The Hobbit: Ch.3-4 Summary/Review

Summary

Glamdring

Chapter 3

The dwarves, Gandalf, and Bilbo begins traveling into the Misty Mountains. The journey is rough,
but they eventually found a place to rest in Rivendall. In Rivendall, a elf name Elrond, who is a old friend of Gandalf's, lets them stay for 14 days. During these 14 days, he helps recognizes the two swords that Gandalf and Thorin took from the troll's cave. The names are Glamdring (Gandalf's) and Orcrist (Thorin's) He also interprets the map by using moonlight to reveal the hidden hint of how to cross the the hidden pathway to the Lonely Mountain. The hint tells the user to stand by a stone near a thrush and wait for the Sun to set on Durin's Day. The dwarves leave and travels deeper into the Misty Mountains

Chapter 4

Great Goblin

The dwarves continue their journey into the mountains. Gandalf is dubious about the pathway because he knows that the land has become evil and dangerous. As they continue traveling, they decide to sleep, but encounter the goblins who ambushed and captured all of them except Gandalf who escaped. The goblins take them to the Great Goblin and recognized the the sword Thorin carries. Gandalf arrives and saves everyone. The dwarves counterattack and kill several goblins as well as the Great Goblin. The dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf make a run for it. Bilbo is being carried by Dori and accidentally falls off, strikes his head on the ground, and knocks himself unconscious.

Review

Chapter 3 is an important aspect of the the novel, The Hobbit, because I think it will help lead to a much bigger role into the story. In Chapter 3, I wasn't surprised to see that the dwarves will meet Elrond. I knew that they would need help with some guidance with the map to find the hidden door. Chapter 3 reveals that the two swords that Gandalf  and Thorin took from the troll cave happens to be use to kill goblins and were associated with Smaug. I believe that Tolkien was influenced by stories and legends like Beowulf and King Arthur particularly their famous weapons such as Excalibur and Hrunting. Tolkien probably wanted to do the same thing for his own weapons.

Chapter 4 I believe is a just a small conflict in The Hobbit. The goblins were just a small antagonist in this chapter. The goblins and the Great Goblin only slowed down the dwarves journey to the hidden passageway. However, even though this chapter was just a small conflict, I believe that it has an important in the entire story. In The Hobbit, Bilbo describes the goblins to be incredibly ugly, short, and have a personality of being cruel and wicked. The goblins seem to be also greedy when they took the supplies and some of them were messing around with it. Also, Bilbo accidentally fell off and lost consciousness which could mean that the next chapter will reveal The One Ring.

The Hobbit: Ch 1-2 Summary/Review

In my entire life, I have read many well-written books from many writers. Moby Dick, The Little Prince, etc. When I was a little kid, I had already watched the movie Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. However, I never thought about actually reading the two novels. Let me just say, that if feels like J.R.R. Tolkien is literally right in front of me and he is telling the story to me.

Summary

Chapter 1: The Unexpected Journey

The Unexpected Journey reveals the main character, Bilbo Baggins, who is a hobbit. A hobbit is a...well, they're hobbits. A fictional race half the height of an average human. They have a big appetite, love nature, and have big, hairy feet. Bilbo Baggins meets the famous wizard, Gandalf, and several dwarves accompanying him on the journey. Their names are: Bifur, Bofur, Bombar, Oin, Gloin, Fili,  Dori, Nori, Fili, Ori, Dwalin, Balin, and Thorin Oakenshield (the leader of the dwarves). Gandalf believes that Bilbo is meant to join the team and journey through Middle Earth to help with the dwarves quest. However, a majority of the dwarves believe that Bilbo is not right for the task to steal the treasure back from the dragon.

Gandalf

"That's right," said Gandalf. "Let's have no more argument. I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you. If I say he is a Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself. You may (possibly) all live to thank me yet. Now Bilbo, my boy, fetch the lamp, and let's have a little light on this!" (page 19; paragraph 3)

The dwarves are the some of a group of survivors who barely escaped Smaug's attack on their homeland. They used to live in the mountains with lots of gold treasure until Smaug the dragon drew them out. They want to return and take back the treasure they lost and their home. Thorin has a map that will lead them to an invisible door that is a secret gateway to their homeland.

