Again, you may see an Author's Note from time to time because I may have something to say about a particular section. But it's way less in this part because I adored pretty much everything I wrote in this section XD
Also, as I've gone through the outline, I realized that EVERYTHING with non-Durin dwarves were written just as I was going. It makes me sad because there's just a bunch of interactions that we're otherwise missing out on because my outline just covers the development of the main OT4.
Summary: The outline portion that covers the Laketown Arc, the Erebor Arc, and the Battle of the Five Armies arc of the story.
- Laketown section -
- After the barrel ride down the river.
Dwalin helps both Bilbo and Ori out of their barrels.
Bilbo and Ori are by the river together when Bard comes upon them. Bilbo instinctively defends Ori but notices that Dwalin defends both of them.
Bilbo notices that while Gloin and Bombur are the fathers of the group that Dwalin has a protective streak in him to whom he considers needing of it.
- When they are discussing whether or not to make use of Bard to go into Laketown, Thorin consults Bilbo and asks her how she feels concerning his voice. Bilbo answers honestly that she hears that he is only a very kind man. When asked how she knows, Bilbo mentions that any voice that tastes like chocolate must belong to a good man.
The group barters for passage and are able to procure it by offering to Bard to fix his worn out clothing.
- Company is traveling by boat and notices that Kili is injured. Bilbo uses the last remaining undamaged piece of her clothing to bandage him up all the while ranting about the orcs and goblins. When Bard calls her out on it, she gets testy with him.
"So why travel east?"
"What did you say to me? I'll not expect you to understand my reasoning for staying despite the dangers. In the future, I would ask that you keep such curiosity to yourself."
- The group make it into Laketown using Bard's ploy and they warm up / start to plan to leave. She goes to clean up with Sigrid's help and finds that her hair truly is a mess. It's knotted and sticky with webbing and she cannot get some of it unstuck. Despite Fili helping, she cannot untangle her hair. Feeling frustrated by the attempt, she just brushes off Fili and puts it up and goes back to the main room to listen to the others. Bilbo notices that she has a scratch in her throat and a cough but nothing more troubling. Brushes it off as forest gunk.
- Everyone needs to sleep in the same room due to lack of space and while Bilbo is working on Bard's coat in the candlelight, Thorin pulls Bilbo aside to head back into the main house. Bard is setting up a little area and Fili and Kili are nearby, dozing off every so often. They are there to cut Bilbo's hair since it's in desperate need for any sort of attention. It's surprising but Thorin knows how to cut hair decently well and stands there with the offer of it towards Bilbo.
"Any requests?"
He uttered, meaning what style, more time, our activities afterward, I did not know.
"Tell me a story." I replied, for what I most yearned for was the voice I had been missing.
He tells her the story of his childhood home where he would run away to the mines to sleep and wake to the sight of gold veins in the cold mountain walls sparkling like fireflies.
At the end of the chapter, Bilbo's hair is shorter like a wavy bob.
- Bilbo is given the Laketown outfit since it's high time that everyone change their clothes.
- Ori and Bilbo do as Balin promised Bard and patch up his coat and his boots. Bilbo is making last minute adjustments while Bard is wearing it when he notices that she is running a bit of a fever.
He bumps into her accidentally and notices just how warm she is, his hand unassumingly pressing to her face. The gesture is regarded with a blush but Bard treats her like one of his children due to her stature.
"She's very sick, master dwarf."
- Bilbo has a bad cold with fever, being cared for by the Durins.
- Bilbo finds Sigrid and asks the young woman if she could perhaps inconvenience her into borrowing some linen for her monthly cycle.
- Bilbo is sick and throwing up due to an upset stomach and Kili comes to comfort her at the toilet. He makes a small comment about her being pregnant and Bilbo rebukes it harshly since she is already bleeding. Hearing part of their conversation, Bard interrupts them much to Bilbo's distaste since his voice makes her mouth feel even grosser. Chocolate mixed with vomit makes her want to cry at how horrid it tastes.
"Pardon, I don't mean to interrupt, but my daughter says that the mistress requested these." He gives up the parcel of linen and Bilbo notices that they are of good quality, a small token of thanks for the mending of the jacket.
- At some point, Bilbo gets the impression that Thorin and Fili really want to talk to her about something.
Fili and Thorin explain to Bilbo that they wish to pledge themselves to her. They say that due to their women being so few, they are allowed to take multiple husbands.
"I wish to pledge myself to you."
"Heh, am I not already yours?"
