The Hobbit

In “The Hobbit” , the main character, Bilbo, is whisked away by forces seemingly beyond his control and does not generally follow the elements of the classic journey of the hero. We do not learn much of his lineage, and around his small neighborhood, he does not have an intense reputation about him. However, another character Thorin, follows this journey more closely. Upon his introduction to the novel, we see that he has great expectations placed upon him by his surrounding company. Upon killing the Dragon known as Smaug that was guarding the treasure he deemed as rightfully his, Thorin begins to exhibit greatly selfish behavior. Through his journey, we see inklings of a fall from grace, however these suspicions are brought to the forefront when he flatly refuses to help those that he has negatively affected in his journey, even though they ask of him only the bare minimum. This goes in contrast with the archetype of the hero’s journey, that says that when the hero has his battle he will reign uneventfully for a long period of time and only much later lose favor with his subjects and or the “gods”. He is mortally wounded in a subsequent battle, only dying later surrounded by his friends. This death scene is incongruous with the archetype of the hero dying a mysterious death atop a hill. “The Hobbit” seems to take certain elements from the archetype of the hero’s journey to create the feeling of a classic fairy tale, while simultaneously turning them on their heads to shake up the genre.