How Does Bilbo Change From The Beginning Of The Hobbit To The End
Tolkien Tuesday: The Hero'due south Journey and The Hobbit
What is the Hero's Journey and Why Yous Should Intendance
The Hero'due south Journey is a template for your story. It is a gear up of steps your protagonist goes through to reach the goal of their story. And so, they come up back changed.
Or dead, I guess. But...I would consider that changed. Although, the classic structure does call for the hero to return from the adventure with something.
The Hero's Journeying is as old as storytelling itself. The term was popularized and explored by Joseph Campbell in his famous work The Hero With A Thousand Faces, published in 1949.
I know what you may be thinking…
You've heard this all before.
Y'all don't desire to use any kind of story structure for your novel.
Your story is wild and free and full of complexities this basic bitch formula couldn't handle.
But accept you tried it?
Here's the matter about story structures: they are the skeleton of your book. They work because they give you something to build up from.
If y'all practice the basics over and over and over, that'southward when you main something. You take to play that same scratchy beginner'southward song if y'all are learning violin that features at every kid's first recital before you lot can be kickoff chair in an orchestra.
Epic tale after epic tale uses a version of this structure. You would be hard-pressed to discover stories that didn't striking at least some of these plot points.
And the mean solar day this article is released is Hobbit Day. And a Tuesday! In commemoration of the best Hobbit of all time, and the most epic Tolkien Tuesday still, we will interruption downward The Hero'south Journey with the plot of The Hobbit.
So grab your handkerchiefs before running out the door, and allow'southward encounter how the Hero's Journeying can help our ain stories.
Pin this!
The Steps of the Hero's Journey (By Bilbo Baggins)
The Hero'south Journey breaks down into 12 steps. Although originally it was 17 steps, some of which I'll mention here considering Tolkien hit some of them.
Tin we capeesh that Tolkien loved mythology so much that he created a story that almost perfectly breaks down the Hero's Journey earlier Campbell popularized information technology?
I hateful, I approximate he was kind of a professor and all.
1. The Ordinary Globe
"Look, I'm not going to buy your cookies man."
We begin our tale in the everyday world.
Bilbo is smoking his pipe, watching the mean solar day get past without a worry in the world.
Then Gandalf shows up to ruin everything, precisely as he means to.
Even in their back and forth conversation, we get a sense of Bilbo's graphic symbol and the life he lives. He is flustered even by a strange conversation, let lone strange adventures.
Bilbo doesn't like adventure. But too doesn't like being rude and accidentally invites Gandalf for tea, which makes Bilbo worry fifty-fifty more.
Importance: Your reader needs to go a sense of the ordinary world.
Before the phone call to adventure and the quest, what are your protagonists fighting for? What's at pale?
We demand to run across where our characters come up from then we can see how much they grow. It doesn't have to exist long in your story. You don't want to bore your reader correct out the gate.
Here, even the chat betwixt Gandalf and Bilbo serves equally tension as we go a sense of who Bilbo is.
2. The Call of Gamble
Me at a party trying to figure out when I tin escape.
Oh, Gandalf comes for tea all correct, and brings xiii Dwarves along with him.
From what we already know of Bilbo, nosotros understand this is a pain in the ass for him. This is too close to being an adventure as Dwarves literally pile into his home.
The narrator's voice even breaks the 4th wall to go us to imagine how uncomfortable this would be (and non for the terminal fourth dimension.)
Then the Dwarves outset talking about their quest and how they need a Burglar and somehow think Bilbo is their human...er, Hobbit.
As the Dwarves play the One-time Town Road of their people, singing most dungeons deep and caverns erstwhile, Bilbo hopes this all goes away.
But not before a little chance is stirred in him, giving us a glimpse of his potential.
Importance: No story can showtime without a push to run a risk.
I may desire to live in the Shire, but I don't want a story about someone spooky on their forepart porch all day.