"You do not understand, Bilbo. When a dwarf pledges to their partner, it is the formal request to be brought under their household. Fili and I, we have asked not for you to marry us but for us to marry you."
"You want to marry me?"
"We do."
She chuckled weakly before coughing again and snuggling deeper into her blankets. "Heh, Thorin and Fili Baggins, what an awful ring to it. I'll deign to let you keep the last name you have."
She waits, silent for a long moment, knowing the unmentioned darkness hovering over them. As happy as she was a moment ago, she starts to cry and tries to hide her face. Her hands covered her face but the sniffles remained, the ugliness of crying and being sick. "Are you sure?" Thorin and Fili merely looked on with such love in their expressions, knowing what she has asked.
"We each have chosen this path, even knowing that it is short. Through tremendous happiness and bitter grief that we will eventually share, we have chosen this."
-Author's Note-
It took me a moment to remember that I didn't mean that the question wasn't "Are you sure?" in regarding to the Erebor climax but actually the fact that she isn't as long lived as a normal dwarf is.
- For Bilbo's birthday, Bilbo explains that her birthday passed while they were in Mirkwood and how hobbits give gifts instead of receiving them.
Thorin - She asks to braid some flowers into his hair since she had never been allowed to braid his hair before. He asks if she's thought of joining them in Erebor afterwards. She teases him about how they are to marry into her family and therefore would need to come to Bag End.
Fili - Teaches him a Hobbit courtship dance. The two have sex and he notably finishes inside her.
Kili – She asks to sit with him so they can watch the sunset and just be close since they both are under the weather due to sickness or previous injury. During this scene, Bilbo notices that he's pulling at her hair and realizes that he's actually braiding her hair.
"My pledge to you."
"But... You-"
"I know, but there has been no one like you before. (They'll never be anyone like you again either.)"
Sensing that she might still be a bit sick, Kili and Bilbo head back to the inn where they are staying, all the way keeping her very close. Bilbo has never felt more loved.
-(Break this up into three different chapters) (fourth chapter is dwarves celebrating her birthday the way dwarves do since they can't really not get her something)
- Seeing Kili's braid in Bilbo's hair, the four decide that it's finally time for all of them to consummate their love as a group. Not the greatest at writing so many people in a smut scene but figure out some foreplay and positioning. Try not to forget where body parts are.
- Position - Thorin on the bottom, lying down on bed. Thorin inside Bilbo. Fili also inside Bilbo. Bilbo on Thorin. Killi eventually topping Fili.
"How are you doing, Miss Hobbit?"
"Very full..."
- Bilbo is sitting in the room just enjoying the nice fire. Thorin comes into the room and speaks with her lightly.
He goes up to her chair and kneels in front of it, leaning over to be able to kiss her.
"A king kneeling to a hobbit?"
"If I cannot kneel and concede to you then I am not fit to be a king."
Slides his hands over her legs, noting her pants. He leans his head down to be comforted by her and hums at the feeling of her fingers running through his hair.
"The mountain scares you too?"
Thorin is silent but she understands his need for silence to the question.
- Kili is forced to stay back in Laketown while the group intends to leave due to fever and infection from his previous injury.
Fili chooses to stay behind as well and Thorin goes to stop him.
"Fili, you belong with this company."
"I belong with my brother."
"Will you not think of Bilbo and where she goes?"
Fili stares at Bilbo a long moment, "I almost feel sorry for Smaug if he should be there."
Bilbo stays close and nods at Fili that she understands. He trusts her that she'll come out safe and sound and she has to trust that he's better off with Kili. She hugs him and wishes him well. They'll hopefully see each other again.
- The dwarves finally depart Laketown and last line of the last chapter as they head to Erebor.
"...and there in the distance, the looming dark shadow of the Lonely Mountain..."
- Erebor section -
- Bilbo figures out that the door into Erebor will be opened by the last light of the moon. It makes sense since dwarves follow a lunar calender.
"Of course! Why would the last light of Durin's Day be referencing the sunset if they follow the phases of the moon?"
- Smaug and Bilbo have their encounter.
"Well, thief... Where are you? Come now, don't be shy..."
"You have something on you, something much like gold but much more precious..."
"Ah, there you are!"
"Show me what you have there and I may be tempted to let you live, little thief."
"What do you think I have?"
"HA! All dragons know what you carry. We were practically born from the same thing!"
"Your fear that I can smell...your pain, your agony; throw it into the abyss that I can feel surrounds you."
- Bilbo runs away from an attacking Smaug and Thorin comes down into the chamber and the lovers bump into one another.
