The Hobbit (Tolkien)

I think the thing that must seem most curious about this adventure to slay a dragon and
reclaim a homeland and its treasure, is how the hell could adding a burglar to this motley
crew be adding the decisive factor? What's the trick? For there must be one, since the
dragon has only gotten larger and more deadly as the years have gone by. Peter Jackson
changes things so that a burglar is needed because someone small and stealthy needs to
enter Smaugs lair to perhaps snatch one especially bright, one especially brilliant jewel
the Arkenstoneostensibly readily noticeable even given its being shrouded by lesser
delights. With that stone Thorin will earn control over seven kingdoms of dwarves, and
with their might the dragon would finally look to be overmatched. In the book, it
develops into a situation where, regarding the fighting and the killing the dragon, they
decide that a full frontal attack of just themselves is their best bet, even as they agree that
even the best armor hasn't a chance against Smaug.
I like to think that the one who recruited the hobbit Bilbo, the one who insisted on him
the wizard Gandalf, of coursehad an inkling that their only chance now was not to pit
themselves against Smaug's might but against his overwhelming personality. If to take
on a dragon you need a dragon, tremendous physical mightseveral armies, or a
singular hero of renownand you haven't any, then maybe it's best to match personas
put a Watson next to his Holmes, and see what compatibility might jostle your way. And
where do you find any such these days, people with considerable layers of self, of
personality, and yet alsoneeded to effectively play sidekick while the other luxuriates
as starhumility? Amongst those always at work or perpetually at war? No, this wears,
doesn't develop. In great kings? Maybe not evenfor Elrond is noble, strong,
wise, and kind, which makes him seem a great figurehead but not someone you can
safely invite over without taking over. Certainly not Thorin, for, for being important,
means this is all hes leant to doing, as if he had been allowed, he would have probably
gone on like this until he was out of breath, without telling any one there anything that
was not known already. Maybe not, interestingly, even Gandalffor you notice how he
can at times lose himself into becoming a phenomena, pure vengeance, not just when he
blinds a cave of goblins and wrenches off the king goblins head, but more so where
[t]he sudden splendour flashed from his wand like lightning, as he got ready to spring
down from on high right among the spears of the goblins. That would have been the end
of him, though he would probably have killed many of them as he as he came hurdling
down like a thunderbolt. You actually find them in places so far removed from the rest
of the world, they can, like Bilbo, exist undisturbed for fifty years in one place,
ruminating in their books, compounding their reading and daily encounters into their
compiling selves.
He may not appear to have a great tale yet to tell but as a frequent host hes already great
at conversing, great at managing all the emanations of the human so to properly register,
compliment and encourage rather than toil, try and discourage those hes talking with. In
my preferred reading of Gandalf the most important thing he did for Bilbos selfdevelopment wasnt so much his prompting his going out on an adventure as it was his
testing his already highly developed social skills with repeat doses of the unaccounted

for. (What happens when you have to accommodate something strange within the strides
of your conversation, Bilbo?) That is, his making a hash out of Bilbos initial greeting
his initial efforts to manage him by way of good morningsand, as well, his
subsequently besieging him with dwarves, in through the door. Confronted with a dragon,
hell be dealing with someone who loves conversation, riddles, and comfortably lounging
amidst acquired clutter as much as he does. But as much as he might find himself
surprised at how strangely accustomed he feels during his pinnacle heroic moment, its
still not going to be like sitting down for tea with the Brandybucks. Hes going to need to
adjust and expand his skills before he could possibly be ready.
The dwarves will serve as carapace, armor to get him through the wild. Itd be pointless
to explain to them how Bilbo is actually akin to Smaughes actually a what? a
dragon? and that's why he's useful? Smoking a bit too much Halfling weed there, are
thee, Gandalf?so Gandalf explains him in terms theyll get. Thus: I tried to find [a
hero]; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this
neighbourhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be found. Swords in these parts are
mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers; and
dragons are comfortably far-off (and therefore legendary). That is why I settled on
burglaryespecially when I remembered the existence of a Side-door. With that the
dwarves would look at small Bilbo, of a stealthy race, and it would look to appear good
common sense on behalf of the wizard. And so off on the trails, to business, before any of
them consider just how one even highly stealthy burglar could possibly help them reclaim
a kingdom of gold.
