Hello reader, it’s been a while, but I’m back.
In the first part of this post, I looked at chapter 2 of The Hobbit, “Roast Mutton”, and how it showed Bilbo’s uneasy and uncomfortable battle between Baggins and Took progressing. Granted this struggle is evident throughout the story, but I feel that these two chapters are particularly important. So last time we looked at how the Tookish streak in Bilbo was starting to become a bit bolder, and his Baggins-ness was starting, at least in part, to subside. This time I’ll be looking at Bilbo’s journey in chapter 3 “A short rest” and in particular the impact that Rivendell has on both him, and the story.
The chapter begins with the troupe heading through the wilderness to Rivendell. We see impassable ravines, deep gullies and all sorts of things that a self-respecting hobbit would deem altogether unwholesome and highly uncomfortable. This feeling of discomfort is compounded by Bilbo’s simple question he puts towards his fellows “Is the the Mountain?” Bilbo asks, the Baggins in him hoping that the journey is nearing its end. This notion is quickly shot down by Balin, telling the hobbit that the mountain before them is the beginning of the misty mountains, essentially a mere stepping stone to their final destination. Bilbo’s hope for the journey’s end is crushed, and we as the reader feel can start to feel his sense of dread. The little fellow has had his high in dealing with the trolls in the most Tookish way imaginable, but now the reality of what he is doing really starts to set in.
We can’t have the mountains being too intimidating though, this is a kid’s book, so we are told by Gandalf that the Misty Mountains are quite treacherous and confusing, and that if you were to try to get through them on your own, you would just end up back and the beginning “If you ever get back at all”. As adults we can appreciate that this statement is pretty silly, for two reasons. Getting lost in mountains is hardly likely to result in you finding your way back to the beginning (but Gandalf suggests it is unlikely that you would), the second reason is that we know what is in the mountains, this is Middle-Earth, you can’t expect to go wandering around just anywhere without the threat of trolls, giants, orcs or some other thing that would just as quickly eat you for lunch as it would throw you off a cliff. But Bilbo doesn’t know this, and at this stage I’d say he’s pretty happy to just accept that the mountains are confusing, and nothing more sinister than that.
Our party has now reached Rivendell. Their tiredness and dreary demeanour can now be blown away by the wonder of The Last Homely House and the brilliant nature of the elves. At first glance this part of the story might seem to be just what the chapter suggests it is, a short rest, but upon a deeper reading there really is quite a lot here, which I would like to draw attention to. Rivdendell is, for Bilbo, essentially the perfect blending of his conflicting natures. On one hand we have what is one of the most comfortable, safe places in Middle-Earth, guarded by one of the most powerful beings, Elrond, who is so perfect that he personifies the absolute qualities of other races, but Elrond himself is more than security. The Elf lord and his kin are also a connection to the danger and wonder that Bilbo’s Took side yearns for, Elrond himself having been at many of the great and dangerous events in Middle-Earth, and his kin having a long and distinguished history of similar deeds. We are told the even if given the opportunity to wish himself home, Bilbo would have stayed in Rivendell, not just because of the comfort it offers, but because of the perfect amalgamation of who he is that it represents.
The last thing that I think is interesting about this chapter is how important luck is to it. In all honesty, it didn’t strike me heavily at first, but after re-reading it and listen to the Tolkien Professors lecture on this chapter (cheating, I know) I’ve found it is remarkably important. Now we are all familiar with the ridiculous coincidences that have become commonplace in modern story telling: the dumpster under the ledge, the hero turning up accidentally right as the bad dude does his thing, so on and so forth. Generally we’re expected not to notice these coincidences. However, when there is special emphasis put on such coincidences, we can be pretty safe to assume it’s intentional, and this is what we get in The Hobbit. The swords that Gandalf and Thorin acquire from the trolls cave are revealed to be ancient and completely bad-ass weapons that have been used to fight evil for centuries, so what are the chances that they would turn up in the hoard of some random trolls? It’s just a coincidence, you might think, but there is an emphasis put on just how unlikely it is, just as there is an emphasis on the astounding luck that the dwarves showed Elrond the map when they did, if they had showed him a day later or earlier, or even if the weather conditions had have been wrong, they would never have been able to enter the Lonely Mountain. This luck is intentional, and the emphasis important. I won’t lie, I really don’t know why Bilbo was so lucky, but rest assured, I’m going to try to find out.
That’s it for this week, I hope what I gleaned from this wonderful story is as interesting to read as it was to discover.
The Mind Cellar 