The Hobbit: An Unexpected Trilogy

    Right now we're going to go over the starting story to one of today's most popular fantasy worlds. It's name: Middle Earth. This is a world unlike any other, consisting of elves, dwarves, orcs and goblins, and hobbits. Before J.R.R Tolkien came around, Hobbits were not in existence.  

     The basics of hobbits: Hobbits have distinct characteristics such as pointy ears and their famously large and hairy feet. Most hobbits reside in a place called the Shire. It's a beautiful green place away from the outside world. This is a good thing for the Hobbits, since they usually dread leaving the Shire. In other words, Hobbits prefer not to have any adventures or do anything unexpected. For a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, that's about to change. 

     Once upon a time, in a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit. This Hobbit's name, as I've said before, is Bilbo Baggins. When Gandalf the wizard and a group of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield ask him to join in their adventure of winning back their home, (the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor,) from Smaug the dragon, Bilbo is in for an unexpected journey that will change his life. Will this hobbit decide to step out of his door? And if he does, will he regret it?  
   
     The Hobbit portrays what can generally happen to a person when they go out into the world for the first time. Bilbo had no idea how much he would change, even though Gandalf warned him that if he did survive the journey, he would not be the same. Throughout his journey, Bilbo witnesses things he hadn't imagined. One thing is his encounter with Gollum. Bilbo had never before seen anyone or anything like Gollum. He didn't realize it, but he when he saw Gollum he was seeing the effects of extreme corruption and addiction; a kind of which that could only come from the one Ring of Power.

        Corruption is a theme in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In The Hobbit, we have a poor creature poisoned by a golden ring, a greedy dragon that stole an entire kingdom only for its wealth and gold, and then men, dwarves, and elves fighting each other for those riches. In The Lord of the Rings, it's mostly the fight for power. Ever wondered why Bilbo and his nephew Frodo were more resistant to the Ring? It's because hobbits are so humble and content with a simple lifestyle of weed and drink that they are not power-hungry or corrupt. 

     A word concerning race: Both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings reflect our own human behavior of racism. The elves in Middle Earth consider themselves to be the "wisest and fairest" of all beings, although some are more humble than others. The same can be said for dwarves. The dwarves, especially Thorin, can be extremely prideful if not stubborn. This could be one reason why the dwarves and orcs are enemies: that simple yet unfortunate concept of one race thinking themselves better than another. 

      Another word concerning romance: In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, we get our first taste of romance in The Hobbit. While fighting spiders, Bilbo and the Dwarves are captured by elves in the woodland realm of Mirkwood. Here, a dwarf in Thorin's company by the name of Kili, and a she-elf named Tauriel, start to show attraction towards each other. In a personal opinion, I feel that not enough of Kili's personality is given/shown prior to this. We can see that he is young, adventurous, and humorous, but how would someone of his specific character interact with others and especially women? If we could have previously seen whether or not Kili is a "womanizer," I think it would have been more entertaining when Kili meets and develops feelings for Tauriel. 
     I also find that Kili and Tauriel's total interaction with eachother was not enough for us see why they feel the way they do. What does Tauriel see in Kili? Your thoughts on this are welcome in the comments! (No swearing, please. :) )

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