A Long-Expected Party
"A Long Expected Party" parallels "The Unexpected Party" which was the first chapter of The Hobbit. It is also an "in joke" for those who waited 17 years for the sequel to The Hobbit.
"A great smoke went up. It shaped itself like a mountain seen in the distance, and began to glow at the summit. It spouted green and scarlet flames. Out flew a red-golden dragon--not life-size, but terribly life-like: fire came from his jaws, his eyes glared down; there was a roar, and he wizzed three times over the heads of the crowd. They all ducked, and many fell flat on their faces. The dragon passed like an express train, turned a somersault, and burst over Bywater with a defeating explosion" (49)
This is another tribute to The Hobbit and Bilbo's adventures with Smaug. It also preludes Gandalf's addition to Bilbo's vanishing trick after the Speech.
"As he stepped down he slipped it on his finger, and he was never seen by any hobbit in Hobbiton again" (53).
Tolkien often makes predictions; this could be read as a dire prediction for Bilbo, but the important phrase here is "in Hobbiton." He was seen again, but he never went back to the Shire. Tolkien uses predictions which do come true as one way to make us feel comfortable in Middleearth, and to suggest that there is a plan which is being carried out by the events of the story.
"It has got far too much hold on you. Let it go! And then you can go yourself, and be free" (56).
This exchange between Bilbo and Gandalf is the first hint of the power of the Ring. It becomes important that Bilbo did voluntarily give up the Ring, and that Frodo came by it without deceit or trickery and without force. We also get the first indication that the Ring can change one's perspective about others; Gandalf seems to grow more menacing and then to shrink back to an old man.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say. (58)
This poem/song is a metaphor for the entire story: as soon as Frodo leaves his door at Bag End, he is on the path that will lead to Mordor. In one version the lines read "weary feet" instead of "eager feet." The "larger way" is Rivendell, where the destinies of many are intertwined.