And let's be honest, the Dwarves wouldn't have made it out of Mirkwood without our terrified little Hobbit whose biggest worry in life is broken plates.
3. Refusal of the Call
I said refusal…REFUSAL!
Not every hero is Superman willing to fly off into every danger.
And in Bilbo's case, the refusal of the telephone call is his label.
He thinks this whole quest thing has been solved for him, waking upward to an empty firm.
Bilbo begins a normal mean solar day similar a frat bro who just needs to get rid of the hangover before cleaning up (even though the Dwarves kindly did most of information technology.)
When Gandalf comes to run into why he hasn't met them at The Green Dragon to set up out for adventure, Bilbo is so flustered he rushes out the door.
His refusal was actually hoping he wouldn't have to reject. (What a 9.)
Importance: Your hero needs to feel like a real man.
We want to believe we are all capable of adventure. But, if a wizard showed upwardly at my door with 13 Dwarves and tried to get me signing contracts and making verbal agreements to aid these people I don't know, I would probably say no too.
Refusing the call makes it realistic for your reader. Your protagonist is a normal person with normal concerns. They are relatable .
And if Bilbo (who but wants to relax with an ale and eat cake) isn't relatable, I don't know what is.
4. Coming together the Mentor
"Who? Me?"
The hero doesn't know how to exist a hero nonetheless. They need guidance.
Bilbo has technically already met the mentor of this story. Gandalf is wrapped in mystery, strange power, and is a little intimidating.
Only, he's full of knowledge that we're confident will help all of them.
He guides the group with a plan. He will take them to Rivendell and the Elves, and they volition get additional guidance there. With him in the group, we feel a little safer.
Importance: Your hero needs to learn from someone who has been in through the strange parts of the world starting time.
That can be both internal and external guidance. Gandalf knows the world and is full of knowledge that Bilbo can't possibly understand.
Your mentor will help start the transformation of your protagonist. Because that's what this is all about if yous oasis't noticed.
Story is about change.
v. Crossing the First Threshold
"So I says, I says, no…off the internet likewise! Haaa!"
Speaking of modify, it'southward time for the hero to cross over into a world they have never known.
The ordinary, familiar world must fall abroad if your protagonist is going to change. Recall, this tin can exist a good or bad change. Your hero is going to fail along the way too.
And Bilbo is no different.
Bilbo, the party-crashing (fifty-fifty if there isn't a party) Dwarves, and Gandalf get out into the broad world. That world is dangerous.
With the group cold, drenched in the pelting, and miserable, Bilbo scouts a campfire (belonging to trolls) they spot in the distance to prove that he is worth something to the group. Yous take to give him credit for trying on an take chances he never actually wanted to exist on in the outset place.
Bilbo, unfortunately, is terrible at being a Burglar. He roles a nat 1 on his stealth cheque and is captured by the trolls, and chaos ensues.
And then the mentor gets to prove himself.
Importance: This is what I like to call the "oh crap" moment of the story.
(More often than not, because I didn't exercise my enquiry earlier looking into the Hero's Journey and realizing that at that place was an official proper name for it.)
This sets up the danger of your story. Whatever hope your hero had of going through with their quest smoothly is smashed to pieces. (Or squished into jelly).
And it's an excellent moment for characterization. We get to encounter that fifty-fifty though this quest isn't his, Bilbo wants to prove himself. Nosotros likewise get to see that the Dwarves are fiercely loyal even with a person they don't see as worth much to the group.
This scene volition found your protagonist's growth because we become to see their "small beginnings."
...no pun intended, Bilbo.
6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies
No
Buckle upwards; this department is a doozie. That's because this is the ascent action, sometimes called complications, of your story. Information technology covers a lot of territory.
Let'southward break information technology downwardly department by department, and I'll have a couple of bonuses because The Hobbit follows some of Joseph Campbell'south original 17 points of the Hero's Journey.
(And before you go light me upwards in the comments, yes I already mentioned that Tolkien wrote The Hobbit before Cambell's famous work.)
