to us it's a legendary item. This is that shirt, the one that reappears later in The Lord of the Rings in Rivendell, and it's the shirt that saves Frodo's life.
Having been created by elves, of course, means that the chainmail shirt is the product of what we would call a "magical" race, so I guess that helps earn its legendary status.
The adventuring party has looted treasure several times throughout the book now, and it feels so much like classic Dungeons & Dragons. It's so refreshing and satisfying to get to loot, and find something wondrous, after chapters and chapters of strife. If you're wondering how the game loop and rhythm of D&D developed, it very obviously started here.
I'm tracking Bilbo's reputation with the dwarves, and the dwarves' reputation with Bilbo, as the book progresses. In this chapter, Bilbo drops his torch and basically gets lost in Smaug's lair. When he cries out for help, the dwarves hear him and decide they have no choice but to rescue him. They do that without even knowing the threat (although they surmise it's something less than a dragon, or else he wouldn't be crying out for help). Bringing a torch to somebody who's dropped their light isn't exactly the most heroic feat in the book series, but it points is points and the dwarves have earned 1 point.
This is a relatively uneventful chapter, and narratively I think it does serve as a delay tactic for Tolkien. As the reader, you want to know what happened to the dragon, but Tolkien isn't going to tell you just yet. You have to read this chapter first, and I can imagine that if you were reading it for the first time, you'd have no idea whether a dragon was going to pop up on the next page or not. Having been read these books, very often, as a kid, I literally don't remember a time when I didn't know the plot progression of The Hobbit so I'm only guessing at how effective this might be. You don't find out during this chapter whether Smaug is alive or dead. You really do have to wait until the next chapter.
Incidentally, there are yet more chapters in the book. The next one is Chapter 14: Fire and Water.