Tolkien’s tale, which is the basis of the film, only looks like a cute children’s tale. In fact, it looks like a lush rosebud. The uppermost and brightest petals are really for children. Pick them off, and you’ll see the middle layer, the darker one, is for adults. And the brightest, scarlet, deepest core of the flower is the base from which the Lord of the Rings will later be born. Here ethical concepts reign and rule: honor, sacrifice, duty, conscience.
Between Past and Future
It was easier for Tolkien: he went from the children’s tale to the pathos epic, from The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. Director Jackson and the audience had to go back to the beginning of the first trilogy, then to the fall of the Dwarf Kingdom, and then to the historic moment when young Mr. Baggins began his Odyssey.
And it’s not just that the audience will have to see the old characters as naive and young; they already possess knowledge that the author was deprived of simply because at the time he himself probably had no idea how his perfectly classic (at first glance) tale would end. What to say about the hero then! Bilbo returns home victorious. What the hobbit doesn’t realize is that the great adventure he experienced is only a prologue to a great story and a great war. It seems that only peace and prosperity lie ahead now.
But Jackson’s viewers already know what is hidden in the hobbit’s pocket, and what terrible souvenir he has brought home from his wanderings. The entire trilogy is a prophecy, a prediction of a new terrible war and great misfortune, the beginning of the end.
The Little Hobbit’s Big Trouble
Since “The Hobbit” was originally conceived as a magical fairy tale, the adventures of the hero are built on the discovery of a new world, which is strikingly different from the familiar, understandable and safe. Agreeing to an unexpected proposal – to become a companion of the dwarves in their search for their lost home and the cherished treasure – Bilbo stepped into a strange world, which opened before him a space of unusual and dangerous wonders.
Since the fairy tale was addressed to children, Bilbo’s story can be seen as a story of maturing and growing up. What drives the hobbit to adventure? Absolutely childlike emotions: fear and curiosity. And, just like children, Mr. Baggins’ curiosity always overpowers fear!
There is a reason why the grumpy dwarves act like “adults” toward the hobbit: teaching him, nagging at him, and criticizing him all the time. “The Little Dwarf” turns into a real hero in front of his eyes, he “grows up” from a philistine to a warrior. Bilbo grows up doing ethically correct and meaningful things. He leaves his tiny world with bourgeois values – armchairs, napkins, his mother’s porcelain plates, but not to give up warmth and comfort, but to be able to protect it.
Bilbo is an ordinary stay-at-home guy caught up in a maelstrom of events that seem to have nothing to do with him. In fact, the hobbit’s story is an example of how the “little people of this world” make his story. Along with the problems of moral growth, the trilogy raises the question of the importance of the smallest, insignificant, inconspicuous person for the development of society, the question of the value of every human life.
Greed and Sacrifice
The role of the cursed talisman in the Hobbit trilogy is played by the gemstone Arkenstone. The Ring of Omnipotence is more terrifying and versatile, but it is hidden for the time being in the pocket of Mr. Baggins, who regards it simply as a means of becoming invisible for a time. The magical stone that conceals Smaug’s treasure is the epitome of greed, the basic scourge of dwarves that robs even the best and noblest of their sanity and dignity.
Bilbo, who got his hands on Arkenston, overcame the terrible temptation. Perhaps that is why he was able to resist the charms of the Ring for so long afterwards. Yesterday’s citizen and philistine turned out to be capable not only of military exploits, but also of sacrifice. Bilbo hides the stone, but only to help the humans and elves negotiate with the dwarves and avoid a terrible war. Bilbo goes, practically to his certain death, returning to the greed-crazed dwarf king Thorin, because he cannot be a traitor.
Arkenston does not help reconcile the rivals, but they have to unite against the orcs. In this battle, King Thorin died, but was able to defeat not only his enemy, the orc Azog, but also his terrible afflictions of greed and hubris.
