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daedel wrote:Hi all tor fellas,

Is there any estimated date for the release of the printed version of Erebor? I've got the PDF since July but no news about the book.

Suspect we'll get it before Christmas but we don't have an exact date yet.

Hardcover edition arrived in the post today (along with AiME).

Well, look at that. The Shire post seems restored (or recovered) after its month long abeyance following The Birthday. Journeys & Maps arrived in the States as well.

Yep, appearing in the UK too (along with the AIME Players Guide)

Thank you C7!

Question about Bifur: Bifur is described as "the son of a smith from the Iron Hills and a far-travelled Dwarf, who has seen much of the North and the West."

How does it track that Bifur (or any of the companions of Thorin Oakenshield) could be from the Iron Hills? Neither Gandalf nor the members of the company knew about the condition of the Old Forest Road through Mirkwood or the marshes that had engulfed the eastern end of the Road. Surely a Dwarf of the Iron Hills would have been aware of the current difficulties of travel in Rhovanion and would have passed that information on to Thorin and the others. Bifur really should be from the Blue Mountains like his cousins Bofur and Bombur.

If Bifur's father is from the Iron Hills and Bifur has traveled a lot, it doesn't necessarily follow that Bifur must have spent any recent years prior to the quest in the Iron Hills or even Wilderland. He may have come from the Iron Hills long years ago, but has spent decades in Eriador (and maybe also Dunland).

Stormcrow wrote:If Bifur's father is from the Iron Hills and Bifur has traveled a lot, it doesn't necessarily follow that Bifur must have spent any recent years prior to the quest in the Iron Hills or even Wilderland. He may have come from the Iron Hills long years ago, but has spent decades in Eriador (and maybe also Dunland).

That's certainly possible. I have constructed one such scenario that would accommodate Bifur's entry in the Erebor book:

The father of the Bifur was one of the Dwarves who answered the call to arms following the murder of Thrór by the Orc Azog. As a result of the mustering of the Seven Houses of the Dwarves the smith encountered many Naugrim from other lands, including the daughter of a Blue Mountain Dwarf, perhaps a skilled healer, who accompanied her father to lend her support to the war effort.

The smith from the Iron Hills and the daughter of the Blue Mountains fell in love and soon married, producing a single son they named Bifur. The smith perished in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs; his widow took her son and returned to her folk in the Ered Luin and eventually became an aunt to the Dwarves Bofur and Bombur.

Tolkien himself noted that Bifur, Bofur and Bombur were descended from the Dwarves of Moria although they were not of the line of Durin. Many of the Naugrim from the Blue Mountains migrated to Khazad-dûm after the ruination of the cities of Belegost and Nogrod; also, it was Grór, grandfather of Dáin Ironfoot, who founded the colony in the Iron Hills after Durin's Bane drove the Dwarves out of Moria.

Regarding Bifur, I would agree that the most obvious interpretation is that Bifur's father was from the Iron Hills; there's no particular reason to suppose Bifur himself ever lived there.

Bifur was certainly no more than a small child when Smaug sacked Erebor, and was probably not even born yet.* It's perfectly possible that his father was living in Erebor at the time and accompanied Thorin and family to Dunland and the Blue Mountains. Maybe that's how Bifur became involved in the Quest of Erebor in the first place; his father had been a loyal companion to Thror, Thrain and Thorin in their exile, and thus Thorin knew and trusted Bifur from his childhood.

Otaku-sempai's idea works well, too!


* Balin was born in 2763 and was the eldest of the company apart from Thorin. Therefore Bifur must have been born in 2763 or later, and Smaug sacked Erebor in 2770, making him 7 at most. The Erebor book describes him as "middle-aged" in 2946, but it's unclear what that means for a Dwarf. Balin is 183 and is described as "aging" so I'd say Bifur is likely to be no more than about 150. In that case he would have been born in Dunland or the Blue Mountains.

And hooray! My copy arrived today.

It's lovely. So much nicer to have an actual physical book than just a PDF. And now I see the Adventurer's Companion is up for preorder too. Pity I'm not running TOR at the moment; hopefully I will again soonish...

Rich H wrote:Suspect we'll get it before Christmas but we don't have an exact date yet.

Pah! What do you know! I got it the day *after* you posted this comment!