Bilbo Baggins

Chapter 2: Roast Mutton

As the story continues with Bilbo Baggins waking up and quickly decides to join Gandalf and the dwarves on the journey to steal the treasure from Smaug. Bilbo manages to catch up and join the team. Bilbo misses his homeland and a heavy rain causes the dwarves to feel bad-tempered. Bilbo spots three giant trolls and tries to prove to everyone that he is worth something by stealing from the trolls. He gets captured and eventually so does the dwarves. Gandalf saves the day by stalling time and letting the sunlight shine upon the trolls turning them to stone.

"Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!" said a voice...(page 41; paragraph 7)

The gang later takes the troll's supplies in their cave such as food and beverages. They also take two good conditioned swords and Bilbo takes a knife that fits his size to be a sword. Thorin and his dwarves continues further with Gandalf and Bilbo.

Review

Chapter 1 and 2 fit extremely well in the story. J.R.R. Tolkien did a REALLY good job on introducing his fictional created race, hobbits. I love the way hobbits are unique from the other mythical creatures of fantasy. I especially love that although most hobbits love to stay at home, only a few of them dare venture out of their homeland. I never really thought that reading The Hobbit would be so interesting and exciting. I love how Tolkien uses his influence on Nordic legends and myths to make the story exciting to read. The first time I read about Gandalf, my mind immediately thought about Odin. I really have to thank J.R.R. Tolkien for helping to increase the popularity of fantasy books. Overall, The Hobbit is one of the most exciting books I have read in quite a long time.

Influences

Two dwarves of Norse mythology

Chapter 1 and 2 show Tolkien's influence in Nordic mythology. I can understand why Tolkien created the character Gandalf to have similar qualities with the Norse deity, Odin. He also created dwarves and trolls that came from Norse mythology. You see, dwarves according to Norse mythology live in
mountains just the dwarves of Middle Earth. In fact, Tolkien's dwarves have a similar appearance to the Norse dwarves. The mountain trolls in Middle Earth are also similar to trolls of Norse folklore. Both of them are usually big creatures who live mostly in the dark. If they are exposed to sunlight, they will turn to stone.

J. R. R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien

Background

John Ronald R Tolkien was an English writer and poet born in Bloemfontein, South Africa on January 3, 1892 to September 2, 1973. His father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, died when Tolkien was 3 years old and his mother gave Tolkien many different types of literature to read. Tolkien grew up loving to read especially European myths and legends. However, Tolkien was force to join the army as a common soldier and later a lieutenant during World War I. Tolkien was injured one time and took some notes that later created the roots of his world, Middle Earth. Tolkien became a professor after the war and taught Old and Middle English. These languages helped inspire him to write and publish The Hobbit in 1937. Tolkien's big success on the book made his publisher ask Tolkien to write a sequel which took Tolkien 10 years to complete the novel The Lord of the Rings. This book was so big that it was separated into 3 parts: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Tolkien helped raised the popularity of fantasy literature that helped other fantasy writer let their books be known.

Influences

Religious Influences

Tolkien's works on the two books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings has some Christian influences. Many people believe that Tolkien has some religious influences because of the themes in the stories. These include: death and immortality, repentance, justice, hope, authority, and self-sacrifice. Tolkien mentions the Lord's Prayer in The Lord of the Rings to relate with Fredo's struggle against power hunger of the One Ring.

Nordic Influences

Odin

Tolkien was greatly influence by Norse/Nordic mythology and legends. Tolkien used to read and translate Old Norse. He got the idea of the One Ring by listening to Richard Wagner's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen which was talks about a ring and a broken sword. Nordic influences allowed Tolkien to create his famous Middle Earth elves and dwarves. The elves and dwarves of Middle Earth were inspired by several opera song such as the Völuspa. Tolkien The famous character, Gandalf the Grey, was inspired by the Norse god, Odin. Gandalf is really similar to Odin such as Odin's belief of justice, knowledge, truth, and insight.

Warfare Influences

Lieutenant J.R.R Tolkien

Tolkien served in the British Army during WWI and later became the second lieutenant. Before the war, Tolkien lived a peaceful life without any trouble. However, when he was sent out to battle in WWI, his life experience changed. Tolkien was tossed from his comfortable life to a dangerous and hostile surroundings. This will reflect to Tolkien's character in The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived a fun and peaceful life in Middle Earth. But then he joined Gandalf and a group of dwarves and encounter many dangers in his journey. When Germany invaded Poland and started WWII, Tolkien served as a British codebreaker. Tolkien uses the start of WWII and its damage to the European world to echoed with his character Sauron who is trying to take over Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings.