Having survived trolls, goblins, wolves, spiders, riddles with Gollum and Smaug, the horror of battle, and the rude awakening of Elvish singing, Bilbo Baggins makes it back home again in the last chapter of The Hobbit. All of his neighbors are surprised to find him alive, some are disappointed; and even Gandalf knows Bilbo is not the hobbit he was. We discuss the “mere luck” of “a little fellow in a wide world,” discover Tolkien’s philological hint at the snobbery of the Sackville-Bagginses, and sing way too many classic rock radio hits.
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Recommended Reading:
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit (Mariner Books, paperback) pp. 269-76, “The Last Stage”
Tolkien, J. R. R. and Douglas A. Anderson, ed. The Annotated Hobbit (HarperCollins, hardcover)
Rateliff, John D. The History of the Hobbit (HarperCollins, one-volume hardcover)
Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Mariner Books, paperback)
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The Silmarillion (Mariner Books, paperback)
