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Balin (Middle-earth)

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Fictional character created by J.R.R. Tolkien

Fictional character
Balin
Tolkien character
In-universe information
AliasesLord ofMoria
RaceDwarf
Book(s)The Hobbit (1937)
The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
Unfinished Tales (1980)

Balin is a fictional character inJ. R. R. Tolkien's world ofMiddle-earth. ADwarf, he is an important supporting character inThe Hobbit, and is mentioned inThe Fellowship of the Ring. As the Fellowship travel through the underground realm ofMoria, they find Balin's tomb and the Dwarves' book of records, which tells how Balin founded a colony there, becoming Lord of Moria, and that the colony was overrun byorcs.

Balin featured in the 1977Rankin/Bassanimated film ofThe Hobbit; in Peter Jackson's 2012–2014live-action film series, where he is portrayed byKen Stott as reluctant to search for lost gold and sympathetic to Bilbo; and in the2003 video game adaptation where he is voiced byVictor Raider-Wexler.

Literature

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The Company of the Ring stood silent beside the tomb of Balin. Frodo thought of Bilbo and his long friendship with the Dwarf, and of Balin's visit to the Shire long ago. In that dusty chamber in the mountains it seemed a thousand years ago and on the other side of the world...

... in them were large iron-bound chests of wood. All had been broken and plundered; but beside the shattered lid of one there lay the remains of a book. It had been slashed and stabbed and partly burned, and it was so stained with black and other dark marks like old blood that little of it could be read...

At last Gandalf looked up. 'It seems to be a record of the fortunes of Balin's folk', he said. 'I guess that it began with their coming to Dimrill Dale nigh on thirty years ago...'

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm"

Early life

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Balin was born inErebor, the son of Fundin. In the year Balin turned seven, Erebor was sacked by the dragonSmaug, and the Dwarves went into exile. During that period his younger brotherDwalin was born. Their father Fundin was killed in the Battle of Azanulbizar. Balin and his brother settled in theBlue Mountains with their surviving family. Balin and Dwalin were among those who set out with Thorin's father Thráin II in an attempt to return to Erebor, but they lost Thráin under the eaves ofMirkwood. After many days of fruitless searching, they returned to the Blue Mountains.[T 1]

The Hobbit

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Balin was a member ofThorin Oakenshield'scompany of Dwarves who travelled withBilbo Baggins andGandalf in the Quest of Erebor, on which the plot ofThe Hobbit centres. His brother Dwalin and he were the first to arrive at Bilbo's house at the beginning ofThe Hobbit. He played aviol. He was among those who had been at the Mountain before the dragon came. He had been 7 years old while Thorin had been 24 on that day,[T 1] making him the second-eldest of the Dwarves in the company.[T 2]

Tolkien describes Balin as "their look-out man": he spotted Bilbo approaching theGreen Dragon Inn atBywater,[T 2] saw thetrolls' fire in the Trollshaws,[T 3] and was the first to see theelves in Mirkwood.[T 4] After they escaped thegoblins in theMisty Mountains, Balin as look-out for the company failed to notice Bilbo (made invisible by wearinghis magic ring), and after this incident he came to respect Bilbo's abilities as a burglar.[T 5] Balin served as thede facto spokesman for the party after theElvenking imprisoned the Dwarves, as they did not at first realise that Thorin had been captured with them as well.[T 6]

In the course of the Quest, Balin was the Dwarf who developed the closest friendship with Bilbo. He was the only one who offered to look for Bilbo after he had gone down the secret Erebor passage.[T 7] Some years after the Quest, he and Gandalf visited Bilbo atBag End, where Balin told of the mountain's glory restored in the years after the Battle of the Five Armies.[T 8]

The Lord of the Rings

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An artist's rendition of Balin's tomb. Therunic inscription reads "Balin Son of Fundin, Lord ofMoria".

InThe Fellowship of the Ring, one of the Dwarves of Thorin's company,Glóin tellsthe Council of Elrond that Balin had left Erebor and ventured to reclaimMoria with a company of Dwarves includingÓin andOri (two of his companions from the Quest of Erebor), and Flói, Frár, Lóni, and Náli. The fate ofBalin's colony was uncertain, as no word had come from Moria in many years.[T 9] TheFellowship (which included Balin's cousin, Glóin's sonGimli) later happened upon Balin's tomb in theChamber of Mazarbul, and learnt of his fate from the Dwarves' book of records, theBook of Mazarbul. It told how Balin discoveredDurin's Axe, and established a small colony, but it was overrun by orcs and Balin was killed by an orc archer in Dimrill Dale. Thus he died in the same place as his father, having been self-proclaimed Lord of Moria for less than five years. Balin's tomb was inscribed "Balin Fundinul Uzbad Khazad-Dûmu", with smaller runes beneath giving the translation into English (as the representation of Tolkien’sinvented language ofWestron): "Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria".[T 10]

Analysis

[edit]
The first page fromThe Book of Mazarbul, a facsimile artefact created by Tolkien to support the story of Balin's death.[1]

