The Hobbit: Comparing The Book And Movie

When you think of a hero, is the first character to pop in your head a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins? In most cases, people think of Superman or Hercules, but in The Hobbit, an unexpected hero emerges and changes the name for all heroes to come. The Hobbit is a novel about Bilbo Baggins and his journey, with thirteen dwarves and a wizard, seeking the treasure stolen by the dragon, Smaug. While on this unexpected journey, Bilbo and his companions overcome many obstacles to eventually get to the treasure and retrieve it. Throughout the story, Bilbo develops into a courageous man, who indeed, is a hero. Richard Tyre wrote an article, “You Can’t Teach Tolkien,” and he explains his theory in which he connects multiple story’s plot with six elements. The Hobbit, is assuredly a prime example of Tyre’s theory because it follows all six steps throughout the story simultaneously. The six elements are; “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected” (Tyre 19). These elements are steps in which a character must take to emerge into a hero in the end. Bilbo Baggins is the hero in The Hobbit, but he doesn’t start off as the hero. He has always had heroic traits but throughout the novel, he pursues those six steps and in the resolution, he is transformed into an actual hero.

By putting his life in danger Bilbo shows a true example of heroism. Though the dwarves were still skeptical of his abilities, they were starting to take into consideration of what Gandalf had said about this little hobbit. Continuing their adventure the group is attacked by goblins where they are eventually saved by Gandalf. Throughout the turmoil of the attacking goblins Bilbo gets lost in the caves and finds himself alone in the darkness. It is in this event when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring. Gollum was a sickly looking creature that had been dwelling in the caves for many years. Bilbo used his wits to outsmart the creature by playing a riddle game with him and eventually made it to safety. Having Bilbo win the riddle game shows that his smart and witty mind aids him in becoming the hero. Bilbo wasn’t some tough strong stereotypical super hero, he used his smarts to outwit his foes and to triumph over evil. Though Bilbo at the time did not know the power of the ring that he had retrieved from Gollum’s lair (the power of invisibility), it was his heroic fate that he found it as it assist him in becoming the hero of the story. Fate has it that Bilbo will become a hero, but Bilbo also has the courage on top of his fate to get the dwarves out of life threatening situations.

Going forward, in this essay, topics such as heroism and transformity will be strongly analyzed through quotes directly from the book The Hobbit and opinions formed while reading. Through the book The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien is able to show how a hero isn’t always the typical buff and boots with a cape on his back kind of person. Tolkien shows the reader that a hero is made by the struggles he conquers and isn’t just a perfect character thrown into the beginning of the story.

The book isn’t to terribly long and I actually wish it was longer. I have absolutely fallen in love with the way Tolkien writes. I love how descriptive he is and how he includes every little detail so that me, as the reader, is able to see a clear visual of what Tolkien is trying to describe. One of the reasons I also enjoyed this book so much is because I love books and I also love movies, and naturally I will read a book and want to watch the movie about it or vise-versa. I have grown up watching The Lord of the Rings and my family is a huge fan, but I haven’t been all that interested in reading the books until more recently. As I read The Hobbit I’ve had a very clear mental imagery from the movie of what was going on, and I believe that this is sort of cheating because my brain didn’t have to work as hard because I’ve already seen the movie. In some ways I don’t like that because I can’t make up how I want things to look, but in others I do because sometimes I have no idea how to mentally depict what is going

Looking. Searching. Seeking. There is just nothing like it for getting to conclusions. Finding. “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after” (Tolkien). Certainly, when E.M Forster wrote A Passage to India or J.R.R Tolkien wrote The Hobbit or Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse -Five they were not looking for anything. However, they ended up finding a crucial link in their books–links to society at the time their books were published. 1924, 1937, 1969 or is it 1890, 2157 (Shire reckoning), 1945-It is not possible to be entirely sure. And it is this ambiguity that reveals a major aspect of literature. Literature has a tendency to represent the prevailing collective outlook. Forster highlights the growing discontent, of both Indians and the British, with the way the sub-continent is handled. Tolkien represents, very allegorically, the hardy nature of the people surviving the great depression, naming them hobbits. Vonnegut expresses the general disillusionment of the post-war years and Billy Pilgrim’s fatalist nature provides a grim undercurrent to the cheery “good war” (Jarvis 62). Thus, as seen through Forster, Tolkien, and Vonnegut’s books A Passage to India, The Hobbit, and Slaughterhouse -Five (respectively) authors tend to mimic

How can an author write a story which appeals to a present day audience? Richard H. Tyre published an article in 1978 that gives an answer to this very question. Tyre explains how most kids today choose to read books like the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings series, and even The Wizard of Oz. An existing theory that Tyre came up with explains that each of these books, along with many others, have one thing in common: 6 plot elements. Not only do these stories contain the same 6 elements but those elements are in the same order! Tyre states that “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected.” (Tyre 2). J.R.R. Tolkien is the author of The Hobbit. The Hobbit revolves around one hobbit in particular named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo embarks on a journey with 14 others to recover a treasure that is guarded by a dragon. Along the way Bilbo faces many challenges that range from running into huge trolls, to taking part in fierce battles. Due to it’s main character hunting for treasure, facing most of the dangers alone, battling during the wee hours of the night, eventually finding the treasure, after sweating/crying/and enduring injuries, just to have the treasure revealed to him as not what he expected, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is undoubtedly a perfect example of Tyre’s 6 plot elements.

