When Smaug attacked the dwarves' kingdom in the Lonely Mountain to settle down there, why was the Arkenstone left? It seems to be this item which makes the owner king of all dwarves, so why did they not take it with them, wherever they would go?
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14They ran out in a hurry.– ValorumCommented Feb 27, 2021 at 22:24
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9@Valorum: They picked up the wrong handbag.– einpoklumCommented Feb 28, 2021 at 13:38
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2 Answers
The prologue of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" movie shows king Thror running to his throne to retrieve the Arkenstone as soon as Smaug arrives at the doors of Erebor.
He manages to get it, but while he tries to escape he runs into the dragon, swimming into the pile of gold of the treasure, and falls. He loses hold of the gem, which tumbles among all the gold items.
Thror still moves to catch it again, despite the menace of the dragon and the sheer impossibility to find it, a needle in a haystack. Thorin arrives and grabs him, forcing him to escape and run away.
So, apart from the role of the Arkenstone as a claim of kingship, Thror did all he could (and probably more than he should have done) not to leave it behind.
(the video is from the extended version of the movie, but I think it was present in the theatrical version too)
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This fits into the movie surrounding, in wich the question occured. Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 16:01
Possession of the Arkenstone had nothing to do with Thror's status as king of the Longbeards, the most senior line of the dwarven kings. Nonetheless, I am fairly confident that, had the King Under the Mountain been able to get away with the Arkenstone, he would have. The ultimate reason that Thror did not take the gem with him was he and his son Thrain only barely escaped from Smaug's attack. As Thorin (who only survived because he was outside of the Lonely Mountain at the time of the attack) tells it:
The few of us that were well outside sat and wept in hiding, and cursed Smaug; and there we were unexpectedly joined by my father and my grandfather with singed beards. They looked very grim but they said very little. When I asked how they had got away, they told me to hold my tongue, and said that one day in the proper time I should know.
Thror and Thrain only just made it out of Erebor, with Smaug's heat being enough to burn their beards. The most logical conclusion was that they did not have time to take anything with them once they realized the futility of their position; they just made a dash for the secret door in the lower halls.
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3Then the movie is missleading, because there the stone is multiple times spoken about as the sign of the official king. Gandalf even explain the plan (in beginning of the second part) in this order: get the stone and then "apply to be king" Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 8:58
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5@Allerleirauh - Movies need to change things in the original book to allow audiences to understand motivation and to create drama.– ValorumCommented Feb 28, 2021 at 13:18
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8@Allerleirauh: "Then the movie is missleading..." You mean you've only just figured this out?– jamesqfCommented Feb 28, 2021 at 18:16
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5@Allerleirauh adding to what Valorum said, the 2012-2014 Hobbit movies are an exceedingly good example of changing or adding things to create drama. The book itself is nowhere near long enough to warrant a trilogy, and they actually had to add large amounts of content to the movies that was not in the book to stretch them out so they could actually fill out a full trilogy Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 18:27
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3Not least that the movie shows everyone running out the front gate together, including Thror. Commented Mar 2, 2021 at 5:42