May 23, 2010 04:11 PM
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When we follow the life of adventure – on our own preferences or based on circumstances – every now and then our courage and strength is tested. Then we sit and contemplate on matters like, does it really worth it all? Why am I here? I could have been at home, nice and cozy, eating good food, watching movie or sleeping on my comfortable bed. But then - if we show a bit of patience and perseverance and carry on along the path of adventure - and only then we know that it’s really worth it all and it’s much better than being at home (which we do almost every day of our life). And when it all ends we feel sad for the adventure to end and we feel glad that we followed it till the end and enjoyed it to the fullest. Bilbo had all these feelings and emotions from beginning to the end of his adventure, I guess we all do. He showed courage and strength and he had it all in the end. And when it all ended, Bilbo wasn’t the same person that he used to be. Since I pursued him in all his ventures as if they were mine too a bit of change I experienced in myself too.
Life of adventures and hardship brings about changes in us that we can’t grab and have in any other way possible. It makes us happy, brings contentment in life and what more it makes life, worth living. May we all be blessed with life of adventures and may be all follow our dreams till their realization.
ABOUT THE BOOK AND STORY : One fine evening while Bilbo (The Hobbit) was standing outside the door of his HobbitHole, he wished Gandalf (Wizard) “A very Good Morning” and invites him for a tea. Even Bilbo didn’t know at that time, that this chance meeting is going to change the whole course of his life. They do indeed meet the next evening, but along with 13 dwarves, which included Thorin, (there king) and Balin, to say the least. To much of Bilbo’s displeasure, he is kind of dragged into the adventure and is given the role of a Burglar (and he plays it too well to be true). Now what the adventure was?? That’s what the book is made of; in short it can be said like - It’s to follow a long, tricky and dangerous path to lonely mountains - where once dwarf’s ruled - and to steal the treasure, which once belonged to dwarves, from the Smaug, a dangerous fire dragon.
“Far over the misty mountains cold, - to dungeons deep and caverns old; - we must away ere break of day, -to seek the pale enchanted gold.” - thats what the adventure was in dwarves words.
What follows after that was an adventure of a lifetime for Bilbo (same is true for the reader too). The stealing of arms and food from trolls; short rest at the Last Homely house of Elrond(elf-king); chance encounter with Gollum and his game of Riddles with Bilbo(very interesting); finding or the magic ring(no need to say which ring) and discovery of its magic(invisibility); fighting Goblins, Wargs and Wolves and getting rescued by eagles(almost from the jaws of death); stay at the house of Beorn (a skin-changer, can be a bear or a man or anything, when desired - interesting character); long and tiresome journey of elf-path through the dark and dense forests of Mirkwood; fighting with and killing of giant spiders by Bilbo (of course with the help of ring); meeting with wood-elves; detention of dwarves and rescue by Bilbo, by hiding in Beer-barrels thru river-path; short rest with the men of lake-town; encounter with Smaug and Bilbo’s first burglary; Bilbo’s daring talk with Smaug and discovery of dragon’s weakness; fury of Smaug’s attack on lake-town; killing of Smaug by Bard; disagreement on division of treasure; finally a war with Goblins(Battle of five armies, where men elves and dwarves fight together against goblins, wargs and wolves); death of Thorin; and back journey to home with Gandalf.
All these adventures took Bilbo and party a little more than a year and Tolkien 364 pages to complete. Hope I haven’t gone too deep into the story, but I have loved reading it so much - thinking myself to be always alongside Bilbo wearing another magic ring - that I find it hard to mention it all. It was an adventure for me too.
About the Author: What can one say about Tolkien? There is no storyteller like him. His words are always so soothing, so fluent and so magical that it hardly takes any time to get adjusted with his way of writing (mostly happen with a new author). If anyone has read Tolkien and knows some other storyteller like him, please let me know, I’ll very much like to discover them too.
Other than “The Hobbit” Tolkien has written the trilogy of “Lord of the Rings”(which we all know very well) which in fact follows “The Hobbit”. It was “The Hobbit” that was written first (it begins as a family tale that Tolkien’s told to his children around 1930 and it gradually took the form of a book and when it was published it became a huge success instantly. Then followed “Lord of the Rings” and rest all is history.
Note: “The Hobbit” is soon going to be made into a motion picture just like LOTR. It will be made into parts, first one to be released in 2011 and the second one to follow in 2012(if we’ll survive 2012 J). Under the perfectionist eyes of Peter Jackson, but it will be directed by his assistant director of LOTR. Waiting eagerly for its release.
Few chapters of interest:
The unexpected Party : Explains the hobbit’s way of life, with brief background of Bilbo. Bilbo’s first meeting with Gandalf and Dwarves. Their Planning of the burglary and whole history behind it all.
Riddles in the Dark : Discovery of the Ring, and the game of riddles between Bilbo and Gollum, and escape from the Misty Mountains. It is filled with very interesting riddles, putting down one of them and there are many more like this one.
"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt - cannot be heard, cannot be smelt - It lies behind stars, and unveils hills - And empty holes it fills -It comes first and follows after - Ends life, kills laughter." - Can anyone guess??
- Inside information: Bilbo’s encounter with Smaug, the dragon(ofcourse being invisible), their talks filled with riddles again (very amusing). Smaug’s boasting of himself and Biblo’s finding of Smaug’s weakness.
“My armor is like shield, my teeth are swords; the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath .. death.”
Ending with the Words of great wisdom from none other than Gandalf, which depicts that whenever great things happen through our hands, they happen not merely by our luck or effort and for our own benefit only; somewhere somehow great powers are involved in their fulfillment. No matter how good or how bad we may be, we’ll still be a mere drop in the ocean.
Bilbo - “The prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true.”
Gandalf - “Surely, you don’t disbelieve them; because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself. You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventure and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit. You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you, but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world
