Quest of Erebor

The Quest of Erebor was the expedition undertaken in the year 2941 of the Third Age by Thorin Oakenshield and his company of Dwarves, together with the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and the wizard Gandalf, to reclaim the Lonely Mountain of Erebor and its treasure from the dragon Smaug. It is the central adventure recounted in the tale of Bilbo's journey, and though it seemed a thing apart from the great wars of the world, it proved of deep importance to the later War of the Ring.

Background

Long before, the Dwarf-kingdom under the Mountain had been a place of great wealth, until the dragon Smaug descended upon it, slew or drove out its people, and seized its hoard. Thorin Oakenshield, grandson of the last King under the Mountain, long nursed the desire to reclaim his home and his birthright. The wizard Gandalf, for reasons of his own, urged the venture and contrived to bring Bilbo into the company as a burglar -- foreseeing, perhaps, that a dragon left to himself might one day become a fearsome weapon in the hand of the rising Enemy.

The Journey

Thorin's company of thirteen Dwarves, with Bilbo and Gandalf, set out from the West and made the long and perilous journey east. Along the way they survived trolls, were taken by goblins in the Misty Mountains, and passed through Mirkwood. It was beneath the Misty Mountains, lost in the dark, that Bilbo came upon Gollum and found by chance a golden ring -- the One Ring itself, though none then knew it -- which granted invisibility and would shape the fate of the world.

Reaching the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo crept into Smaug's lair, conversed with the dragon, and discovered the bare patch in his armored hide. Roused to wrath, Smaug flew to destroy the nearby town of men, Lake-town, and there he was slain by the archer Bard with a black arrow loosed at that very weakness.

The Battle of Five Armies

With the dragon dead and the treasure unguarded, rival claims to the hoard -- of Dwarves, Men of Lake-town, and Elves of Mirkwood -- nearly came to war among them. But the sudden onslaught of goblins and wargs out of the mountains forced the quarreling peoples into alliance, and together with the Eagles and Beorn they fought the Battle of Five Armies, in which Thorin fell but the enemy was defeated.

Significance

The Quest of Erebor restored the Dwarf-kingdom under the Mountain and removed Smaug, who might otherwise have served Sauron in the wars to come. Above all, it brought the One Ring out of the dark and into the keeping of the Shire, setting in motion the events of the War of the Ring. It took place in the same fateful year the White Council drove Sauron from Dol Guldur.