Thorin looks at Smaug in silent horror.
"I imagine that at one time Thorin thought he would look upon the visage of the great serpent with bold hatred and determination to see his end. I was sure that back when Smaug first attacked that Thorin fancied that they might have beaten Smaug.
Looking at Thorin who was wizened to the dragon's prowess, the look of silent terror at Smaug approaching us was all too telling. Smaug had written fear on Thorin's soul, twined it so tightly that the king was a prince again on the very day it happened so long ago. In that silent terror, I grabbed Thorin's hand and dragged him with me. We needed to run!"
- After the fight between the dwarves and Smaug that eventually finishes with the dragon escaping outside the mountain and taking flight, Bilbo watches as Smaug scorches the ground leading out to the forests. There is fire everywhere. Having never seen such destruction before, she covers her mouth and falls to her knees.
- After they reclaim the mountain from Smaug, they are going through the treasure. That night, Thorin leads Bilbo away from the group and showers her in jewels. Necklaces. Rings. Everything he has ever wanted to give her, apparently.
Bilbo is disturbed by it, by the look in Thorin's eyes.
When he tries to lie with her, she cannot shake her thoughts and stops him, unable to give her body to a dwarf who takes so freely.
"He touched me in a way that made me recoil, almost thinking that he had become too familiar and not cautious enough. Like it was all owed in a way."
- The group sends out for Fili, Bofur, Gloin and Kili. When Kili returns, he embraces her wholeheartedly.
Bilbo is surprised by this show of affection and he says that Tauriel saved his life.
"She saved my life... I do not know why she listened to me but Bilbo, she did."
He slipped his head down and sighed into my hair, eager to be reunited with me as he was with the rest of the group."
The brothers enter the halls of the great mountain kingdom and look around amazed and overwhelmed.
"What's wrong?"
"It is..."
"It's..."
Neither one of them had words for what they were looking at, the great halls of Erebor so recently vacated by the dragon. They looked again around the great hall and were quite lost.
"It isn't like you thought?"
"Ered Luin doesn't look anything like this..."
"It's not like any other dwarven kingdom?"
"We wouldn't know... We've never been to any of the great dwarven kingdoms..."
- Bilbo finds Thorin up at the battlements where he was last standing before Smaug's initial attack all those years ago. She notices that he's distant and tries to talk with him.
Thorin and Bilbo argue about Thorin's plans for the mountain and the inevitable war he will cause due to greed.
"I just know that this isn't the way. We need to work with them-"
"I am King of this Mountain and regardless of anything said before, you cannot sway me. You have no right to say otherwise."
In my mind, my thoughts washed over me in a mad flood. I was drowning in them, caught between wanting to yell at the elder dwarf and wanting to stay silent. I kept my emotions from showing on my face, knowing that any sign of my thoughts would give Thorin too much in this instance.
In the beginning of the journey, I would have sputtered or started crying in defense of Thorin's harsh words but after so long of being with them, I found that not to be the case anymore.
Thorin was waiting for me to acknowledge his words and agree with him, much like the way that everyone lately had been silently taking his disagreeable nature.
My feet closed the distance between us, invading his space so entirely that he was forced to look down at me. A hint of surprise glinted in those bright eyes before the beginnings of his temper started to darken them again.
"You once said that if you could not concede to me that you weren't fit to be a king... Maybe you should remember that right now."
I walked away from him then, content with the image that my words put into his mind."
- Bilbo escapes from the Erebor camp and gives away the Arkenstone to Bard and Thranduil in an attempt to stop the oncoming war.
- Thorin banishes Bilbo from the group after having discovered that she gave away the Arkenstone to who he perceives are his enemies. He practically attacks her in his anger and sends her away.
- Bilbo once again attempts to stop the oncoming war by appealing to Thorin again. She breaks into the camp at night but Dwalin is on watch and speaks with her instead.
"You shouldn't be here, lass..."
My heart stopped in the pit of my chest, observing without wanting to how he referred to me by the correct gender.
"I know...but..."
"Aye, I know. You want to try and convince Thorin, yes?" Bilbo tries to go beyond the doorway to find Thorin but Dwalin stops her.
"He's been in a particularly foul mood since your leaving. I wouldn't."
"Why are the others not saying anything? Disregarding the fact that what Thorin did was dishonorable to your people, can't they see that all of this is a horrible idea?"
"They're aware. Your boys especially know though they understand the consequences of leaving their uncle on the mountain with the Iron Hills watching."
