![]() There is just one dwarf in “The Lord of the Rings”: Gimli. Moria is to a hobbit hole as the Pyramids are to a thatched-roof cottage. Skilled blacksmiths, miners, and engineers, they are responsible for many of the wonders of Middle Earth. Though motivated always by gold, they are makers as well as takers. Pompous and irritable, industrious yet bumbling, dwarves are much more enjoyable to read about than hobbits. I propose a rule: the ratio of dwarves to hobbits is directly proportional to the quality of the tale. Next time I re-read “The Lord of the Rings,” I am sure to ask myself, What would Bilbo do? He steals the Arkenstone from Smaug’s hoard and uses it as a bargaining chip and he hides the magic ring from his companions as long as he can. He outwits Gollum with a not-quite-kosher riddle. He’s an opportunist, willing to fudge the rules when it suits him. ![]() While he does yearn for the comforts of the Shire during his journey to the Lonely Mountain, he is no straight arrow. I find Bilbo, the hero of the earlier book, a far more engaging character. Mindlessly devoted and masochistically self-denying, he is held up as the truest expression of hobbithood. ![]() ![]() Particularly grating is Sam Gamgee, the loyal, kind-hearted servant who accompanies Frodo all the way to Mt. After twelve hundred pages of “The Lord of the Rings,” I’d had just about enough of the hobbits’ endless pining for home and their tiresome whingeing about not having a second breakfast. Hobbits, though possessed of many admirable traits, can be kind of a drag, especially in large numbers. There’s a reason Tolkien begins both novels by getting his hobbit protagonists out of the Shire. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |