Why 13 Dwarves?

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Galadhrim Bowmaster
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From an economical storytelling perspective, having 13 Dwarven characters seem like overkill in The Hobbit. It's a short book, and there would obviously never be space to develop that many characters. I imagine most of us can pin a description on half of them (Thorin is the leader, Bombur is overweight, Fili and Kili are Thorin's nephews etc.) but any editor would suggest trimming their number down.

Nonetheless, Tolkien put in 13 Dwarves. I was discussing this with a few others, and my best guess was that there's some significance behind the number. But I cannot readily think what it might be, and I thought maybe someone here knew. So that's my question - why did Tolkien put in specifically 13 Dwarves as characters in The Hobbit?

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To make Bilbo necessary, of course.

For unknown reasons, it doesn't appear to have occurred to Thorin et Al. that they could have avoided triggering their unfortunate triskaidekaphobia by simply letting one or two Dwarves stay at home.

I am not sure that an editor in the thirties would have been so concerned about it, but once Tolkien had firmly tied Bilbo's participation in the adventure with him being the lucky number, number fourteen, then there was, effectively, very little that could be done about it.

Goes to prove that sometimes the best books are those that break conventions ...
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Arien
Arien
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I thought also that having that many Dwarves makes Bilbo feel truly insignificant at first - one amongst many, whereas he would be much more prominent as one of five, for example - and thus his rise to leadership amongst the group is more profound.

Not to mention that it makes for great storytelling when Gandalf is persuading Beorn to let the whole gang in...
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Making Biblo necessary is certainly likely. I just looked through the first chapter of TH and didn't see any mention as to why there were 13, other than that they apparently all worked together digging coal. They know it's a mission of stealth, which is why they need a burglar to avoid unlucky 13, but they all seem to have had prominent enough roles during the days of Thror to be necessary for a mission to reclaim the mountain.

Also, don't a lot of fairy tales have a ridiculous number of side characters?

Sil: I just listened to part of the story with Beorn the other day. I had forgotten how hilarious it is.
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Artanis / Éomund / Brandor / Zarâm

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The aforementioned triskaidekaphobia (Though the fact Gandalf is not a signatory to the contract, nor counted among their number I found interesting) makes sense, but also as a children's story, it adds some depth to it that might make things interesting since they are all in groups, besides Thorin.

Fili and Kili
Balin and Dwalin
Oin and Gloin
Dori, Nori, Ori
Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur

Each of these having a nice flow to them. But for a more Watsonian explanation, perhaps these were the only ones who were willing to follow Thorin on this journey?

Arien
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The Dwarf names are all out of the Elder Edda, as I recall, but there were also a lot of dwarf names in it that Tolkien doesn’t include (and Gandalf is named as a dwarf in the Edda too), so perhaps they were just chosen for phonaesthetics, lámatyávë?!
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Triskaidekaphobia has already been mentioned multiple times.

Consider, in addition, multiple episodes that are made possible by the very fact that there are so many dwarves, and wouldn't work if the number were to be trimmed by half. The very first chapter - it wouldn't be half as funny if there were only six or seven dwarves come for tea, right? There wouldn't have been a reason for Bilbo to feel "bewildered and bewuthered". During the encounter with the goblins in the Misty Mountains, there would have been far less excuse for losing Bilbo. When the whole lot of them show up at Beorn's house, the scene with Gandalf gradually introducing them couldn't have existed.

Finally, in a small company, each member must pull his weight. Part of Bilbo's character development is that in the beginning of the story, he's not really able to do that. He feels very much like "baggage". Only after he finds the Ring (that is, gets out of a scrape all by himself) do things begin to change. This is only made possible by the fact that many dwarves are there, able to carry him (quite literally at times) until he starts taking a more proactive role in the adventure.

I cannot know, but if I were to guess, I'd say Tolkien might have started with 13 as a pretty number, but then the story shaped itself around it in such a way that it wasn't possible to trim that number, even though most dwarves did not get developed as individual characters.

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Apropos nothing much, Theoden had a bodyguard of twelve knights. The only time some of them are mentioned by name is in the lament of the Pelennor Fields, but that's only because they died there.
Twelve seems not to have been an unusual number for a bodyguard, in M-e at least.
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Weathered Ent
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I never considered and significance behind the number of the dwarves until it was mentioned in this thread. I only thought that the names when put together really have a nice flow to them. When described in the book with their different colored hoods and beards, the tale really is quite charming.
Huorn of Fangorn

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I think Tolkien began with the idea of an unexpected party. No law on how many guests are needed for afternoon tea to become a party, but 13 surely passes the limit.
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New Soul
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It's possible that a contributing element was Beowulf, where the hero sets off with twelve other companions, plus as a fourteenth the thief who had stolen a golden cup from the dragon and sparked its ire.
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We ought add to this growing list the Biblical examples of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples of the Gospels(amongst countless lesser illustrations that reflect these two primary examples), representative of a kingdom in these cases. Consider the twelve Olympian gods (although technically there is a 13th at one point) on their twelve thrones on Olympus, and Odin having twelve sons. King Arthur is also said to have subdued 12 rebel princes, likely a connection to the beginning of this list.

There are more similar uses of 12 in various mythologies, but I think these few are enough to show that Tolkien was placing the Hobbit and the dwarves into a particular narrative stream, not in a derivative or directly allegorical way, but using 12 to create mythological significance by imitation.

I think, by the way, that this also allows him to participate in another common narrative trend, which is the repetition so commonly used in fairy tales. The dinner party at the beginning of the book, the exploration of the troll's campfire, and the arrival at Beorn's house especially are classic fairy tale story-telling maneuvers.

