Who Is Bilbo Baggins A Hero

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Christopher Reeve, an American actor, once stated, “A hero is someone who has the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” The Hobbit, a heroic fantasy written by J. R. R. Tolkien in the setting of Middle Earth, tells of Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving, adventure-hating hobbit whom the wizard Gandalf impelled to accompany a party of dwarves in an enchanting expedition to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim the extravagant hoard of Thror from the dreadful clutches of the monstrous dragon Smaug. Although Bilbo began the journey reluctantly and often remembered with longing his homely hobbit hole, during his long journey eastward he faced many trials which tested his courage, wits, and resolve. Because of his exciting …show more content…
At the beginning of the book, when over a dozen dwarves invited themselves into his house, he remembered his manners and gave them whatever they wished, despite his enormous annoyance and anger. For “…he knew his duty and stuck to it no matter how painful…” (Tolkien, 9). This hospitality toward complete strangers was a chivalrous, praiseworthy action that is seldom seen today. Later, while escaping from the goblin caves, he stumbled off one of the dwarves’ back into the darkness. When he awoke, Bilbo found both a magical golden ring and its owner, a cowardly creep named Gollum, who luckily lost to him in a high-stakes game of riddles. When Gollum learned that Bilbo had taken his “precious,” he rushed at him, but the hobbit managed to slip it on, avoiding Gollum’s wide, glowing eyes. Pursuing the creature to the “back-door” of the Misty Mountains, Bilbo found Gollum blocking the entrance to the exit. “Bilbo almost stopped breathing, and went stiff himself. He was desperate. He must get away, out of this horrible darkness, while he had any strength left. He must fight. He must stab the foul thing, put out its eyes, kill it. It meant to kill him. No, not a fair fight. He was invisible now. Gollum had no sword. Gollum had not actually threatened to kill him, or tried it yet. And he was miserable, alone, lost. A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo’s …show more content…
Bilbo first lied to the dwarves. After crossing through the Misty Mountains, the dwarves were overjoyed at their reunion with Bilbo, whom they presumed dead or, at the very least, lost wandering in the complex maze of goblin tunnels, and congratulated him on his escape. “Indeed Bilbo was so pleased with their praise that he just chuckled inside and said nothing whatever about the ring; and when they asked him how he did it, he said: ‘Oh, just crept along, you know – very carefully and quietly’” (Tolkien, 87). Furthermore, when the captain of the Lake-town guards told Bilbo’s company to lay down their weapons, “Bilbo had his short sword, hidden as usual, but he said nothing about that” (Tolkien, 180). Nevertheless, Bilbo only lied for his own safety and welfare, and although he sinned through it, even the most righteous men have their faults, and thus Bilbo should not be disqualified from his status of hero because of these mistakes. Furthermore, some could consider Bilbo disloyal and that he betrayed the dwarves, since he gave the Arkenstone of Thrain to the Lake men and Mirkwood elves against Thorin’s wishes. But in order to posit Bilbo’s disloyalty based on this instance one must disregard all of the previous times when the hobbit risked his life to save theirs. Furthermore, loyalty to a
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