It's damning with faint praise to say that the dwarves "are decent enough people [...] if you don't expect too much." But we're also interested in the line between duty and friendship here: the dwarves "would have done their best to get [Bilbo] out of trouble, if he got into it." They would do this for Bilbo out of a sense of duty, because he's their burglar and they "had brought him to do a nasty job for them." Do we get a sense that any of the dwarves feel personal loyalty towards Bilbo, above and beyond a feeling of duty? Do any of them like him? Is there a lot of emotional content in the friendships of this novel? How might the friendships between Bilbo and the dwarves contrast with those portrayed in The Lord of the Rings, say, between Legolas and Gimli, or Frodo and Sam, or even Pippin and Merry?

One of the things that strike us as funny about the dwarves is that they seem so much more human – flawed and imperfect – than the few named human characters in the novel, Bard among them. Even though they don't really seem to mean their grumbling against Bilbo, they're so confused about what to do next with Smaug that they turn on him anyway.

One of the reasons that Bilbo tries not to give his name to Smaug is for fear that the dragon will then use Bilbo's true name to enchant him. But Smaug's words still seem to have a dangerous magical quality to make Bilbo doubt himself and his companions. How trustworthy are Thorin & Co.? Do we see any indications (besides the twisted words of Smaug) that Bilbo might be right to be concerned? What does it say about the relationship between Bilbo and Thorin that Bilbo is capable of entertaining "a nasty suspicion" against the dwarves this late in the novel?