In-universe, is there any reason Gandalf considered the number thirteen to be unlucky?





.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}







0















In the first chapter of The Hobbit, Gandalf says this about choosing a hobbit for the fourteenth member of the party:




“Of course there is a mark,” said Gandalf. “I put it there myself. For
very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your
expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the
wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have
all the bad luck you like,
or go back to digging coal.”




Now, I know why thirteen is an unlucky number to somebody like Tolkien. But all of the reasons for that would have to do with real, Earth history, and to my knowledge none of it applies to Middle Earth.



Is there some in-universe reason Gandalf would consider thirteen to be inherently unlucky?










share|improve this question





























    0















    In the first chapter of The Hobbit, Gandalf says this about choosing a hobbit for the fourteenth member of the party:




    “Of course there is a mark,” said Gandalf. “I put it there myself. For
    very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your
    expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the
    wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have
    all the bad luck you like,
    or go back to digging coal.”




    Now, I know why thirteen is an unlucky number to somebody like Tolkien. But all of the reasons for that would have to do with real, Earth history, and to my knowledge none of it applies to Middle Earth.



    Is there some in-universe reason Gandalf would consider thirteen to be inherently unlucky?










    share|improve this question

























      0












      0








      0








      In the first chapter of The Hobbit, Gandalf says this about choosing a hobbit for the fourteenth member of the party:




      “Of course there is a mark,” said Gandalf. “I put it there myself. For
      very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your
      expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the
      wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have
      all the bad luck you like,
      or go back to digging coal.”




      Now, I know why thirteen is an unlucky number to somebody like Tolkien. But all of the reasons for that would have to do with real, Earth history, and to my knowledge none of it applies to Middle Earth.



      Is there some in-universe reason Gandalf would consider thirteen to be inherently unlucky?










      share|improve this question














      In the first chapter of The Hobbit, Gandalf says this about choosing a hobbit for the fourteenth member of the party:




      “Of course there is a mark,” said Gandalf. “I put it there myself. For
      very good reasons. You asked me to find the fourteenth man for your
      expedition, and I chose Mr. Baggins. Just let any one say I chose the
      wrong man or the wrong house, and you can stop at thirteen and have
      all the bad luck you like,
      or go back to digging coal.”




      Now, I know why thirteen is an unlucky number to somebody like Tolkien. But all of the reasons for that would have to do with real, Earth history, and to my knowledge none of it applies to Middle Earth.



      Is there some in-universe reason Gandalf would consider thirteen to be inherently unlucky?







      tolkiens-legendarium the-hobbit






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked 15 mins ago









      GGMGGGMG

      4,02932148




      4,02932148






















          0






          active

          oldest

          votes












          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "186"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });














          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f210949%2fin-universe-is-there-any-reason-gandalf-considered-the-number-thirteen-to-be-un%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          0






          active

          oldest

          votes








          0






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes
















          draft saved

          draft discarded




















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f210949%2fin-universe-is-there-any-reason-gandalf-considered-the-number-thirteen-to-be-un%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          How to label and detect the document text images

          Vallis Paradisi

          Tabula Rosettana