In my reading, Gandalf deliberately misleads Bilbo as well, convinces him that his
journey is to become more a Took, someone great not for knowing fifty years of comfort
but rather a lengthy spell of adventure. And hell become that, reclaim his heritage, when
he too can possess things beyond what hobbits could be expected to accommodate
themselves to, very much including the dispatching of fearsome beasts. This, after all, is
the enticement you offer anyone whos delighted himself on stories but whos been still
most of their lives. You besiege him as if all the faeries in the world hes rejoiced in
reading and hearing about would reject him if now, finally, after passing him by his whole
life, they dangled opportunity before him. You do this, even if the truth isas it looks to
be as soon as he steps outside, where they go far into the Lone-lands where there were
no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worsethat venturing outside the
supplying hearth can put you in sparser settings, with more barren people, that can as
much deplete as invigorate you, because, unfortunately, persuading him of the more
interesting truth, that for him to be all that he can be still means keeping rather more of
his Baggins self than it does his reclaiming his Took, is only something he might
understand after the journey was over, when the Took side has been found, denatured, and
ready for unromanticized reappraisal.
Needing to believe he'll only be useful a long ways off, it's appropriate that compared to
the horse-riding Bull-roarer Took he's been primed to hope to liken himself to, he starts
off on a very small pony, and that he isn't actually useful for some time. The first useful
thing he does demonstrates no ability on his part. It's pure luck that he finds a dropped

key that provides access to a provisioning troll hoard. The second is a backhanded
accomplishment: it's because he is too nervous to sleep well that he awakens to goblins
sneaking up on them in the dark, thereby keeping Gandalf safe from being caught. And
since his real talent is not in sneaking around but in agreeable conversationhowever
slippery and deceptive and sly he might prove thereinits appropriate that the first time
he makes an impression upon the dwarves is when hes elated out of having used a skill
hes actually very good at.
This is after his encounter with Gollum, of course, when he appears miraculously before
them just after being discounted as lost to them for good. But before getting to this, its
interesting to ask yourself how much more Bilbo distinguishes himself to us when he has
his chance to prove commendable in combat than he does when he does so in
conversation. Does being a warrior dispatching a large number of fiends really
demonstrate his worth as much as his matching wits with great named denizens of the
wild? In Mirkwood forest, he kills a lot of giant spidersa lot. Hes brutally efficient
with a sword and sublime with a sling (a proficiency, we note, the film steals from him to
emphasize in the wood elves). And it sure means a lot to him[s]omehow the killing of
the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the
dwarves or of anyone else, made a great deal to Bilbo. He felt a different person, and
much fiercer and bolder. But, well, of course it does, because hed been convinced that
maybe not ever having done what Bull-roarer had done meant hed been asleep all his
life. But its possible that however much it meant for him to go on the offence physically
with sling and sword, it may have been just his going on the offence which thrilleda
talent, an orientation, maybe not sufficiently exercised in all his duties as a good host
easing conflicts while quick with a re-supply of tea. But without that talent too, being
someone who knows how to calm agitation and thereby keep a conversation going, he
might never have manipulated Gollum into accepting that their interaction might be
bound by rules out of a gentleman's clubinvolving respect for fair playrather than the
gutters. A clever stratagem that however much it wasn't decisive in his besting Gollum,
did stretch out his encounter with him, giving him extended practice as a
conversationalist in a dangerous situation.
Gandalf couldn't have known Bilbo would meet Gollum, but he knew there was a good
chance that before his encountering Smaug he'd find himself alone with foes maybe with
enough to them that part of the engagement would involve dialogue and the bandying of
wits. Being a burglar and a scout to the company guaranteed as much, for he'd be the first
to encounter enemiesand Gandalf would know Bilbo would default to his true
familiarity and expertise every time an alien situation gave signal it would be amenable to
it. Indeed, he's out in the lead with the company's first encounter in the wild, their
tangling with the mountain trolls, Bert, Tom and William. He's not especially good here;
unlike the film, he isn't the one who strings out the conversation so that dawn claims
them all but rather only Gandalf solo who does so. However, he wretches himself out of
simply being caught out and bewildered to in fact converse with them, endeavoring a
stratagem, built out of what he's seen of them, that might have developed their encounter
in an unexpected and fortuitous wayspecifically, his offering to fill their gizzards in a
different way, as their cook.

