The Hobbit: The Growth Of Bilbo Baggins

In 1949, Joseph Campbell discussed the hero’s journey, the foundation commonly used in stories throughout history. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the hero’s journey narrative is used to tell the story of Bilbo Baggins’s adventure. The novel follows Bilbo Baggins and a company of dwarves as they seek to take back the dwarves’ fallen kingdom. As the story progresses, Bilbo’s character develops and the dwarves perception of him develops through the many trials before the death of Smaug the dragon and the final battle between a variety of mythical creatures. In The Hobbit, the dwarves originally doubt Bilbo’s abilities but as Bilbo encounters more obstacles and succeeds, the dwarves perception turns to one of respect and admiration.

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.

Bilbo Baggins is a hero, even though he has some help along the way from his friends. He is courageous because he made his first attempt at burglary from trolls, he puts himself before others and frees his friends from the ElvenKing and he is brave and loyal when he goes down to visit Smaug for the first time to fulfill a promise. I hope I have proved Bilbo Baggins to be

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.

He slowly evolved as time went on, starting with a knock his door by an extraordinary wizard. Then, soon after that, when the dwarves arrived, Bilbo’s perspective seemed to change and open up to possibilities. He became more confident and more willing to prove himself. This is shown in Bilbo’s first challenge where he risks his life and the dwarves to steal from the trolls, so he didn’t come back empty handed. This showed him, that sometimes risks are worth taking. Another event that made Bilbo “evolve” a lot, is when he faced off his first challenge completely by himself. This was in Gollum's cave. There were many ways that Gollum changed Bilbo’s adventure, but besides that, the encounter changed Bilbo. It changed him because it seems like, in this event, Bilbo finally is able to trust in himself like when he decided to outmaneuver golem all by himself, and when he uses his wits, and brains to defeat Gollum. Through this, Bilbo discovered, that he himself could be strong, by using just his bravery, and his smarts. One more of these important events, that I believe is the most essential to this topic is the encounters with the spiders. This is because, in this one event, all the lessons Bilbo has learned, and all his adventures contribute to his success. He needs his bravery and wits, to be able to taunt the spider, his ability to persevere past challenges, and also, his willingness to

Prior to the quest, Bilbo Baggins was a conservative, respectable and stubborn hobbit who lead a rich and comfortable life (Stephanie web). These characteristics, as well as safety and a dull existence, are typical of the Baggins

Not only does the portrayal of Bilbo’s character and underlying courage convey his heroism, but so does his sense of ethics. This is what truly makes him a unique, caring hero. While a typical hero’s motive is wealth and fame, Bilbo gave up his share of the dwarves’ treasure to help avoid war between two nations that severely despise one another (the elf and dwarf kingdoms). The fact that he was willing to give up his wealth to avoid war and for the good of other people marks a significant aspect of his heroism and explains why he is “more worthy to wear the armor of elf-princes than many that have

In conclusion, we can now see that Bilbo is in fact a dynamic character. He gains many qualities he can use in the future, like courage, learning to use his wits, and letting out the adventurous side in him. He used to be almost paranoid, to himself, and strict. But now he has turned into something much bigger, an adventurer. So the adventure changed him for the better. This is how Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit we thought would never do anything

He was brave, smart, lucky, had an extra ability and he would give his life for his friends. At the beginning Bilbo Baggins wasn’t brave, but during the quest he became brave. He wasn’t strong, but instead he had other good abilities such as his stealth and his size, that were useful when he needed to go unnoticed. Bilbo had many good ideas because when the dwarves didn’t know what to do next, he always had the correct answer and save them from the dangerous situations. Bilbo was very lucky because when he was lost on the goblins’ caves he found a mysterious and magic ring that made him invisible. This ring helped him a lot because with it he could escape from many dangerous events that occurred during the novel. He risked his life many times to save his friends. Bilbo Baggins wasn’t the only one that had characteristics of a hero other characters also had them. Now, were a going to mention the other heroes of the novel.

In the fantasy novel The Hobbit, by J.R. Tolkien there are a lot of obstacles the character Bilbo Baggins has to confront. Throughout the book Bilbo seems to take on different challenges, which allow him to mature faster in a way that the Shire would not allow. In the Shire, Bilbo was just a normal hobbit who minded his own business and was never late for dinner. But after Gandalf and the dwarves came knocking on his door, his whole life seemed to change in an instant and it kept changing in a way that Bilbo had no control over. The farther that Bilbo moved through this journey the more he opened up to the world. At the shire Bilbo could have been considered a child in some ways because, he knew of no evil that existed outside of his world

Bilbo Baggins changes a lot in the novel The Hobbit. In the beginning he is a small peaceful Hobbit who lives in Hobbiton. He loves to keep things in order, and hates things that are disorganized. “Please be careful,” and “Please don’t trouble. I can manage” (Tolkein, 12). Then one day a wizard by the name of Gandalf comes and gives Bilbo the opportunity to go on an adventure. Bilbo turns his offer down, but the next day thirteen dwarves come to his house. They have meals together and they sleep at Bilbo’s house. Gandalf then convinces him to go on an adventure with them. Bilbo is many things, in the very begging he is flat, static, main, and he is the protagonist. By the end of the story he is round, dynamic, main, and he is still the

In the story J.R.R Tolkien Bilbo Baggins is starting to become a hero unexspeticaly. The reason I said unexspetricaly is because Bilbo did it not knowing that he was. Bilbo started to act more brave,smart, and started to be more of a leader than a follower an example of being a leader and not a follower is like say your in class and you see someone eating in class knowing you are not supposed to a follower would do it to and a leader would not do it because you already know it’s not allowed.

Character traits that Tolkien considers positive include traits such as being adventurous and politeness. In the novel the trait adventurous appear as a positive trait as it is a ‘requirement’ in order to even go on an adventure. Bilbo denies adventure due to his normal, peaceful life. However, his Tookish side urges him to accept and accompany the dwarves. Being polite or kind is another positive character trait. Bilbo was upset,

Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist of The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins has curly brown hair and thick leathery feet. He was fat in the stomach and was half the height of an adult. He likes having multiple meals a day, and snacks. Bilbo also had long clever fingers. Bilbo is a very respectable individual. He enjoyed staying at home, Bilbo doing something unexpected was unheard of. Before the adventure, he thought highly of his neighbor's opinion about him. When Gandalf chose Bilbo the other dwarves thought that he was unfit for the job. The dwarves did not

Bilbo Baggins is one of the main characters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Being a main character in a story, especially an adventure story, typically comes with some pretty hefty responsibilities. More often than not, the main character is also the hero. A hero is defined as “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities,” and these are not necessarily qualities readily attributed to Bilbo Baggins (oxforddictionaries.com). This essay will look at three ways in which Bilbo contrasts the traditional characteristics of a hero and what transformations he ends up making to fit the mold more closely. It will examine his lineage, his strength, and his attitude as well as the changes he makes throughout the story.