JRR Tolkien is possibly the pinnacle of British Literature (competing for the spot with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and JK Rowling). Of all his stories of Middle Earth, The Hobbit is arguable the best of the lot. While the epic battle scenes and such are wonderful to read, my favorite element of the book has to be the character development of Bilbo. The portly hobbit begins the book as a timid creature incapable of doing anything that strayed outside the Shire's cultural norms, and -- through a series of events involving trolls, a pack (horde, swarm, pod, gaggle, whatever) of giant spiders, an army of wood elves, and a twenty-ton dragon (none of which should be attempted at home)-- becomes a steel-spined, adventure loving master of the One Ring. Definitely one of the better tales floating about in the world.
I did actually have a story question to bring up and it actually has to do with what I already posted (see below). In the beginning of the story, Gandalf predicts to Thorin that, given enough time, the dwarves will begin to respect Bilbo as a key member of the group. That prediction came true only after A) Bilbo obtained an immensely powerful ring, and B) Gandalf leaves the group to fend for themselves.
Both of these events contributed towards Bilbo's rise in the group. The ring gave him power and Gandalf's departure forced the dwarves to rely on Bilbo more because they didn't have a wizard to solve all their problems for them.
My question is basically this: Would Bilbo have become as valuable to the dwarves if neither of these things had happened?
Excellent question. From a creative writing standpoint, the author is creating a situation with foreshadowing...from a Christian Worldview standpoint, it seems one has to ask the question "is Gandalf just using educated guessing, or is he somehow outside of time and able to see the future" which of course forces the discussion of the book into the realm of biblical allegory, which is a longer discussion than we have time for here...
JRR Tolkien is possibly the pinnacle of British Literature (competing for the spot with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and JK Rowling). Of all his stories of Middle Earth, The Hobbit is arguable the best of the lot. While the epic battle scenes and such are wonderful to read, my favorite element of the book has to be the character development of Bilbo. The portly hobbit begins the book as a timid creature incapable of doing anything that strayed outside the Shire's cultural norms, and -- through a series of events involving trolls, a pack (horde, swarm, pod, gaggle, whatever) of giant spiders, an army of wood elves, and a twenty-ton dragon (none of which should be attempted at home)-- becomes a steel-spined, adventure loving master of the One Ring. Definitely one of the better tales floating about in the world.
ReplyDeleteI did actually have a story question to bring up and it actually has to do with what I already posted (see below). In the beginning of the story, Gandalf predicts to Thorin that, given enough time, the dwarves will begin to respect Bilbo as a key member of the group. That prediction came true only after A) Bilbo obtained an immensely powerful ring, and B) Gandalf leaves the group to fend for themselves.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these events contributed towards Bilbo's rise in the group. The ring gave him power and Gandalf's departure forced the dwarves to rely on Bilbo more because they didn't have a wizard to solve all their problems for them.
My question is basically this: Would Bilbo have become as valuable to the dwarves if neither of these things had happened?
Excellent question. From a creative writing standpoint, the author is creating a situation with foreshadowing...from a Christian Worldview standpoint, it seems one has to ask the question "is Gandalf just using educated guessing, or is he somehow outside of time and able to see the future" which of course forces the discussion of the book into the realm of biblical allegory, which is a longer discussion than we have time for here...
Delete