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The Hobbit. Themes, Characters, Motifs. The Hobbit Plot Summary. The Un-Expected Party Trolls Rivendell Misty Mountains Riddles in the Dark Beorn Mirkwood, spiders and elves Laketown The Lonely Mountain The Battle of the Five Armies. The Hobbit Motif/caves or underground.
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The Hobbit Themes, Characters, Motifs
The HobbitPlot Summary The Un-Expected Party Trolls Rivendell Misty Mountains Riddles in the Dark Beorn Mirkwood, spiders and elves Laketown The Lonely Mountain The Battle of the Five Armies
The HobbitMotif/caves or underground The Un-Expected Party Trolls Rivendell Misty Mountains Riddles in the Dark Beorn Mirkwood, spiders and elves Laketown The Lonely Mountain The Battle of the Five Armies
The HobbitMotif/Disembodied Voice Trick The Un-Expected Party Trolls Rivendell Misty Mountains Riddles in the Dark Beorn Mirkwood, spiders and elves Laketown The Lonely Mountain The Battle of the Five Armies
The HobbitMotif/Fire The Un-Expected Party Trolls Rivendell Misty Mountains Riddles in the Dark Beorn Mirkwood, spiders and elves Laketown The Lonely Mountain The Battle of the Five Armies
The HobbitMotif/In one door and out another The Un-Expected Party Trolls Rivendell Misty Mountains Riddles in the Dark Beorn Mirkwood, spiders and elves Laketown The Lonely Mountain The Battle of the Five Armies
The HobbitCharacters Major Characters Bilbo Gandalf Thorin Minor Characters other dwarves Elrond Gollum Beorn Bard of Dale
The HobbitConflicts Physical Psychological Bilbo/Spiders Bilbo/self Gandalf/goblins and wargs Thorin/self Thorin and dwarves in battle Beorn/Bolg Bard/Smaug Mental Gandalf/ trolls Bilbo/Gollum Bilbo/elves Bilbo/Smaug
The HobbitBilbo Baggins • Wits: Gollum, Smaug riddles, tricks spiders, understands riddle of keyhole in mountain • Luck: number 14, finds Ring/Arkenstone • Sharp eyes: sees Beorn, eagles • Pity: on Gollum • Kindhearted: returns keys to guard, pays back Elves • Generous: gives Arkenstone to Bard • Loyal, won’t leave dwarves
Baggins side Desires comfort Food, drink Pipe Fireside handkerchief Gentle Not acquisitive, gives away mathoms Took side Adventurous Courageous Heroic Fights spiders Rescues dwarves Faces Smaug alone The HobbitBilbo
The HobbitOther Characters • Dwarves • Thorin: greedy, stern, proud, pompous, wants revenge on Smaug • Balin is Bilbo’s friend, Fili and Kili are youngest, fat Bombur is like Disney dwarf • Gandalf, wise, has control of fire (like Smaug) • Eagles • Beorn, in harmony with nature, animals • Bard, heroic, vs. Master of Laketown, money-oriented • Smaug, like dwarves, greedy, revengeful
Bilbo, the Burglar Tries to take purse from Trolls Ring Food from Elves Keys from guard Barrels Cup Arkenstone Other thieves Trolls (stuff in cave) Gollum (Ring) Smaug (pile of gold, Arkenstone, mithril) Thorin won’t share with Bard, others The HobbitThieves
The HobbitMonsters • Trolls • Goblins • Gollum • Wargs • Elves • Smaug • Stone Giants?
The HobbitSettings • The Shire • The Wild • Rivendell • The Misty Mountains • Mirkwood • Elves’ great cave • Laketown • The Lonely Mountain
The HobbitThemes • Hospitality: • The Shire • Rivendell • Beorn • the Elves • Laketown • Luck • Pity • Greed • Fairness
The HobbitTraditional Quest Elements • Home, There and Back Again • One year plus one day • Underground or cave-like places: • Under the Misty Mountains • Under the overhanging branches in Mirkwood • In the dungeons of the Elves • Inside the Lonely Mountain with Smaug • Battle with Dragon • Heroic actions: fighting dragon, spiders
The HobbitParallels • Trolls and Spiders (disembodied voice trick) • Fire promises comfort but it tricks: Trolls, Elves, Smaug is greatest fire • Cave of Goblins, Gandalf rescues dwarves; Dungeon of Elves, Bilbo rescues dwarves • Often in front door, out back door: Misty Mountains, Elves. Opposite in side door, out front door: Smaug. Out front door of Bag End, back in the same way. “Road Song.” • Battle of wits with Gollum and Smaug • Caves all remind us of Bilbo’s home
The HobbitSource material • Beowolf • Much of description of Smaug in Beowolf • Beorn and Bard derivative • Name of Beorn a linguistic joke: name comes from bjorn (bear in Scandinavian), warrior or man in Old English • “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit”