161.) Dysfunctional—
Ori never knew their father, Nori only has faint memories, and Dori wishes he could forget; but no matter how they grew up in poverty, no matter how much their weary mother worked to put food on the table, and no matter how trying their lives have been for the last century...they are a family, and family sticks together until the very end.
162.) Eulogy—
Bard has known Thorin Oakenshield for less than two months, and for half of that, he was a greedy, insane king with nothing on his mind but the gold of his forefathers; but as he stands in the catacombs of Erebor and watches as the dwarf is laid to rest, his two sister-sons on either side (far too young—they barely look older than Bard's own children, yet they died defending their king), he feels the tears start to fall down his face...and he is not so ashamed, not so heartless as to try and wipe them away.
163.) Echo—
That's the difference between Balin and Dwalin; both are haunted by the ghosts of the past, decades after Erebor is reclaimed: Thrór's ringing voice, Thorin's regal bearing, Fíli and Kíli's heartening laughter follow them everywhere...Balin can bear it no longer, and flees to Khazad-dûm; but Dwalin, stalwart and loyal to the end, refuses to leave the mountain, refuses to abandon the last relics he has left of his friends and kings.
164.) Clown—
When the human circus comes to town, Fíli and Kíli beg Thorin for days to allow them to go; and it's all fun and games until a man in terrifying face paint, an outrageous wig, and extravagant clothing comes up to them...and Fíli—the crown prince of their lost mountain, fifty-two years old, and an adult, thank you very much—screams like a child and almost guts the man before Kíli can pull him back.
165.) Puzzle—
Ori finds an incomplete puzzle on the floor of Master Baggins' study, that first night after they have all set up for bed; though it's less than halfway done, he can tell that it is a picture of an expansive mountain range...and he wonders whether the hobbit was being entirely truthful when he claimed he has no wish to see the world outside the Shire.
166.) Brainwash—
Thranduil is shocked at what he sees on the younger dwarves' faces, when they are brought up for individual questioning—not anger, not disdain, not hatred—but instead badly-masked fear.
167.) Courage—
Dwalin has always considered courage to be the height of a dwarf's honor—that if one is brave, he must be inherently good, as well...and though he's questioned Bilbo Baggin's quality in the past, as he watches him rush toward a pack of orcs, single-handedly slaughter one of them, and then stand before Azog the Defiler with his trembling hands and his terrified eyes...he realizes that maybe the hobbit is a better person than he first thought.
168.) Devastate—
Dori is desperate, in the aftermath of the battle—he lost track of Ori some time earlier, and he knows that his younger brother was never made for war; if he is dead, it is entirely Dori's fault...but then he sees him, standing alone, helm lost, an enormous hammer in hand and tears falling steadily down his face; his eyes stare blankly at nothing as Dori approaches him, and the gore coating his body contrasts sharply with his white face...and even as Dori realizes with relief that his brother is physically out of danger, in no way is Ori all right.
169.) Monster—
The wargs that Thorin and Dwalin bring down in the clearing just outside the troll hoard are more grotesque than Bilbo has ever imagined; he has seen wolves before, during the Fell Winter of his childhood, but they do not hold a candle to these monsters, and he starts to wonder whether he's cut out for such a horrible quest after all.
170.) Grasp—
Bilbo's palms are sweaty and his grip on his sword slips dangerously even as he convulsively holds it tighter, staring down the Pale Orc on the clifftop; but all he can see is Gandalf's appraising gaze, Thorin's unconscious form behind him, and imagining how proud his mother would be of him for going on this quest...and it's the last of those that gives him the courage to throw away his own life for the King's.
171.) Stag—
Thorin and Frerin laughs for a solid ten minutes—out of earshot of the council room, of course—when they see the mount that Thranduil rode to Erebor; it's easily ten feet tall, disregarding its ridiculous antlers, and it is so utterly absurd that any respect they may have had for the snobby Elvenking flies right out the window.
172.) Vision—
The last thing Thorin Oakenshield sees in this life is the distraught, tear-stained face of the burglar he never deserved to call friend...and he wonders why he has been granted this much after everything he has done, why he has been allowed to die with friends at his side, when so many others (Fíli and Kíli, and he cannot hold back his tears any longer) died so, so alone.
173.) Bottle—
As Bilbo and the dwarves are properly welcomed into Laketown, a few days after their arrival, one of the men cheerfully shoves a tankard of ale into the hobbit's hands—and Bilbo doesn't think he's ever seen so much alcohol in one container before in his life.
174.) Plural—
Thráin, once upon a time, had a father and three children: two sons, tall and broad and strong, as any heirs of Durin should be, and a daughter, beautiful and stubborn and just as hardheaded as her kin; then, the second son was lost to war, and the father and grandfather to madness, and then there were two left (and the heirs wrought to them, that they would do anything to protect)—but, after a quest of desperation and hope and what some might call insanity, there is only one: a sister and a daughter and a mother, all too alone in a world she has never had to navigate on her own.
175.) Father—
"What are your parents like, Bilbo?"—Kíli's innocent question strikes hard, though he does his best to hide it...because all this time, navigating wilderness and dangers and everything a hobbit should never encounter, one of the only things keeping him going is the memory of his father's delighted laugh every time he brought home some new token of his childhood adventures...and he thinks that Bungo Baggins, as respectable a hobbit as he was, would be impossibly proud of him, were he still alive to see Bilbo leave for such a quest.
176.) Accident—
Bombur's children—like most dwarflings—are incredibly accident-prone...but thanks to their thick skulls and their Uncle Bofur's smiles and toys, any hurts they bring upon themselves are soon forgotten.
177.) Perfect—
The last image Gimli has of his cousins—his best friends—is of the two of them riding away down the mountain in the morning sunlight, waving cheerfully over their shoulders and laughing at something already beyond his hearing...and then they are gone (though he does not know it), forever.
178.) Bucket—
Fíli's coming-of-age party is all well and good until Kíli has a bit too much to drink—and Fíli is torn between poking fun at his brother as he holds Kíli's hair back and grabbing his own bucket to be sick in...for they matched each other drink for drink, and this cannot end well for either of them.
179.) Torch—
The only warning Óin has is the sudden darkness caused by the dousing of his torch; but when he turns around quickly, raising his staff, he has no chance to react before the monster from the water is upon him.
180.) Dwarf—
Bilbo Baggins has never met a dwarf in his life, but when he sees a hulking figure on his front porch—far too short to be a man or elf, but too hairy to be a hobbit—he knows that's what he must be...and he only has a moment to wonder what is happening before Dwalin, son of Fundin pushes his way into his smial, asking bluntly where the food is.
