Chapter I : An Unexpected Party

I have the feeling that I’ve read this first chapter of The Hobbit more than anything else by Tolkien. I’m not sure if this is actually the case, or if I have that perception because it contains such strong imagery. We get a very clear idea of what a hobbit is, what living under The Hill is like, and the type of simple and somewhat closed-minded society they maintain. 

I had forgotten that Bilbo was part Took, and I love the idea of Old Took and his wily ways. It’s interesting to me that such an adventurous and unpredictable hobbit would rule over them. Are the quiet hobbits of under The Hill the norm? Or are they a fringe offshoot of settlers escaping ? 

Tolkien’s tone is playful, yet contains that sort of mock austerity that marks it as a story written with children in mind. I’m an auditory person anyway, but it strikes me that I would much rather listen to this chapter than read it. Perhaps it’s entirely a personal thing, but I find that I absorb this chapter much better when I can “hear” the words in my head, rather than simply absorbing them through my eyes. 

It’s a very funny chapter. Bilbo is such a prim and proper guy at the beginning and he’s essentially gaslighted by the dwarves and Gandalf into being an excellent host and joining their quest. Gandalf is the brains behind that particular process since the dwarves admit that they would have thought they were in the wrong house except for the symbol that Gandalf placed on the door. All of their assertions of adventure and Bilbo’s complicity before it’s begun – not to mention their abuse of his larder – combine to the point that Bilbo has a mental breakdown. Once he recovers, he’s basically in for the ride. 

We get the first mention of Sauron as “The Necromancer” while Gandalf is explaining how Thror’s map came into his possession. We learn a lot about everyone in those passages; That Gandalf has great knowledge and experience which he doles out only as he sees fit; That the dwarves do not necessarily consider their ability to vanquish a foe as a prerequisite for seeking vengeance; And that The Necromancer and his rings of power are supposedly a very distant and unrelated conflict to the one at hand. Although Bilbo clearly knows something about The Necromancer and his evils, I appreciate that the foreshadowing of Sauron’s impact on the story is somewhat understated at this point. The Ring which we all know Bilbo will find – the one that leads to everything else in this series – is not even a consideration in the set up of this story. 

For me, that reflects a big theme of the larger story and series – unexpectedly big things can come in small, unassuming packages.

Chapter II : Roast Mutton

When reading this chapter I remembered that as a kid, I had The Hobbit game for The Gameboy Advance. I rarely made it past all of the woods in the Lone Lands, but I vaguely remember reaching the part with the Trolls. 

The Trolls are funny to me, probably most of all because they have such normal human-sounding names compared to all of the other characters introduced up to that point. Tom, Bill, and Bert? This is obviously a very conscious choice. The little episode with the trolls is wrapped up so nicely, it almost reads as if it is a completely stand-alone tale – and I wonder if perhaps it was written that way in some draft. 

Thorin seems much smarter and more capable than the rest of the dwarves. I would think that members of the party would be suspicious of a potential ambush after… I don’t know, half of them didn’t return from checking on Bilbo. It’s wild to me that all of them were caught before Thorin at least took a chunk of the Trolls with him as he went down. 

This is the first time we see an example of the “regular magic” that hobbits possess in Bilbo’s ability to sneak around silently. Bilbo is a daredevil – it’s funny that this is his first real adventure considering that when he creeps up on the trolls, he chooses to fuck with them instead of informing his friends. At the same time, he is clearly unused to lying and nearly reveals the existence of the dwarves as soon as the trolls capture him. I suppose in a world where the only subterfuge in which you engage is one of a passive aggressive nature about social politeness, being presented with a real reason to lie might catch one off-guard. In summation: Bilbo is the wild card of the group. He likes to pretend that he’s much too proper for all of that, but it’s just because he’s a gremlin. I think this pull towards the darker choices is likely a great introduction to the allure of The Ring. But what do I know about that at this point? 

For being a bit of an agent of Deus Ex Machina, I’m thankful that Gandalf still chooses to defeat the trolls through their own stupidity. Gandalf’s powers are unlisted and undefined, but he is clearly powerful. It is likely he could have confronted the trolls directly, but it’s much more entertaining to read about his cunning. 

Final Thought: Roast Mutton sounds awesome and the trolls are lucky to have that much! 

Chapter III : A Short Rest

First, I like how Tolkien starts this chapter by noting how biased storytelling is towards hardship and that there is not much to tell about good times. I think this is very true, especially in the way our modern media handles narrative – as my boss says, “if it bleeds, it leads.” Both as a person and as someone who works in community media, it can be such a challenge to find real coverage of non-tragic realities that people are living everyday. In and of themselves, individual stories are not a problem – every tragedy needs to be told. But in our current moment of non-stop news cycles, we’ve sort of exceeded the amount of information that is “helpful” and have totally tumbled down into “obsession” – and it doesn’t help that so many of these tragedies end up being publicized through an outsider’s narrative, rather than the people at the core of it. ANY WAY, back to the story: 

Oh lordy, these elves. Gone are the stoic and solemn elves of the Lord of the Rings. Imagining Hugo Weaving chattering and singing the way these elves do is a great laugh. Honestly, the behavior reminds me of how the Fellowship Hobbits act – mischievous and jolly. 

A nice little break from the trip, but not for long of course. 

Chapter IV : Overhill and Underhill

I’m sad every time they lose one of the ponies. It literally makes me quite melancholy whenever I remember that they don’t have their cute ponies anymore. 

The Goblins are interesting. I suppose it’s not really supposed to be fleshed out in this children’s story, but I would love more information about what initially caused the issues between goblins and everyone else. 

Chapter V : Riddles in the Dark 

I love this chapter. I think that Gollum is a uniquely described character, not only in the content of the passages but also the depth to which we understand his situation. Other than Bilbo, I feel we receive the greatest amount of insight to Gollum’s inner workings of anyone we’ve met so far. And what a fright it is. 

I feel really bad for Gollum – I do not like that Bilbo decides to trick him when he misunderstands the final “riddle.” He’s such a pitiful creature, while also terrifying in his desperation and singular focus on the ring. 

I think it’s awesome how understated the ring is in this scene. Bilbo just scrapes past it and grabs it without thinking and that’s it – his fate is sealed. I think it’s a great indication that the true power of the ring wasn’t fully understood by Tolkien when he wrote it. And continues this lovely “big things and small packages” theme we’ve already seen. 

What are your thoughts?