"So now you understand our predicament. If his heirs leave, he'll disown them to keep face. If we all leave him, he'll be announced as a mad king and Laketown or the Iron Hills can storm the mountain and claim it for themselves. We'll lose our home again."
"Dwalin, none of that is rational. Laketown won't invade. The Iron Hills can do nothing with Bard and Thranduil stopping them."
"It is dwarf business that you wouldn't understand."
"Dwalin...please..."
"You should go, lass. This isn't any place for you." Bilbo makes to turn back around seeing that Dwalin is immovable on the subject. A few steps, she feels Dwalin's hand on her shoulder.
"I would never give this advice to anyone else but... Bilbo, forget all that Thorin and I taught you about the sword. Forget it all. Turn and use those quiet feet to run away. Go back to the Shire where it's safe. That's where we want you. That's where you belong."
His fingers brushed along my hand, as if willing to take back everything that he and Thorin taught me so that I would have no choice but to leave.
"I would never forgive myself for not even trying."
"Lass."
"Dwalin, please!"
"Bilbo!"
"Am I just supposed to let you all die?! Am I supposed to run home and live in my safe home with that as the final memory to this adventure?"
"Aye..."
"I can't! I just can't!"
"Bilbo, you have no idea what this next battle will be like. War is not like anything you've seen or read about before. Promise me that if you don't leave then you won't join the fray. War is no place for hobbits, even ones as brave as you."
"Only if you promise me that you'll convince Thorin to stop this."
A sly promise, it was, for one could not participate in a battle that did not exist.
"Aye, I promise."
"I promise then, too."
- The Battle of the Five Armies Arc -
- Bilbo is watching from the sidelines for a little bit with Thranduil, Gandalf, and Tauriel where the war has not yet come upon them. When the battle finally does come to them, Thranduil defends her from the worst of it. When he spots Gandalf in need of help though, he has Tauriel stick close to Bilbo.
Tauriel and Bilbo fight together and Tauriel notices that the dwarves are being heavily bombarded near the center of the battle. They both agree that they want to help them.
In the back of her mind, Bilbo thinks of finding Thorin or someone from the company. Bilbo gets caught up in the fighting and has to defend herself from orcs and goblins.
Azog's son is there and notices her in the crowd. He separates her from Tauriel.
She tries to fight him but he's too strong for her to fight one-on-one. He shoves her to the ground and is using his foot to hold her down. He kicks Sting away and laughs while Bilbo takes out her ring to try and use and he notices that it's the One Ring. Bilbo can hear its black speech and it makes her ears hurt. He triumphantly proclaims that she has given him the greatest honor once he kills her.
Bilbo uses her ring to try and escape from him but the moment she puts it on her finger, the close presence of the Necromancer over the battlefield puts her right at ground zero for Sauron's voice. She hears the black speech as if it is shouting over the battlefield and underneath her fingernails begin to bleed as she notices that her ears are being cut again.
In her distressed pain, she takes up Sting and slashes blindly towards Balg where she cuts off his leg. Once he falls to the ground, she overtakes him and kills him.
- Feeling victorious over having beat Balg, Bilbo takes off her ring and puts it in her pocket and thinks to join up with the dwarves and Tauriel. However, just as she steps off to do just that, Bilbo literally gets a spear thrown at her chest.
The blow instantly knocks her off her feet and makes her pass out from how much it knocks the wind out of her. Obviously due to her wearing her mythril shirt, she is ultimately unharmed.
- While Bilbo is passed out, the battle of the Five Armies concludes with her being none the wiser for who won and who lost and who perished along the way.
- Bilbo wakes hours later to Beorn near her, having found her.
"It is dark out and she feels something nearby, hears a booming rumbling in her chest. A giant snout brushes against her and she opens her eyes.
She lightly brushes her fingers in Beorn's fur and is happy to see him.
"We've been looking for you, little bunny."
- Bilbo is brought back to camp by Beorn and realizes that the Durins are hurt with Thorin being the worst of it. She's taken to say her goodbye to Thorin who is still hanging on and watches as he dies in her front of her.
"Balin says that my nephews are safe though a little worse for the wear... They'll be able to comfort you where I can't."
- After Thorin's death, Bilbo goes to the tent where the brothers are, needing to see them and tell them what happened.
"Miss Baggins-! Wait!" Balin tried to stop her as she walked over to the tent where Fili and Kili rested. "I need-! There's something I should-"
Bilbo walks into the tent, expecting to see the brothers recovering from wounds but instead she sees both of them on opposite sides of the tent with white sheets over them.
They are both dead.
