Dispute of the dwarves of Erebor and Thranduil
In the movie The Hobbit, Thranduil and the dwarves had a conflict because Thranduil was upset of the dwarf’s greed and the dwarves didn’t return the White Gems of Lasgalen that Thranduil failed to retrieve.
Thranduil had a dispute with the dwarves of Erebor over the compensation of making the White Gems of Lasgalen.
Thorin Oakenshield had distrust and grudge against the elves because the elves didn’t help Erebor during the attack of Smaug.
However, the White Gems of Lasgalen never appeared in the original stories of the novel The Hobbit and the dwarves and elves especially the Silvan elves and the Sindarin elves had a long history of grudge.
Also, Thranduil didn’t have much to do with the attack of Smaug nor did the elves have any alliances or agreements to protect Erebor in the original novel.
The elf army and dwarf army would collide just because Thorin Oakenshield mistaken the elves invading Erebor that they’ve just reclaimed from Smaug in the novel.
Motif and Inspiration of Thranduil
The White Gems of Lasgalen and the dispute of the compensation between the elves and dwarves, the closed-door policy of the Realm of the Woodland elves of Mirkwood and other characteristics of Thranduil came from Thingol of Doriath.
Although the strict closed-door policy of the Woodland Realm and White Gems of Lasgalen were only featured in the movie, J.R.R Tolkien himself revealed that Thranduil had many similarities with Thingol of Doriath.
The movie’s limited tales of the White Gems of Lasgalen and the dispute that Thranduil had with the dwarves is a direct reference of Thingol’s dispute with the Nogord dwarves over the Silmaril and the Nauglamir.
Also, the Sindarin elf kingdom Doriath was a very isolated elf country during the Silmarillion tales of the first age.
Thus, Thranduil was a character that shared many similarities with Thingol of the first age and both were considered parallel characters as well.
Why dwarves and elves despise each other in the Legendarium
The dispute between the dwarves and the elves itself also originates from the conflict of Thingol and the dwarves of Nogord over the Silmaril and the Nauglamir.
During the first age, Thingol became obsessed with the magic of the Silmaril and decided to engrave a Silmaril onto the Nauglamir which was a treasure that descended from the Realm of Nargothrond.
The dwarves forged the Nauglamir for the elf lord of Nargothrond Finrod, however after Nargothrond perished, the Nauglamir ended up in Thingol’s hands. Thingol requested the dwarves of Nogrod to combine the Nagulamir and the Silmaril.
However, the temptation of the Silmaril also caught the dwarves and the dwarves started to covet the Silmaril crafted on the Nauglamir.
The dwarves refused to return the Nauglamir with the Silmaril claiming that the Nauglamir was their possession as their ancestors had forged it.
Thingol was furious and refused to pay the dwarves for their work where the dwarves murdered Thingol in fury. The dwarves would run away with the Nauglamir and the Silmaril, however the elves of Doriath avenged their king.
The few surviving dwarves would spread exaggerated rumors that Thingol attacked them without compensating for their work while the elves were furious of the dwarf’s murder of Thingol.
This led to the long-lasting dispute, grudge and hatred between the dwarves and the Sindarin and Silvan elves.
However, the dwarves maintained great respect with the Noldor elves as they both shared knowledge in craftsmanship and the Noldor elves were independent from the Sindarin elves.
Thingol was the king of the Sindarin elves so the Sindarin elves such as Thranduil and the Silvan elves or the wood elves that they ruled had great grudge against the dwarves.
Arkenstone
In the novel, Thrain 1st the founder of Erebor found the Arkenstone and called it the Heart of the Lonely Mountain and the Arkenstone would become an heirloom and proof of the king of the Lonely Mountains of Erebor.
In the movie adaption, Thror is described as the discoverer of the Arkenstone and the elves would also gaze and covet the Arkenstone. However, although Arkenstone was surely a beautiful masterpiece, the elves didn’t covet the Arkenstone in the novel.
Also the Arkenstone didn’t possess the dragon’s curse nor any kind of magic in the novel while The Hobbit movie series depict that the Arkenstone had a curse.
However, in both the novel and the movie, Bilbo Baggins would steal the Arkenstone and hand it over to Bard and Thranduil so they could negotiate terms with Thorin Oakenshield and Thorin Oakenshield would exile Bilbo Baggins.
Bree
Bree was a town that was east from the Shire and west of the Weathertop(Amon Sul) towers where men and hobbits coexisted. During Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn under the name Strider would meet with the hobbits including Frodo Baggins at an inn located at Bree.
In The Hobbit movie series, Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield would meet for the first time at an inn in Bree where Thorin would be threatened by bounty hunters that noticed Thorin’s bounty held by Azog.
In the novel, Azog was already dead while Gandalf and Thorin didn’t meet at an inn but rather met in Thorin’s halls at Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains where the dwarves resided during their exile from Erebor.
Why did Gandalf convince Thorin to slay Smaug
The Hobbit movie series refers to a long prophecy of the return of the dwarf king under the Mountains, however in the novel, there wasn’t such a prophecy and this prophecy was a film adapted story.
The mines of Ered Luin(Blue Mountains) weren’t as prosperous as the mines of Erebor nor were they able to satisfy the desire the dwarves.
Thorin Oakenshield always longed to return to Erebor where Gandalf offered to aid his quest. In the movie, Gandalf, on the other hand was concerned about the return of Sauron and wanted to remove the largest threat of Middle Earth Smaug as soon as possible.
Thus, he offered to aid Thorin’s return as king of Erebor whie Thorin in return would remove the dragon Smaug.
In the novel, Gandalf has already confirmed the return of Sauron at Dol Guldur at this time point. Gandalf was concerned about the alliance of Sauron and the dragon Smaug and hurried to take out Smaug so he would convince Thorin Oakenshield to take over Erebor and slay the dragon.