–Allies: Allow'south kickoff here because right subsequently the trolls, the group meets the Elves.
Allies are important to your story because they offer help to your hero. They can provide gifts, guidance, or just a place to lay their weary head for a fleck.
For Tolkien, that means Elves. He loves a good hang with Elves.
Elrond gives the grouping some wise insights, and they all discover residuum at that place.
Later, the group volition meet Beorn. He's essentially the Compensation man, but also can turn into a comport. Human, Compensation is tough!
He makes supplies for them to go through the Mirkwood Woods that is full of dangers. He likewise gives them advice for staying alive (always prissy to have) and helps them in the finish. A damn practiced ally!
The Eagles also represent this point for the Hero's Journey. They help the group out of a jam or two, (and then go on doing it for the rest of the series.)
And permit's not forget the Men of Laketown. They requite the Dwarves and Bilbo a imperial welcome, and Bard the Bowman does end up slaying Smaug before they become enemies of sorts.
Speaking of…
–Enemies: Every great quest needs obstacles. Every hero needs a bad guy.
The Goblins become enemy number ane immediately after the group leaves Elrond and the Elves in Rivendell.
Throughout the story, they are hunted by these Goblins and eventually clash at the cease of the story.
The Spiders of Mirkwood also fill this role.
And I didn't forget the Mirkwood Elves in the Allies section considering they actually vest here. They imprison the Dwarves and are kind of a pain in the ass to them for most of the story.
Oh, and let's not forget the dragon. (It does not do to leave a live dragon out of our calculations, later all.)
Smaug is the ultimate enemy of the grouping. Huge, fierce, cunning, and breathes fire. Non a groovy philharmonic to face.
–Trials: This is one of the virtually essential things in your story.
This will play into your characterization the nearly. Certain, your enemies and allies volition prove fan favorites, but they mean nix without the trials.
Because the trials have a deeper meaning.
Bilbo must be challenged, and he tin't always take the Dwarves salve him. That wouldn't be very heroic, and information technology wouldn't examination our protagonist properly.
The get-go major trial for Bilbo comes when he is lonely in Goblin Boondocks.
–BONUS The Belly of the Whale: This is one of the OG stages from Joseph Campbell, and Goblin Town is the perfect representation.
Gimme dat OG Bilbo!
Your hero must make choices on their ain and is in an utterly dangerous place.
Your hero will go through a metamorphosis at this point. The beautiful heroic butterfly that comes out the other side is utterly changed by their ordeal. (Or the emotionally wrecked, now needs some serious therapy, hero.)
This is the indicate of no return for your graphic symbol. The trial that takes them entirely into the other, strange, audacious globe. They tin can't go back now.
More than likely, there will be more than than 1 trial in your story.
Poor Bilbo has a few.
Afterwards the Goblins, Bilbo will face up some other moment of beingness completely alone. Spiders capture his friends, and he at present must run INTO danger to free them. Goblin Boondocks was sheer survival. Now he has to come through for his friends.
Then he has to effigy out how to gratis all of his friends from the Elves.
And get them to Laketown in one piece.
And…
You know what? Gandalf was right after all in making Bilbo join.
And that is what trials in your story are all about. Showing how much your graphic symbol is changing and growing.
–BONUS Supernatural Assistance: Another of the original 17 steps in the Hero's Journey becomes the entire signal of The Lord of the Rings.
Bilbo finds The Ring. He doesn't know the consequences of it notwithstanding, but it'southward kind of going to play a major role from hither on out.
For Bilbo, this ways having an advantage to do what needs to be done on the gamble. The but thing standing in his mode from beingness a hero is his own courage. His greatest boxing is always with himself.
Importance: Much like this section of the article, this will exist the longest part of your story.
Many trials, allies, and enemies will come in and out of the story. They should all have a purpose, and if they don't drive the plot, they should get cutting.
They also open more plot points in the future, whether in the current story or subsequently in the series. Finding the Ring influences everything that comes later on it.