Balin lied to Thorin. The very idea of it has devastated her beyond any imagining.
Bilbo first goes to Kili and says her own goodbye to him.
She then goes to Fili but finds she cannot say the words to let him go too. She pulls down the sheet and crawls into bed with him, just wanting to sleep next to him.
-Author's Note-
Without fail, whenever I read the Fili part I always tear up. Without fail! EVERY TIME!
- Thranduil wakes Bilbo so that he can check up on her and her wounds and get her away from the brothers.
"I'm here to tend to your wounds."
"I'm fine. They're all pretty light."
Thranduil's blue eyes still as cold and eternal as they would ever be suddenly softened for a brief instant, "I assure you, they are not. Please, it would my pleasure." His polite bow towards me softened me to the idea of him taking me away from the brothers and I nodded before coming away from the bed.
I made sure to right the sheet before leaving.
Inside Thranduil's tent which was nice and warm, my eyes took in the sight of Legolas softly brushing Tauriel's auburn hair out. I knew instantly what had happened to her, knew the truth so strongly in my body and yet I did not feel like facing it yet.
"Have a seat there."
Thranduil motioned for me to sit down and I did so without much thought, adjusting when his hand nudged me over a bit. His long fingers were on my ears, pushing hair back so that he could look, his eyes taking in everything.
"You and Tauriel were friends, were you not?"
I didn't say anything at first, not really wanting her to get into any trouble even after her death. I didn't want Thranduil to think badly of Tauriel after relying on her so much for help. Thranduil noticed how I began to cry though and soothed me like a parent would a tired child.
"I'm not upset. You two did the right thing in the end. I just thought that you would want to say your goodbye to her."
I nodded quickly because I did want to say my goodbye. I didn't ever want to wonder what happened to her and not know the answer.
The light stinging on my ears brought me back to the reality that I was in, shaking me out of another crying reverie.
"It's natural to have a dislike of death..." Thranduil began quietly, his eyes staring almost blankly at my ears as he worked, "We elves though have a particularly intense mindset against it. Even my father, a wise elf fortunate enough to have lived in the time of the two trees, was superstitious to the point of comedy.
He used to tell me tales of when his fellow Sindar believed that the dead could curse the living just by being near them. I used to think that all of that was just foolish. It still is...and yet, I couldn't help but feel that old superstitious anxiety while watching you lie next to the dwarf."
"Fili."
"Hmm?" His eyes snapped back to attention on my face, making sure that he heard correctly. "Excuse me?"
"Fili. His name is Fili."
Thranduil stared at me unblinkingly, his eyes passive with barely a hint of warmth to them.
"Pardon my ignorance."
Bilbo finds herself staring at Tauriel for the remainder of the bandaging. Finally near the end, she speaks up again.
"I do not feel like we did the right thing."
"You did." Legolas's voice cut through the silence. Both Thranduil and I startled a bit since Legolas hadn't spoken a single word since my arrival.
"This happened because evil had been allowed its way rather than made to heel. Tauriel was right... We are a part of this world and we need to defend it in the face of growing evil. Should anything happen in the future, I will take you and Tauriel as my example and do my best."
-Author's Note-
For me, Tauriel's fate had been sealed before the third movie even came out. Obviously we know why she wasn't in Lord of the Rings but in thinking of it like a prequel, I had to wonder why she wouldn't be there since she felt so strongly about evil in general. I wanted to know why Legolas wanted to help since elves normally are very standoffish in terms of the affairs of the world. The entire aspect of Kili x Tauriel wouldn't work in this story so Tauriel instead became a closer friend with Bilbo. The two of them believed that standing aside while evil was allowed to do its thing was not acceptable. In that shared belief, the two became friends. For me, Tauriel needed to die to show Legolas that evil must be brought to heel or else it can have long reaching consequences that you may not be ready for. So in this universe, Legolas got his sense of justice from Tauriel. It's because of Tauriel that Legolas will one day go to the council and become part of the Fellowship. That being said, her character was sad in my version and the movie version. Lots of potential there.
- Dwalin goes to find Bilbo and finds her with Tauriel still.
"You look like you've seen a war, hobbit."
Bilbo looks at Dwalin sadly.
"You were right. It was nothing like I ever thought to know."
"Laddie, do you remember the promise we made to each other...?"
"I'm sorry... Maybe if I had kept my promise..."
"You tried to, I'm sure."
"And you?"
"I tried to. It was the only time in our entire lives that it seemed like I wouldn't follow by his side. Afterward, he wouldn't speak to me."