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12 is certainly a number of great importance, for the many reasons Ducky just laid out. And in the case of the two Biblical examples, there is a 13th person as the leader.

The number 12 is also traditionally thought of as a number of completion or harmony, so I can certainly see the logic in Thorin choosing twelve companions to join him on his journey. However, this does result in the number 13. I don't know if every dwarf was superstitious over this particular number or not, but it certainly was important enough to warrant a hunt for one additional member.

The fact that they decided to add another member (Bilbo) instead of one of them staying behind makes me think it is important for all 13 dwarves to be involved in this expedition.
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Artanis / Éomund / Brandor / Zarâm

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Chiming in quickly that Barahir also had 12 companions. So it is a number Tolkien seems set on even if it could be problematic in a shorter story like The Hobbit.

Then we get Gandalf's planning, being asked to find a 14th member, he settled on burglary, because "...not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighborhood heroes are scare." An Unexpected Party

I would say though that the group of 13 dwarves aren't really a group of warriors either. Thorin, we know right at the start is an extremely important dwarf. The rest though, don't seem to have too much significance prior to The Hobbit. Fili and Kili, as Thorin's nephews, can be "important" but they're the youngest and along with Bilbo, mentioned as hearing about Smaug's desolation for the first time.

None of them seemed that well prepared for a journey, even one that is settled on burglary. They come with a bag of tools and a few spades. They all managed to bring an instrument though! :smiley10:

Gandalf's comment about if they don't like his choice of burglar they can "have all the bad luck they like, or go back to digging coal." It's an insult, but Gandalf perhaps speaks the truth. This quest is a treasure hunt, and for Thorin, it might mean more, but to his companions it's an opportunity for a large profit and share of a treasure. An opportunity they likely would not have gotten had they not joined Thorin.

Edit: fixing some typos
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Boromir88 wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 1:20 pm Then we get Gandalf's planning, being asked to find a 14th member, he settled on burglary, because "...not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighborhood heroes are scare." An Unexpected Party
That always struck me as one of the more preposterous elements of Gandalf's utterly preposterous 'plan' as revealed in this first chapter. Heroes might be scarce in the vicinity of Bag-end but why is this relevant given that the destination is another neighborhood - where, it turns out, a potential hero by the name of Bard happens to live? (Just to be clear, the preposterousness is a large part of the appeal - the same goes for Gandalf's reasoning that because there is a secret back door on the map therefore burglary is the plan and Bilbo is The Burglar).
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Ent High Elder
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As the great Rohirric philosopher Mitchell of the Hedberg once said, "If 13 is an unlucky number, then so should the letter B be, because B looks like a scrunched together 13." Therefore, not only were there 13 Dwarves, but they brought along Bilbo Baggins (BB), effectively tripling their bad luck.
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Weathered Ent
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@KingODuckingham Much of the Middle Earth mythos borrows heavily on Norse concepts - Trolls, Dwarves, Elves, and dragons so it makes sense that Tolkien would use the numbers.
Huorn of Fangorn

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While folks have all offered up (and you were originally asking for) pretty good meta-reasons for thirteen Dwarves, I'm also interested -- does anyone have solid justifications for why Thorin brought thirteen in universe? Fili and Kili are his nephew, and presumptive heirs, so I suppose that makes sense -- Balin and Dwalin are elders who survived the arrival of Smaug, so they're logical as well. Gloin and Oin are their cousins -- can anyone point me to further info on them? I'm realizing as I type that the dwarves are not particularly fleshed out -- but that still leaves Ori, Nori, Dori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur.
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Easterling
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Wow! What a fascinating question. I appreciated Ducky's expositio specifically as I did not realize the number 12 with a 13th head was so prevalent in historical/mythological writings! Also, @Mojo ! That about the B and 13 was mind-blowing!

Doorwarden of The Mark
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I agree @Lord of the Rings about the connection with "Beowulf". 13 is an unlucky number in "Beowulf" which I think is connected with Beowulf's ofermod. He has 'excessive pride' and therefore is fated to fall. Same with Thorin Oakenshield.
There is also a connection to Jesus and His 12 disciples where Judas Iscariot is the 'over proud' character who falls.

New Soul
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I do not know. Probably there is not so clear motivation for the final number. Nevertheless i think that 4 or 5 would have been too few to form a good travel company for a mission. More like 8 9 or 10 could have been right , but someone would have died, so probably tolkien increased the number to 13. A good compromise.

Gardener
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Most of, if not all of, the internal story surrounding this event is "Why Bilbo" rather than "Why 13 Dwarves." However, I've always read it as these are all that were willing and/or able to partake in the journey. Very early on, I think as early as Thorin meeting Gandalf in Bree and discussing his plans to go back to the Lonely Mountain, there was already a group of them going - from memory Fili or Kili was mentioned right off the bat, so if he was part of the company, you'd figure most would be - and as there's no mention of a group of people gathering together to go on this quest, the inference is that they were already gathered together to go on said quest by the time the story catches up to them. So when Gandalf meets up with Thorin, and Thorin is heading to Erebor, and Gandalf wants to tag along for a bit and include a Hobbit in on this (for his own reasons), Gandalf possibly contrives a reason or two to convince them to bring Bilbo along with them.

I think there are more meta reasons why this was the case (as outlined above) than there was any specific in-world reason as to why there were 13 Dwarves. But "all that were willing and were able" has always been my personal interpretation.

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