Tension flows out of the trials for your characters. Make them difficult, sacrificial, and the consequences irreversible.
seven. Arroyo to the Innermost Cave
The dragon is a fierce…uh…kinda adorable lizard, actually.
Simply put: this is when your hero is near to enter the about unsafe place in the story.
They aren't in that location yet, but it looms similar a shadow over what they are doing.
For Bilbo, this is literally a shadow. The Alone Mount stands before the group. The unabridged journey has led upwardly to this.
There's one last hurdle of the trial stage: figuring out where and how to become into the secret door of the Solitary Mountain.
Then Bilbo realizes he will have to face the long dark of the Dragon'south Lair (the literal innermost cave) alone.
Importance: This is pure tension building.
When your reader knows they are getting closer to the goal, they starting time leaning forward (so to speak.) You have their complete attention.
Time to deliver.
eight. The Ordeal
"Don't move! He tin't run across us if nosotros don't move!"
All the trails, trinkets, and wisdom gained forth the way have led our protagonist to the ultimate exam.
This is non going to be your climax. More complications volition stem from this, only our hero must do what they set out to exercise.
Bilbo faces Smaug past himself. The smallest creature and a giant dragon.
Bilbo has earned this moment. That'south super important to remember every bit you lot write. Nosotros want to see this every bit readers, and can't look to get there, but the journey here makes this moment stick.
If Bilbo didn't demand to fight for himself, or relieve his friends, it would non exist believable that this tiny dude could practise this. (Recollect, he got overwhelmed but because a few Dwarves showed upwards at his house unannounced.) He worried about doilies and empty nutrient stores.
Now he faces a dragon. Yeah, you lot need some in-between at that place.
Bilbo can handle himself, merely he is yet vulnerable compared to the danger.
He uses the Supernatural Aid, the insight he learned along the way, and taps into the courage he has built for himself.
Bilbo approaches this situation, not with bang-up fiery swords of +1 to Dragon-kind, but his cunning wit. And it pays off.
Bilbo uses Smaug's confidence against him and learns of a weakness. It's this boon that helps Bard the Bowmen slay Smaug. All considering Bilbo out-riddled a dragon.
Importance: This is payoff for your reader.
Your reader has been waiting for this moment. Make it worth the wait. Utilize all of the tools y'all've congenital into the story.
And fix up unforeseen complications.
9. Reward (Seizing the Sword)
When my D&D grouping gets to the treasure room and I say they find 10 aureate.
With Smaug out of his lair thanks to Bilbo's cunning, the treasure is at mitt. (And we can include the knowledge of Smaug's weakness besides. It's a treasure to Bard, that's for damn sure.)
The Dwarves, even though they are sure they volition still need to fight for information technology, accept their home back.
Bilbo also gets his hands on the most precious treasure of all: the Arkenstone.
It'south a double reward. The Lonely Mountain is theirs, and Bilbo has an reward now that he has the Arkenstone.
As Thorin falls into greed and selfishness, it's the one menu Bilbo can play to help bring peace after in the story.
But for now, we sweat wondering when Thorin volition observe out well-nigh it and what he volition do when he does.
Importance: Rewards have pros and cons.
Sure, they accept the treasure, but the dragon attacked Laketown in the procedure.
And yes, Smaug was slain in the process, but that means something new will happen.
The defenders volition desire their due share of the treasure.
Your characters demand to have something given to them in the process of their ordeal. But this probably has a double-edged effect. That creates more tension in the story and keeps the reader guessing what will happen next.
We thought the dragon would be the biggest problem, merely now something entirely new is brewing.
x. The Route Back
"I'm not arming for war, per-say"
The initial goal of the quest is achieved, as well a few new complications. And then your hero should go back to normal life, right?
The road back has a roadblock. Or two. Or three. Or 5...armies that is. Oooh. Lamentable, long commodity. Y'all gotta permit a few puns at this indicate.