In the book they, more so Bilbo, had to think hard before the runes crossed their minds. With the movie they barely do any hard thinking. Bilbo more or less stumbles upon the

Additionally, the different lighting, angles and sounds make this part of the movie more interesting and it makes audiences sit on the tip of their chair because they really want to know what is going to happen to them next. The main change in the movie to the book is that the movie makes Bilbo the hero. This is more humorous and funny and effective because they use different angles and different sounds that makes the imagery more lifelike and interesting.

Although the movies are a beautiful remake of the original book, there a quite a few distinct differences between the two. These differences can be very simple: like the fact that Gollum only has six teeth in the book and nine in the movie, or very complex: like the fact that whole new characters were added to the movie that were not originally in the book. The elves Legolas, Tauriel, and Galadriel played very prominent roles in the book in helping the dwarves and hobbit on their journey, yet they ceased to exist in the original text. Another substantial difference between the book and movies is that in the book, the dwarves and hobbit weren’t aware of Smaug leaving (or being killed for that matter) until they were alerted of this news by the crows. However, in the movie, a pretty large battle took place between the dwarves and Smaug. As far as smaller differences go, in the book the keyhole to get into Smaug’s chamber was lit by the sunset, whereas in the movie the keyhole was lit by the light of the moon; the movie showed Bard’s children and the book didn’t; and in the book it talks of Gandalf throwing pinecones lit with fires of many color, but in the book they were all one color; and the movie featured an attack

On his adventure, he travels with dwarves, encounters goblins, trolls, a magic ring, and many other interesting things and creatures. In the Hobbit movie, Jackson makes a few non-effective changes in the movie scene when Gollum, and Bilbo first meet. These changes include the way Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring and when Bilbo and Gollum first encounter one another.

The inspiring novel, The Hobbit, written by J. R. R. Tolkien, definitely deserves the right to be considered a timeless classic. Tolkien uses the main character, Bilbo Baggins, a well respected hobbit, to explain how fast one’s life can change. Mr. Baggins doesn’t believe he will go on an adventure through Middle-Earth the day Gandalf comes to Bag End to tell him so. Nor does he think the many races he only heard of in stories, will face him in the mountain pass. As the expedition takes the reader through the marvelous sights, the author drags them through the horrid forest of Mirkwood and traps them in the Elvenking’s dungeon. Tolkien’s excellent word choice enhances the novel further, indicating that it is a tale told long after the journey finishes. Through the use of dwarves, Tolkien describes the fact that all races show their true colors at one point or another, but it does not define them to be the same as all the others of that race. Mr. Tolkien beautifully intertwines the underlying messages and powerful statements in the wild settings and creative characters.

One of history’s famous authors was and still is today, J. R. R. Tolkien. Many people know some of his more famous books like The Hobbit or his Lord of the Ring series. Within these people there are others who know that the names of all the dwarves from The Hobbit and the name Gandalf come from an ancient Norse poem titled Volpusa. An even smaller group of people know that more than just his name came from Norse mythology, in fact the model for Gandalf’s character may have been taken from one of Norse mythologies most important gods Odin. There are many similarities between the two of them; pictures and paintings of Odin look like Gandalf, they both are immortal, they both can take on other appearances, they both have the fastest horses in the world, both of them die and come back better than before, both plan out the battles more than partake in them, both of them are very wise, and they both use similar magic in combat. J. R. R. Tolkien was influenced by the Norse god Odin when he created his character Gandalf.

J.R.R. Tolkien is a writing superhero who has created a vast world that can be compared and contrasted. One interesting fact about J.R.R. Tolkien is that he knew at least 20 languages and made many of his own. Knowing and making many languages is what really solidified his way of writing, by doing so he created multiple languages that are used in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. To understand the differences between Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is necessary to take a closer look at the theme, plot, and characters.

Chapter six Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire and the last part of the first movie there were some minor differences that will impact the rest of the book and the next movies. In the book, once Thorin and company escaped the goblin tunnels, Bilbo told the others how he had escaped using this magical ring. However, in the movie, he did not mention using any magical ring while escaping Gollum.

In “The Hobbit” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy there are two characters of similarity that play a key role in both narratives. Thorin II Oakinshield and Aragorn II Elessar are two would be kings who come into their crowns in time for their own respective books or series to end. Both dwarf and man have a journey to their individual thrones and in particular the genesis, the journey and the end of their adventures share a great deal of commonality and precarious differences, variables that with or without their crowns says and awful lot about them.