Sweet Home
“Odyssey” of the dwarves and Bilbo’s “odyssey” are the two main leitmotifs of the trilogy. The terrible, final battle of Good and Evil is still far ahead. The heroes are not concerned with global notions of truth or justice: the dwarves simply want their property back and to return home. Bilbo and his companions pass wonderful palaces and stinking caves. The outcast people move into the jaws of the fearsome dragon. The main thing is to get home, and there the dwarves will find the strength, ways and means to defeat the invader and reclaim their lost homeland.
The Hobbit leaves his beloved burrow only to help restore his home to those who have lost it. Thus a magical tale turns into a story about the search for the Promised Land, the mysterious Grail. And at the same time reminds us how easy it is to lose everything we consider our own in an instant: a roof over our heads, Arkinston, gold or porcelain plates – in fact, there’s no difference. Before you know it, you’re being thrown out the door of your own home by a rampaging dragon, or your sweet relatives are auctioning off your tables and chairs and declaring you dead.
The meaning of the ending of the trilogy “The hobbit”
Evil is driven back, but not defeated. But unsuspecting elves, humans and dwarves celebrate the victory. Mr. Baggins has helped the dwarves regain their home and returns to his. To tie the last “Hobbit” movie to the beginning of the first “Lord of the Rings” movie, Legalas goes in search of Aragorn. And here before us is an aged Bilbo, holding the sinister Ring in his hand and hearing Gandalf’s voice. We are back to the day when Frodo, Bilbo’s nephew, began his terrifying trek to the blazing Mount Doom to end the curse of the Ring.
The end of the story is about the importance of keeping one’s word, how hard it is to keep commitments and pay debts, how easy it is to go mad with greed, and how hard it is to grow up and take responsibility for one’s actions. It’s time to open the first page of a new epic!
“The Lord of the Rings” Jackson “cut” it alive, shortening it in ways imaginable and unimaginable in order to cram it into the set screen time. With “The Hobbit” it was vice versa – the writers even had to invent new characters and plot twists (like the love story of elfish Tauriel and dwarf Kili) to stretch this short story and turn it into a nine-hour trilogy.
In addition, not everyone appreciated the innovation of 48 frames per second technology. As a result “The Hobbit” did not win any Oscars and received mixed reviews from critics. But viewers need “The Hobbit” because it gives integrity to the picture of Middle-earth, drawn by the genius of philosophy, mythology and linguistics.
How did Tolkien write The Hobbit or There and Back Again?
“Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who lived in his hobbit hole and did not take part in any adventures, but finally the wizard Gandalf and his dwarves convinced Bilbo to take part. He had a very good time fighting goblins and wargs. Finally they reached a lonely mountain. Smaug the dragon who had been guarding it was killed and after a terrible battle with the goblins Bilbo returned home – rich! This card-assisted book doesn’t need illustrations it’s good and will appeal to all children from 5 to 9.”
That was the inside scoop on one of the iconic books of the last century. Ten-year-old Rayner, son of publisher Stanley Anwin, read the manuscript of an Oxford professor, enjoyed it, and got a shilling for his review. Years later, Rayner said it was the most profitable investment in the history of British publishing.
Now, nearly eight decades later, The Hobbit is a favorite book for generations of readers around the world. It has been translated into more than forty languages, adapted several times, it was the basis for computer and board games, opera, children’s plays, stamps were issued in its honor… But how much do we know about how this tale came to be?
If only we had known from which hole…
The story of “The Hobbit” began ninety years ago – in the late twenties of last century. Once upon a time there was a professor in Oxford. Not some student or teacher – no, a real professor of Anglo-Saxon language! He was friendly with other professors, belonged to an informal club of lovers of ancient literature, was married, had sons John, Michael and Christopher and a daughter, Priscilla.
