Tja, svaret beror på om du tittar på böckerna / filmerna.
Film: Jag skulle anta att Thorins ansikte skulle ha präglats på Dwarven-guld, vilket oundvikligen skulle ha fallit i Goblin-händer också. Möjligen skulle den stora goblin ha känt till företagets passage genom High Pass och antog därför att dessa var de dvärgar han letade efter.
Bok: Att citera Hobbit:
"Thorin the dwarf at your service!" he replied-it was merely a polite nothing. "Of the things which you suspect and imagine we had no idea at all. We sheltered from a storm in what seemed a convenient cave and unused; nothing was further from our thoughts than inconveniencing goblins in any way whatever." That was true enough! "Urn!" said the Great Goblin. "So you say! Might I ask what you were doing up in the mountains at all, and where you were coming from, and where you were going to? In fact I should like to know all about you. Not that it will do you much good, Thorin Oakenshield, I know too much about your folk already; but let's have the truth, or I will prepare something particularly uncomfortable for you!"
Thorin identifierar sig själv, inte tvärtom.