The Hobbit -

[butterfly]

So, I'm re-reading the Hobbit for the first time in ages. I've only just started but I had to mention something - "...they [the Bagginses] never had any adventures or did anything unexpected." (on pg. 10 of The Annotated Hobbit) which is also said by Frodo in the Fellowship film. The Bagginses were quite well thought of before Bilbo went off adventuring and came back different.

And thinking too much about the differences in their 'adventures' may break my heart, so I will try not to.

Comments

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

What got me in my last re-read of The Hobbit is the extent to which Bilbo really is an adventurer by nature. He's into it; going out into the world makes me bigger and truer to himself. Whereas Frodo is not the same type at all. (And, of course, is faced with a much greater task.)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I know - they talk about his Tookish side taking over and such. He was half-Took and showed it.

Frodo was altogether a different sort, though also not of the typical hobbit type. Bilbo is more like Men, while Frodo is more like Elves.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: Bilbo: that's why I was so glad PJ gave him "I'm ready for another adventure" as his last sentence in RotK. It's so...Bilbo-ish.

And I do appreciate Frodo and Bilbo being different (though they have things in common) - otherwise Tolkien could just have well have used Bilbo for LotR, which would have, well, felt wrong. Incidentally, watching Frodo and Bilbo at the party in the FotR Extended Edition, when Bilbo is trying to tell Frodo he loves him and can't (being an English Hobbit and all), always chokes me up, as does the scene with the two of them on RotK. "I lost it", and Frodo leaning his cheek on Bilbo's.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It's so...Bilbo-ish.

Yes - Bilbo says at the beginning that Frodo has spirit, but it's a very different spirit than the kind Bilbo has. Actually, to use common definitions, I'd say that Bilbo has spirit and Frodo has soul. The difference between quicksilver and starlight.

They're sweethearts, both of them, though.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of Hobbit parallels Tolkien worked into the early chapters of LoTR. ("An Unexpected Party" vs. "A Long Expected Party")

What I thought was really neat are the differences between the First Edition and the later editions, where Tolkien had to go back and rewrite a certain scene in order to make it fit better into the world of the Silmarillion once he'd realized the direction his sequel was taking. And his nifty explanation that since Bilbo is the real author of The Hobbit, and that he's just the translator making a change for accuracy's sake.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've got the Annotated version and they point all that stuff out, which is nice and convenient-like.

Very cool. I'm really enjoying rereading it.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Annotated Hobbit....we wantsss it, we wantsss it!

moi

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

And now we haves (haveses?) it! Wow, what a lovely edition. I especially like the color plates of Tolkien's watercolors.

moi

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It is nice. I almost wish I'd bought it instead of librarying it.