Our professor loved children very much. He often worked at home, but children were always free to come into his office; he took them for many walks and, of course, told them fairy tales. There were many related traditions in the house. For example, at Christmas the children invariably received terrific letters from Father Christmas – intricately decorated, with strange stamps and fascinating stories about the lives of Santa and his friends: elves, goblins, polar bear… And every year the Tolkien family held “Winter Reading”: the head of the family strutted around the fireplace and told about the next adventures of this or that hero. Some of the stories he even wrote down – outline, so as not to confuse the next year in detail.
Professor Tolkien had another passion – also related to writing, but unknown to children in the interim. He wrote the history of a certain world, Arda, a chiseled chronicle of ancient times, dedicated to the deeds of high elves, mighty Valar and other incredible creatures.
It would seem that what can be common between fairy tales for children and the legendarium of a fictional world?
But then one day another fairy tale for children “sprouted” in that very world – in its Third Age…
When people talk about how “The Hobbit” began, they invariably quote the Professor himself. One day, bored with checking his boring exam papers, he wrote the following phrase on the back of one of them: “A hobbit lived in a hole underground,” and it was all over… However, in fact, the story of Bilbo Baggins has not so easy roots.
In 1925 the Tolkins moved from Leeds to 22 Northmoor Road, Oxford. In 1930, they changed that house to the house next door, number 20. It was there that the Professor, if he is to be believed, wrote down the first phrase of a future tale. But his children, John and Michael, recalled that they had heard the tale itself much earlier, back at No. 22. The story of Bilbo Baggins was probably first told in 1928 or 1929; like other stories of this kind, it stretched over many evenings, little by little adding more details, then pausing for long periods… How many there were – such stories never completed, even orally!..!
But “The Hobbit” was luckier than the others. Not least of all because Tolkien, by the end of the 1920s, had long been practicing composition; in addition, when telling long tales, one cannot rely solely on one’s own memory. Michael Tolkin recalled that one evening Christopher, the younger brother, suddenly interrupted his father, “Last time you said that Bilbo’s front door was blue, and you said the tassel on Thorin’s hood was gold, and now you claim that the front door was green and the tassel was silver!” – To which the Professor, muttering: “Damn boy!” he crossed the room and began to make some notes in his papers.
It is possible that at first Bilbo was not actually a hobbit. Perhaps, at first, it was just a story about a short, cozy-looking little man who one day traveled with a wizard and dwarves to a far-off land. And then, a few years after the story was told to children, Tolkien checked those very proverbial papers, wrote down the first sentence – and thus began to compose an already literary, not an oral tale.
However, here, too, things were not as easy and simple as they might seem when reading The Hobbit. In fact, the Professor had been working on the book for several years, taking considerable breaks and – imagine! – at times not planning to return to it at all.
There are several surviving versions of the manuscript, which differ greatly from one another. If young Christopher was so outraged by the confusion about the color of the door or the tassel on Thorin’s hood, one can only imagine how he and his brothers felt when it came to more serious changes!
Tolkien always wrote as if he were groping his way, gradually finding the right path, often wandering, taking a wrong turn. “The Hobbit” was also born difficult, with many serious revisions. It concerned both the plot and the names – the latter have always been extremely important to Tolkien. For example, the dragon Smaug was first called Priftan, and the wizard’s name was Bladortin. Gandalf’s name did appear in this earliest version, though – but it was the leader of the dwarves!
Only six pages from the first chapter remain of this version, and without the famous beginning with “the hole in which the hobbit lived.” This was followed by a mixed (handwritten and typewritten) version that ended with Chapter 14 (there was no Chapter 13, which Tolkien wrote and added later). The 167-page version first contained the same variants of names (Bladortin, Priftan), but later Tolkien corrected them manually to the names we are accustomed to. The children were probably surprised when Gandalf turned from a dwarf into a wizard, and the wizard, in turn, turned from a little man into a tall bearded man. The translators of the book into Russian are especially relieved: in the original version, the shapeshifter giant Beorn was called Medwed, which is very dear to our hearts!