He doesn't initiate the riddle game with Gollum, but he reads that Gollum's abilityafter
having seen Bilbo's swordto restrain himself means that he might be dealing with
someone who may not be simply fierce and hungry, so he certainly goes along with the
proposition. He blends courtesy in with slyness, giving Gollum the chance to go first and
thereby possibly stymieing Bilbo before he's had any chance to ask his own riddle,
presumably out of generosity or decorumthe person who proposes goes firstbut
really because he hadn't had time to think of a riddle. He's skillful to emphasize
elements of their game which make it less a terrible struggle than just good sport between
gamesmen. He teases Gollum, when he whispered and spluttered in frustration, that
[t]he answer's not a kettle boiling over, as you seem to think from the noise you're
making, which leads to Gollums actually pleading with him. He also restrains him
through reminding him of the allowance (of time) that had just been given him, [h]alf a
moment, I gave you a good long chance just now. There's not just a lot of back and
forthing but significant on the spot thinking involved. His life was on the line and he
managed his way past numerous moments of doubt and possible missteps to push the
thing to a finish in his favor, favorably prepping him for Smaug.
The riddle game is about withholding information, keeping secrets, releasing them only
when earned. Since it wasn't earned, Bilbo never tells Gollum what he had in his pockets.
Bilbo doesn't at first tell the dwarves nor Gandalf about the magical ring eithernot just
now, he ruminates. Gandalf espies that Bilbo may not have revealed everything about
how he escaped the goblins, but doesn't press him on it. I prefer to think he does this
because he realizes one of the things that makes Bilbo different is that he isn't one wholl
divulge before he's had a chance to process what he's learned or acquired that he knows
holds value, even as he himself might be inclined to do. There may not be much
significance to the fact that just after Bilbo chooses to withhold information we hear of
the wizard's eager willingness to disclose[t]he wizard, to tell the truth, never minded
explaining his cleverness more than oncebut then again, there might be and he
might well have been aware of it. At any rate, I like to think that Gandalf realized that
individuality, interestingness, doesn't come if you don't process the world to some extent
on your own, refusing to share if it means you hadn't given your experiences a chance to
ripen inside of you first. Bilbo had read a library of books, and you're kidding yourself if
you think that after every tale he didn't sit back and think about and argue with and
otherwise personally sift through what he'd been patiently engaging with, before
discussing what he had just read with a neighbor. If that had been the case, he wouldn't
have read in an armchair within a beloved reclusive study but outside amidst the
commons, where every second sentence could be recited for others' benefit and your
own broadcast, if he felt the urge. He would need to have depth to interest the grand,
learned Smaug. And mysterya taste of the bidding, withheld. And he would need to be
one with sufficient respect for and practice in withholding that even when pressed by a
hypnotic charmer like Smaug, he could keep baiting an aroused curiosity so that
something might innocently be learned.
Gandalf isn't there for Bilbo when he faces Smaug, something he might have known
could prove the case, despite his promise, for it not actually being his adventure. But

before he goes off he shows Bilbo a fair simulacrum of what his encounter with him
might involve, as if to say, this is pretty much what you're going to have to pull off.
Gandalf enters the abode of the great Beorn, a personage with a fierce temper but also a
healthy respect for good gamesmanship and well-told stories, and finesses him perfectly.
And Mr Baggins, in a way you never hear him in regards to the abundance of swordfighting or arrow-launching on his journeys, remarks on the skill, as if a fellow adept
admiring another versed in the trade: Mr Baggins saw how clever Gandalf had been. The
interruptions had really made Beorn more interested in the story, and the story had kept
him from sending the dwarves off at once like suspicious beggars.
