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22In the real world, people were navigating for thousands of years before the development of the magnetic compass. From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_compass "The history of the compass started more than 2000 years ago during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). [...] The first usage of a compass in Western Europe was recorded in around 1190 and in the Islamic world 1232".– PM 2RingCommented Jan 4, 2023 at 15:28
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10A while ago I was with several New Zealanders, all keen trampers, who mentioned being disoriented the first time they visited the Northern Hemisphere; they unconsciously expected the Sun to be to the North. Even though Thorin's company spent a lot of time underground, they would be used to walking from one community to another (I don't think that Eagle Air offered a commercial service), so they'd have a good sense of direction.– Simon CraseCommented Jan 4, 2023 at 20:17
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10Compasses were considered useful because magnetic north is close enough to the direction already accepted as north.– chepnerCommented Jan 4, 2023 at 22:51
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1South is the direction that feels like going downhill.– ZaynCommented Jan 5, 2023 at 16:50
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2True; I should have said compasses would just have been marked differently. Magnetic north is called as such because it is close enough to north. (If it weren't, the direction the arrow points would just have been given a name suitable to the existing terminology.)– chepnerCommented Jan 6, 2023 at 17:20
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