For Tolkien, a professional linguist, names could not be a simple set of sounds – each had its own meaning. And if at first he played with the roots of languages known to him, in time he began to use independently invented ones. And from here it was a short walk to the secret door behind which lurked the world he had invented – Arda and, in particular, Middle-earth.
A completely different tale
And yet it was still a long way from the fairy tale we love so much. The story grew in details that at times baffled Tolkien himself. It was only over time that what appeared as incomprehensible details began to fit into a clear and coherent picture… well, almost coherent.
For example, at first Tolkien seriously speculated that Smaug should be killed by Bilbo. Who else could it be? After all, it is the hobbit who is the main character in the tale! The dwarves should have been kidnapped not by forest elves, but by sea elves – and already after arriving at the Long Lake…
Or take the famous game of riddles. In it, as we remember, Mr. Baggins’ life was on the line: if he lost, Gorloom would simply eat him. Otherwise, Gorloom promised to show the hobbit the way out. In the first book version, however, Gorloom promises to give Bilbo a gift. The game of riddles is held sacred by both of them, so Gorloom doesn’t try to cheat; he does go to his island, takes a long time looking for something, and then laments that he lost “his charm” and therefore can’t keep his word to the hobbit! At the same time he tells the story of the ring: how he received it for his birthday, and what he used it for… Bilbo decides not to confess that he has already found the ring, and comforts Gorloom: he says that Eru is with him, with the promise, and as for the loss – in fact even if the ring were found, Gorloom would still give it to Bilbo, right? Better let him lead him to the exit. Gorloom, sighing, agrees, they walk (Gorloom counts out the turns and corridors), Bilbo checks for the first time whether the ring is in his pocket (that!) – and then our heroes peacefully bid farewell and part. No shouting, “Thief!” and “Revenge on Baggins!” – In its current form, the Gorloom story emerged many years later when it was necessary to tie it into the events of The Lord of the Rings.
The Professor seems to have completed the first, tentatively completed version of the tale by early 1933, which is when his friend and colleague, Clive Lewis, refers in one of his letters to “a really good children’s book that Tolkien has just finished.” However, that story ended at the death of the dragon Smaug…
Apparently, at some point Tolkien lost interest in the tale and it remained a typewritten text for family reading. Absolutely certain it is known that between 1933 and 1936 years “The Hobbit” was also read by several friends and acquaintances of Tolkien.
And in 1936, the Professor was approached for help from the London publisher George Allen & Anwin: they wanted to reissue a revised edition of Beowulf and the Battle of Finnesburg. Tolkien was busy with work and declined to be edited, but advised his former student, Elaine Griffiths, and promised to review what she would do and to write a preface afterward. A representative of the publisher, Susan Dagnall, came to Oxford to discuss the details of the work, and learned from Griffiths of the existence of a beautiful children’s tale…
Dagnall asked Tolkien’s permission to read the manuscript and show it to the publisher, and the professor agreed. However, The Hobbit was still unfinished: the dragon had been killed, but many of the story lines were hanging in the air. Dagnall pointed this out and asked if Tolkien was ready to finish the book; then, she said, there would be a chance to publish it next year.
Encouraged, Tolkien set to work: he added another chapter between the current 12th and 14th, finished the ending, and did some editing. Michael helped him type; he had cut himself and had to tap away only with his left hand.
Anyway, in the first week of October the manuscript went to the publisher. Its director, the famous Stanley Anwin, first read the book himself, then gave it to children’s author Rose Philman to review. They both liked it, but still, as was his custom, Stanley turned to a third reviewer. He always gave children’s books to his children to “try out”: who better than they to determine whether future readers would like the tale?
On how he reacted to The Hobbit. Reiner Anwin, you already know. In fact, it was his internal review that decided the outcome. In early December, the contract with Tolkien was officially signed. However, the book was still a long way from being published.
