Are there books that you’ve read and a phrase or a paragraph caught your eye, and suddenly you had a “Eureka” moment? As a bibliophile, it happened to me a lot of times. Sometimes, that phrase helps me make decisions (I am not sure if that is foolish) or see life from another perspective. One of those books that shaped my life is “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Hobbit was made into a movie in 2012, and many things in the film were not in the book. Maybe I’ll write about that another time. For now, I’m going to focus on the book.
Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a children’s book, but adults are welcome to read it too. It is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and his adventures with the wizard Gandalf the Grey (this wizard is very different from the wizards in Harry Potter, by the way) and the company of Thorin Oakenshield, the dwarf prince.
I will only retell part of the story here; finishing it would take me a long time. I’ll share some of the lessons I learned and the things I loved about the novel.
I learned about loyalty, compassion, and friendship.
The twelve dwarves (Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur) followed their King, Thorin Oakenshield, on his quest to reclaim their homeland and the vast treasure stolen from them by the dragon, Smaug. They followed Thorin because of their loyalty to him as their King and friend, not just because of the treasure. They also want their homeland back so that their people can return to the Blue Mountains.
Bilbo didn’t kill Gollum down at the mines when he had the chance to do so. Bilbo took pity on him and spared his life. Compassion also drove him to give the Arkenstone to Thranduil and Bard to bargain with Thorin. He doesn’t want the dwarves, elves, and men to go to war. (And maybe he is just tired of all the drama 🤷♀️😅)
There is a downside to blindly following someone out of loyalty, like the dwarves, who continued to follow Thorin even though they could see that he got greedy. So, I admired Bilbo for risking Thorin’s wrath to stop the war. But in the end, true friendship triumphs as they reconcile before Thorin dies at the novel’s end.
“Bilbo knelt on one knee filled with sorrow. ‘Farewell King under the Mountain!’ he said.
‘This is a bitter adventure, if it must end so; and not a mountain of gold can amend it. Yet I am
glad that I have shared in your perils – that has been more than any Baggins deserves’.
‘No!’ said Thorin. ‘There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some
courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above
hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!’”
Bilbo returns to Hobbiton a wealthy hobbit, but it is not the treasure that matters to him. His adventures with Gandalf and the dwarves changed him; he became brave and more open to new experiences and learning. And I think those are some things we can learn from Bilbo; we might be afraid to step out the door and sit in the comfort of our bubble because we don’t know what will happen. But once we take the courage to take the step, we learn that there are more things out there for us to enjoy and experience (good or bad). It is a way for us to grow and become better people (in the case of Bilbo, a better hobbit).