Bilbo has washed his part, but there's a major new hurting in the ass development. Laketown wants to be rewarded for their part killing the dragon. Thorin is existence a dick to everyone. And Bilbo is property the ane treasure Thorin wants.
A battle seems inevitable.
This is the crunch moment of the story. Every good climax needs one. The hero has a pick to make.
For Bilbo, does he stay loyal to the Dwarves even though Thorin is not thinking clearly, or escape down to the Laketown survivors and hope someone listens to him?
Bilbo chooses option 3. He gives the Arkenstone to the Men (and Gandalf) in the hopes there will be peace, then goes back to the Dwarves to stand with his friends.
The journey was really well-nigh maturing. We all have desires and appetite, merely if those get in the mode of other people'south lives, what is it actually all for?
Bilbo realizes that, once once again, he has to take things into his own hands. And it's not so much a journey into physical darkness this fourth dimension, but rather an inner struggle.
Importance: Everything hangs in the balance of ane last choice.
This is your chance to explore the deeper themes of your story. The physical quest was a trail, yes, but the inner journeying is commonly the most important part of whatsoever story.
Bilbo has grown upwardly. He is making his own choices and exerting his morality on the world around him. This 1 decision influenced the political landscape of an unabridged region.
11. Resurrection
That one dude with the pre-order mount.
This is the climax of the story.
Your hero is totally transformed into a new person thank you to the quest.
The enemies from Goblin Town return to enact their revenge. The allies Bilbo has met along the fashion come back to play their role in this last battle.
The Boxing of Five Armies sees all of our protagonists on the line.
Three die, including Thorin. Bilbo's existent resurrection (who symbolically dies afterwards being knocked out in the battle) comes when he says goodbye to Thorin.
Bilbo gets the affidavit he deserves that he made the right choices.
"If more than of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would exist a merrier world."
The theme gets fully unveiled that greed, fifty-fifty earned from years of impecuniousness, doesn't have a place in the tapestry of a skillful world.
We must strive to eliminate it.
12. Render with the Elixir
"I knew I forgot to lock the damn door"
The tension has all played out, and finally, the route domicile is open. The hero tin can render to everyday life (a changed private.)
Bilbo finally returns home.
Thematically this works beautifully considering Gandalf guides him back dwelling house and gets to meet a changed Bilbo.
Our wise mentor from the start is at present more of an equal. Gandalf will always be more experienced and seen as the wise guide to Bilbo, just something is different.
Bilbo is now knowledgeable in the ways of the foreign globe as well.
He brings that knowledge, the stories, and treasure dorsum dwelling with him. The elixirs, then to speak.
And they change everything.
The Shire isn't quite the same because stories of Bilbo become the new gossip for years. The knowledge of the outside world grows, inspiring a new generation of young Hobbits.
And the Ring finds a new abode. It waits, and a new adventure brews.
Using The Hero's Journey in Your Novel
That's 4 hours of work right there
The Hero'southward Journey is used time and time once more.
And like I said earlier, you will want to break the mold. Only make the mold first.
Practise this story structure and so that you tin can add together to information technology. Build it time and time once again, and then you know how potent the foundation is.
Make the centerpiece of your novel a story about change. That's what it all comes downwards to.
And why is this construction then useful?
Nosotros all want to call up that nosotros tin rise to the challenge when a need presents itself. We all want to believe we can make the choices that make ourselves better and our lives more fruitful.
We are all heroes in our own journey, and in that location'southward something spiritual almost interacting with the Hero'south Journey in whatever story.
Take that feeling and bring your characters to life in the most honest way you can–by putting a fiddling of yourself in at that place.
And if you are reading this on Hobbit Day…then I heighten a glass to yous.
If not (which is statistically very probable), then I promise you accept a moment to enjoy food and cheer and song today.
Go along writing. Proceed telling stories.
They are the little glimmer of hope and courage when nosotros detect ourselves in our own innermost cave.
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By Chris La Porte
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