When the proofs arrived at the end of February, Tolkien discovered that his native text was largely imperfect. In some places he should have been rewritten, made stylistically more uniform… but, damn it, any correction meant extra expense. Now it was a matter of hours to rewrite a text, but back then it was typed by hand – every letter! You couldn’t just “shrink it here and add it there.” But the Professor could not leave it as it was.
So Tolkien began to make substitutions with jewel-like precision. Instead of each discarded phrase he wrote another, which by the number of characters was the same as the rejected one. In a cover letter to the publisher, he offered his deepest apologies and specifically mentioned that he was willing to pay for additional expenses, should they arise.
The cost of the book, however, threatened to exceed what had been originally planned – jeopardizing its profitability.
As we remember, the young Reiner thought that The Hobbit did not need illustrations, but that maps should be included. Tolkien, however, already had both in stock. In those years, drawing was a common occupation for both children and fully established gentlemen. Tolkien was self-taught, but received much advice from his early deceased mother and other relatives. He loved to draw landscapes, and often made illustrations for his own fairy tales; let us not forget his grandfather’s annual Christmas letters.
As for maps, they were his passion, as were all sorts of alphabets. In short, by 1936 Tolkien had several maps and drawings in his archives, not to mention a mass of sketches. The professor decided that it would not be superfluous to send all this to a publisher, and for this purpose he practically redrew a number of works. He set to work after the contract was signed, and by January 4 he had a map of Tórr and a map of the Wildlands ready, along with four black and white illustrations. He sent them to the publisher, and two weeks later he followed up with six more drawings.
Anwin liked the illustrations very much. He didn’t want to add to the cost of the book, but he decided to use them anyway. Unfortunately, to save money, the idea of invisible runes on the map of Tror was abandoned. Tolkien had them printed on the back of the page so that they would only show up on the map if you look through the light.
The work with Tolkien so fascinated Stanley Anwin that he commissioned the author to design the cover and jacket. The result was a pool of illustrations that have long been considered classics, from the dust cover to the stunning landscapes and interiors. Tolkien actually became one of the first British authors to illustrate his own books. In fact, he was treated in a special way from the very beginning. Reiner Anwin wrote in his memoirs that in 1937 alone Tolkien sent to the publisher 26 letters, often handwritten, five pages or more in length, and in response he received 31 letters-an absolutely unprecedented case!
The publishers’ efforts paid off: the book was a resounding success. It was published September 21, 1937, a small edition of 1500 copies, but by early December the publisher was forced to make an additional edition of 2300 copies. “The Hobbit” received very favorable reviews in the press; the rights to it before its publication were bought by the American publisher Houghton Miffl in Company, for which the professor did five full-color illustrations.
Overseas, the book was also a resounding success and garnered excellent press reviews. Interestingly, none of the researchers noted one amusing detail. In a letter to Stanley Anwin in the spring of 1937, Tolkien, when referring to the possible illustration of The Hobbit by American artists, stresses: “Perhaps the matter is urgent? Then it would probably be preferable not to let the Americans lose interest and let them do as they see fit, while reserving the right (I stipulate) to veto anything produced or inspired by Disney (all Disney products disgust me deeply).
Why, one would think, should he emphasize his attitude to Disney’s films (especially since Tolkien writes further that he has seen illustrations by American artists that he considers “excellent”)? But the writer’s fears seem justified if we remember that his “The Hobbit” was to be published in the States by early 1938, and December 21, 1937 the first full-length animated film by Walt Disney – “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.
Apparently, Tolkien understood that the comparison of the two potential hits is inevitable – and from the beginning he did not want to play on the same field with those whose products he considered the quintessence of vulgarity. His fears, by the way, were justified: “The Hobbit” and “Snow White” were indeed compared. “Gnomes are in fashion in America these days,” wrote one reviewer, while another claimed that Snow White’s boyfriends were no match for Tolkien’s gnomes.
Fairy tale or epic?