With Gandalf gone Bilbo emerges as the company leader, and when he takes on Smaug
all of Gandalf's hopes for him are realized. Smaug, who'd only been pretend-sleeping,
tries to draw him out, but Bilbo refusesgraciously, with flattery. With this, with denial
cagily sweetened into a gift, Smaug realizes he's hardly dealing with some ass possessed
of a battle-axe, who could and should be dispatched just as soon as he could be tricked
into revealing himself, but someone smart enough to make it as if by doing so a host
would be shortchanged a good time with a genuinely intriguing guest. To let his thief
know this, that for awhile he'll be accorded, also, the role as a not-entirely-unwelcome
guest, he signals he's situated himself within a guest-host framework, where the rule is no
initiation of termination until interest wains. So he offers the like of lovely titles, but
lucky numbers don't always come off, and [t]hat's better. But don't let your imagination
run away from you, which overtly convey that hes genuinely interested in turning
something with potential into something finely honeda game.
Smaug wants him to continue not just to enable some entertainment but to find out more
about his intrusion as a thiefwhos behind him? whats the full intent?of course. But
for reasons of enjoyment, his keeping it also at this level means he's keeping things where
the odds even up between them and Bilbo knows not just how to pacify but by this
time well how to strike for the killing blow. Bilbo, with flare, had revealed all that enticed
about himhis being a mysterious barrel-rider, and so onand Smaug, in reply and
having fun, reveals all that bedazzles about his own grand self. His teeth, his claws but
unfortunately also, his impenetrable armor, which it turns out has got a piece missing,
uncared for because Smaug doesnt care a wit about mending. The movie shows this as
just dumb luck on the part of Bilbo, but the book has it that he was working his way to
just such a reveal to get further confirmation of something he thought he noticed the first
time he found himself before him. And proving the loser in this domain, Smaug is
rendered so that a single skillfully shot arrow can now end him. Bilbo got access to
information that would have made the expedition feasible as a military enterprise right
from the start.
So as I've said, I like to slightly alter the Gandalf in the book to imagine him as thinking
up a plausible way to take down a formidable dragon whod been lord of the mountain
long enough. I'm not sure I'm doing any alteration of him, though, to think that what he
had also hoped for was to accustom the world, maybe even significantly, to what a longterm denizen of a comfortable hole might offer itthat is, for a larger, even perhaps
ultimately more realm-saving purpose, as well. Part of what makes Bilbo special is that

no matter how much people talk to him about roles, the sad fate of who he is and of
whom he really ought to become, despite his adventures he never really lets go of who he
just intrinsically is from the start, which is someone fundamentally decent whose love of
his own well-provisioned life means he can extend consideration upon yours as well.
Bilbo isn't just good to people because he sees something for himself in it but because he
can put himself in other people's position and emphasize. This has him do things which
might look small, irrelevant to the quest, pointless, but in fact if they were well known
outside the Shire the wild would lose much of what is truly wicked about it and there'd be
less evil around to need questing against. I'm thinking of his noticing Gollum's being
alone, miserable, lost, and deciding therefore it not only inappropriate to simply
countenance him as foul but to think it just to stab him. And of how he decides to
return an elf-guard's keys so the guard wouldn't be blamed for their escape because hed
appreciated his having been fair to them, and could identity with his situation. And of
course, through his sundering them of the precious Arkenstone, of how he betrays his
friends by giving his enemies a hold on them, and thereby doing nothing less than
maybe preventing a war. The arrival of the goblin army means they wouldn't have warred
against each other anyway, but the significance is in the larger realm outside the Shire
being more accustomed to this kind of selfless and sophisticated way of reading a
situation and acting. It's in their noticing what he did here, not so much how clever (not
that it wasnt a bit) but how strong and good he had been here, letting himself be seen as
a traitor to his friends to have a chance to spare them their lives. Not a one of them would
have thought of that.
Before he dies, Thorin acknowledges he learned something new from Bilbo, something
significant enough that it ought fairly be carved as large onto mountains as any visage of
the ancients: There is more of good in you than you know, child of the kindly West.
Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and
cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. Maybe with messages
like this blazoned everywhere, those worn from the wild might fight their way to Bilbo's
comfortable hole in the ground, much more respectfully this time. There is, after all, in a
sense a pint-sized Smaug to be found there, only one whos greatest proficiency incurs
with a swill of tea rather than with a blast of fire. And who, rather than always render, can
build up and mend.