The Hobbit (novel): Difference between revisions

''Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.'' }}

* [[All There in the Manual]]: ''The Quest for Erebor'' in ''[[Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth|Unfinished Talesof Numenor and Middleearth]]'' is Gandalf telling the story from his perspective (in abbreviated form) and explaining what he was doing when he wasn't with Bilbo's party.

** It was highlyfor a while rumored that the "second" [[Peter Jackson]] ''Hobbit'' movie would actually be an interquel covering these events. ThatIt has since been [[Jossed]] by the [[Word of God]].wasn't: Gandalf's experiences arewere mixed in with the original story, theyand dondidn't consistget an entire movie by themselves, while a single scene in the book was turned into an entire film.

* [[Break the Haughty]]: Thorin is something of a narcissist, probably [[The White Prince|due to his royal blood]]. He's still a likable person, though, until {{spoiler|he reclaims his family's vast long lost fortune and [[Gold Fever]] gets the better of him. If it costs him his life or if he would have been killed anyway is debatable, but he [[Redemption Equals Death|realizes the error of his ways not long before he dies of mortal wounds inflicted by goblins]].}}.

* [[Only Smart People May Pass]]: The Riddle Game with Gollum, whose offer is to show Bilbo the way out of the caves (or to make a meal out of Bilbo if Bilbo loses the game). Played straight in the first few riddles (some of which are real stumpers), but subverted by the winning riddle: which is just a stupid question by Bilbo which Gollum mistook for a riddle. Of course, Gollum intended to cheat all along, since he had the Ring (or thought he did). According to ''The Lord of the Rings'', this led to substantial in-universe debate over whether Bilbo technically cheated. However, the scholars do agree that once Gollum ''accepted the question'', he was bound by the rules of the game, especially since Bilbo actually gave him multiple chances to get it right—and ''he'' cheated on the last chance (guessing two separate things: "String, or nothing!").

* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: The [[Trope Codifier]], though since there are thirteen of them in the main party, some of them do get one or two individual personality traits. (Thorin is pompous and long-winded, Dori is a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], Bombur is a [[Butt Monkey]], Balin is the nice guy, Fili and Kili are cheerful.) Partially averted, however, in that none of them seem to carry any weapons until they find some in the Troll's lair, at which point they end up not with axes, but swords. Nor are they particularly stolid: they seem like seasoned adventurers to Bilbo at first, but once on the journey they whine and grumble about things at least as much as Bilbo does (and eventually ''more'' than Bilbo does). Thorin's gang might be excused, however, from the fact that they have been technically homeless for decades; Dain's dwarves from the Iron Mountain fit the trope a lot better.

** The battle with the spiders in chapter 8 seems thrilling, until they realize they're hopelessly lost in the forest; this gets even worse when someone realizes, "Where's Thorin?"

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Thorin.}}

* [[Shut Up, Kirk]]: As Bilbo grows in standing with the dwarves, he finds himself growing increasingly exasperated at their frequent pettiness and complaining, and basically tells them to grow up several times. And each one is ''awesome.''

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Beorn.