The success of The Hobbit in Britain and the States was incredible: the book sold well, won the New York Herald Tribune Award, and there were talks about publishing it in other languages. However, the triumphal march of Bilbo and his companions was interrupted by World War II. Britain imposed severe restrictions on the use of paper; to make matters worse, the Allen & Anwin paper warehouse was bombed. The Hobbit disappeared from the market for nearly a decade, only to be revived with the release of Giles Farmer of Ham (1949).
And, of course, sales skyrocketed incredibly after the long-awaited sequel to the adventures of Bilbo finally came out… in which Bilbo himself was given a cameo role. “The Lord of the Rings certainly increased the popularity of The Hobbit – but before The Fellowship of the Ring went out of print, Tolkien was faced with a serious dilemma.
What began as a continuation of his Hobbit adventures soon became a dark and epic narrative directly linked to the history of Arda. However, it was necessary to somehow link The Lord and The Hobbit, especially since many episodes from the fairy tale played a key role in the novel! Take the scene with Gorloom – it obviously had to be reworked. In September 1947 Tolkien sent some corrections to the text of The Hobbit – assuming that Stanley Anwin would simply read them and give his opinion. He, however, took them as final revisions and soon issued a revised tale.
As a result, for some time before The Fellowship of the Ring was published, The Hobbit was published in a new version, but with the author’s foreword in which Tolkien explained the reasons for the discrepancies.
But even in this form the tale embarrassed the author by its fabulousness. He felt a clear stylistic gap between the “Hobbit” and its sequel – and therefore in 1960, with his usual meticulousness, he again embarked on a revision. This time the book was to appear, more harmoniously echoing the “Lord. In addition, the journey of Bilbo, the dwarves and Gandalf should be linked to the geography of Middle-earth from the “Lord”, to fit the historical and mythological context…
Tolkien reworked the first chapter, then the second, took up the third… and had to abandon his idea! What came out from under his pen may have looked more “lordly”, but, alas, it ruined the atmosphere of fairy tale and wonder that was inherent in The Hobbit. To rewrite the book again meant, in essence, to destroy it, to cross it out. Tolkien had the wisdom to understand this and to stop in time.
But he did write The Quest for Erebor, a kind of supplement to The Lord of the Rings. In this episode Gandalf tells the surviving members of the Fellowship about the events of The Hobbit after his victory over Sauron in Minas Tirith – But from his own point of view. In this form, a different account of the events we already know looks surprisingly natural; it is perhaps the most successful attempt to bring together the lines of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings without rehashing the tale itself. Unfortunately, due to lack of space, The Quest for Erebor was not included in the appendices of the novel and remained in several versions, which after Tolkien’s death his son Christopher published in the collection The Unfinished Legends of Numenor and Middle-earth.
Of course, during his life Tolkien perceived The Hobbit in different ways: first as a fairy tale to entertain his own children, then as a literary opus, not even finished, and finally as the book that brought him success and led to the appearance of The Lord of the Rings. In fact, had it not been for The Hobbit, no one would have ever read Tolkien’s major work, his stories about the world of Arda, because The Silmarillion appeared after his death only thanks to his interest in Middle-earth.
Of course, with every film adaptation and every interpretation of the tale in general, a dispute arises: how should we perceive The Hobbit? – as a fairy tale for children or as part of a vast epic? And, of course, the purists have once again perked up after the release of the first part of “The Hobbit” by Peter Jackson.
It seems to me, if we respect the author’s own opinion, the answer is obvious: “The Hobbit” represents both. Or, if you will, it is a fairy tale, through which, at some point, a not at all childish story emerges. How can you not think of the Russian translations, which are in many ways more fairy-tale-like than the original, right down to throwing out phrases and whole scenes? Check this out: in your edition, Beorn talks about torturing captured goblins and wargs before killing them…?
“The Hobbit is full of secrets, and we’ve only told you a fraction of them. But secrets are more interesting to discover on your own, and the keys – well, now you have them. Onward, reader, to Erebor!
