Title: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again Author: J. R. R. Tolkien Publisher: Harper Collins Date of Publication: 21 September 1937 Pages: 351 pages
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Chapter I: An Unexpected Party
As a self-proclaimed fantasy nerd, naturally The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and everything related to Middle Earth deserves to place the top spot in my bookshelves. And along with the news that the adaptation to Silmarillion is going to be released as a TV show anytime soon, I felt the need to revisit the best fantasy world there ever is.
Meet Bilbo Bagins, your typical Hobbit. He loved living a relaxed life and eating good food. If there is ever any job that Hobbits love, it's gardening and farming. These people, whose appearance often fool people into thinking they're children, but with hairy feet, are peaceful and shy. They never want to venture outside of whichever corner of Middle Earth they inhabit -- well, maybe except the adventurous Tooks. And our main character who lived in The Shire, Hobbiton.
When the story begins, Bilbo was sitting on his front porch and smoking pipe when suddenly a wizard who often came to visit The Shire, Gandalf the Grey, appeared and joined him smoking. They talked for awhile, until suddenly Gandalf came up with a proposition: what if Bilbo joined a gorup of twelve Dwarves, led by one Thorin Oakenshield, to reclaim their kingdom, Erebor, in the Lonely Mountain? Said Thorin was the heir to the throne. Years ago, the great dragon Smaug had invaded the Lonely Mountain and taken Erebor along with its treasures. With Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Gloin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur, also Gandalf, they were ready to retake their home -- that is, until Gandalf convinced them that they needed one more member: a burglar.
Of course Bilbo was to be the burglar. Remember when I told you how chillaxing the lives of these Hobbitses? Bilbo was just like that. Upon hearing an offer of a dangerous, most likely deadly, adventure, he rejected. Why do so when he could sleep warmly in his bed and eat good food? Thing is, and Tolkien put a certain highlight to this, that Bilbo was actually a Took from his maternal side. So eventhough he rejected Gandalf's offer, a part of him was interested. And Gandalf knew of his Took potential.
So when Bilbo invited him for tea that evening, Gandalf made the most of his chance. Thorin & Company came instead (he followed soon after) and they discussed the plans for their adventures. It was quite a funny episode seeing this group of loud and raucous Dwarves filling the entirety of Bilbo's dining room and asking him for more and more food and drinks. Not to mention Bilbo, who was torn on being pissed and telling them off, or being a good host.
Long story short, Bilbo joined Thorin & Company and the adventure began. ;)
EGGLYSIS
Yess, Bilbo is my spirit animal.
Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a bedtime story for his son, so no wonder the plot is so simple. And having Bilbo as our third-person POV is brilliant. Why? Because when all of these Middle-Earth drama occuring around him, all Bilbo could think about was how much he missed eating warm soup and bread in his dining room, or sleep in his comfortable bed, or even of his missing handkerchief. Even when the final batte was happening, Bilbo was conveniently knocked out by a random rock and only woke up once everything was over. :D
This is what's missing from the movie adaptation, because for some reason the producers wanted The Hobbit to become an epic movie series, much like its predecessors, LotR, that gained huge commercial and critical success worldwide. Ohwell. Studios.
If I have kids, The Hobbit will be their bedtime story. :)
Overall, The Hobbit...
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