The Tolkien scholarJohn D. Rateliff writes that Balin is the only Dwarf of Thorin's company whose name does not come directly from theOld Norse poemVöluspá, part of thePoetic Edda.[2] The name appears in SirThomas Malory'sMiddle English prose taleLe Morte d'Arthur, but in Rateliff's viewSir Balin is not nearly as likeable a character.[2]

The Tolkien scholarTom Shippey notes that in the final scene ofThe Hobbit, Balin, Bilbo, and Gandalf discuss the connection betweenprophecy, individual action, and truth. Balin states that the new master ofDale is wise and popular, and the people "are making songs which say that in his day the rivers run with gold."[T 8] They agree that "after a fashion", themetaphors can indeed be true, that in Shippey's words "romance and reality are differences of presentation not of fact".[3]

When Balin leaves, disastrously, to seek his fortune in Moria, "a shadow of disquiet" came over the Dwarves, asGlóin reports to theCouncil of Elrond.[T 9] Shippey writes that the metaphor of the shadow is ominous, and ambiguous: it could mean simple earthly discontent, or it could mean a spell fromMordor: "maybe Balin simultaneously fell [made his own choice] and was pushed [bewitched]."[3]

Tolkien expended enormous effort on constructing afacsimileBook of Mazarbul to resemble the burnt, torn volume abandoned at Balin's tomb, carefully staining and tearing the paper and burning in the burn-marks to make it as authentic as possible.[1] However, his publisherAllen & Unwin chose not to includehis artwork in the first edition, prompting Tolkien to remark that without it the text at the start of "The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm" was "rather absurd".[T 11]

Adaptations

[edit]
Ken Stott as a "visually distinctive"[4] Balin inPeter Jackson's film seriesThe Hobbit

Don Messick voiced Balin inRankin/Bass's1977 animated version ofThe Hobbit.[5]

In Jackson'slive-action film series ofThe Hobbit, Balin is portrayed byKen Stott as reluctant to go on the quest for old gold, whether or not the dragon had stolen it from Balin's ancestors. As such, he is sympathetic to Bilbo, who appears quite unsuitable for the task he is being given.[6][7]

In the2003 video game adaptation Balin is voiced byVictor Raider-Wexler.[8]

Family tree

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Durin's Folk, showing the Dwarvish tendency to have few children (and fewer daughters)[T 12][a]
Durin IDwarves of
Moria
Durin VI
Náin I
Thráin I
Thorin I
Glóin
Óin
Náin II
Dáin IBorin
FrórThrórGrórFarin
Thráin IINáinFundinGróin
Dís
(♀)		Thorin II
Oakenshield		Dáin II
Ironfoot		Dwalin,
Balin		GlóinÓinOri,
Dori,
Nori		Bifur,
Bofur,
Bombur
Fili,
Kili		Thorin III
Stonehelm		Gimli
Durin VII

Notes

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  1. ^Names in italics in the family tree areThorin and his company fromThe Hobbit.

References

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Primary

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  1. ^abTolkien 1955, Appendix A
  2. ^abTolkien 1937, ch. 1 "An Unexpected Party"
  3. ^Tolkien 1937, ch. 2 "Roast Mutton"
  4. ^Tolkien 1937, ch. 8 "Flies and Spiders"
  5. ^Tolkien 1937, ch. 6 "Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire"
  6. ^Tolkien 1937, ch. 9 "Barrels Out of Bond"
  7. ^Tolkien 1937, ch. 12 "Inside Information"
  8. ^abTolkien 1937, ch. 19 "The Last Stage"
  9. ^abTolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 2 "The Council of Elrond"
  10. ^Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 5 "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm"
  11. ^Carpenter 2023, #141 toAllen & Unwin, 9 October 1953
  12. ^Tolkien 1955, Appendix A, part 3, "Durin's Folk"

Secondary

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  1. ^abHolmes, John R. (2013) [2007]. "Art and Illustrations by Tolkien". InDrout, Michael D. C. (ed.).J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Abingdon, England:Routledge. pp. 27–32.ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
  2. ^abRateliff, John D. (2007).The History of the Hobbit: Part I. Mr. Baggins. Boston, New York:Houghton Mifflin. pp. 23–24.ISBN 978-0-618-96847-3.
  3. ^abShippey, Tom (2005) [1982].The Road to Middle-Earth (3rd ed.). New York City:HarperCollins. pp. 104,166–167.ISBN 978-0261102750.
  4. ^Riga, Frank P.; Thum, Maureen; Kollmann, Judith (2014)."From Children's Book to Epic Prequel: Peter Jackson's Transformation of Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'".Mythlore.32 (2): Article 8.
  5. ^"Don Messick". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved4 May 2020.
  6. ^Whitaker, Andrew (28 April 2014)."Scottish independence: Ken Stott backs "Yes"".The Scotsman. Retrieved19 August 2022.
  7. ^Sibley, Brian (2012).The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Official Movie Guide. Boston, Massachusetts:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 84–85, 134].ISBN 978-0-547-89930-5.
  8. ^"Victor Raider-Wexler".Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved21 May 2020.

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