A Mistake? In LotR?

[Khadrane]

Okay, in The Hobbit there is a quote which says:

and Bilbo was wearing a dark-green hood (a little weather-stained) and a dark-green cloak borrowed from Balin.

And in FotR, it says that Bilbo takes a cloak and hood from his closet,

but they were so weather-stained that their original color could hardly be guessed: it might have been dark green.

When I first read this, I connected the two and thought to myself, "Wow! They're the same cloak. How neat." But, in a later reading of "The Hobbit" I found this quote.

He [Bilbo, of course] had lost hood, cloak food, pony,his buttons and his friends.

So, do you think that Tolkien actually meant the cloaks to be the same one and just forgot about that sentence in The Hobbit or what? I was just curious to see what other people thought of this.

[Mirahzi]

Was that last quote after the company was captured by the Wood-elves?

Perhaps, he retrieved his hood and cloak later, along with his dwarven companions.

[Khadrane]

Nope. The quote was right after he escaped the Misty Mountains and right before he was reunited with the dwarves.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally posted by Khadrane
Okay, in The Hobbit there is a quote which says:


And in FotR, it says that Bilbo takes a cloak and hood from his closet,


When I first read this, I connected the two and thought to myself, "Wow! They're the same cloak. How neat." But, in a later reading of "The Hobbit" I found this quote.


So, do you think that Tolkien actually meant the cloaks to be the same one and just forgot about that sentence in The Hobbit or what? I was just curious to see what other people thought of this.

I think Tolkien was describing an overall loss since the adventure began. I don't think he is saying that he lost everything at the time he was in the Misty Mountains or all at once. His buttons and dwarves were the last straw so to speak. He certianly didn't have the pony with him at that time. Once he emerged from the mountain, he could have recovered the cloak somewhere along the line.

[Coney]

Hmm it could be a mistake.

When Bilbo meets up with the Dwarfs he only bemoans that he has "lost all the buttons off his waistcoat".

Not like Tolkien to leave a question unanswered

[Shadowfax]

Originally posted by Khadrane
And in FotR, it says that Bilbo takes a cloak and hood from his closet,

quote:
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but they were so weather-stained that their original color could hardly be guessed: it might have been dark green.
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It might have been dark green. It might also have been dark blue, or purple, or brown, or dark red. He was basically saying that they didn't know what colour the cloak was.

[Khadrane]

Thanks for the ideas, people.

[Wayfarer]

Perhaps it was simply a dark green spare coat, and when he lost the first one, they gave him another.

I think that tolkien was trying to suggest that it was the same cloak bilbo had from his journeys.

[katya]

Well there are a couple possibilities. Maybe after he lost the first cloak he bought a new one and took it on any adventures afterward...or I don't know, i would need to look back, but maybe he had a spare or something that he lost. i dont think so though because after all, he didn't even have a handkerchief. right? I forgot...