Archetypes In The Hobbit

Why do authors make up characters with similar traits? Sometimes readers and viewers can have confusion on which archetype fits each character best like in the novel The Hobbit. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is about an average old Hobbit who is offered the opportunity for an adventure. He ends up completing the task and eventually becoming the hero of the novel. Throughout the story, other characters are introduced that act as Bilbo’s friends or enemies. Therefore, in The Hobbit, there are characters that fit archetypal descriptions best such as Gandalf as the mentor, Bilbo as hero and Thorin as the seeker. To start off, Gandalf shows very strong characteristics of mentor in The Hobbit. Gandalf came to Bilbo’s house and chose him to be the

Without Gandalf present, Bilbo would not have attended the journey, “’I give it you. In fact I will go so far as to send you on an adventure’” (Tolkien 6). Here, Gandalf is making his decision clear to the thirteen dwarves that this is his decision to declare Bilbo as the burglar for the upcoming adventure. Since the beginning of the novel, the dwarves give off a very disrespectful attitude towards Bilbo. In the very first chapter, the dwarves start to have this disrespectful personality but, Gandalf defends him from the start, “’I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you. If I say he is a burglar, a burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him that you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself’” (Tolkien 19). In this quotation, Gandalf is sticking up for Bilbo and

Thorin has been seeking to find the Arkenstone which has been left from his father’s throne. Bilbo is the one who eventually finds the Arkenstone, but he decides to keep it to himself. On the other side of the mountain where Bilbo and the others are with the treasure, there is Bard and the elves and they are begging for only some treasure to help rebuild their town. Thorin refuses many times. So, Bilbo then gives the Arkenstone to Bard and the elves to use as a bribe for Thorin to give them what they have been asking for. After this betrayal act, Thorin decides to give in and give the other side what they want after seeing that they have his beloved Arkenstone, “’I am betreayed’ he said. ‘It was rightly guessed that I could not forbear to redeem the Arkenstone, the treasure of my house. For it I will give one fourteenth share of the hoard of silver and gold’” (Tolkien 277). Thorin really wants to redeem the Arkenstone so he goes to his greatest limitations. He is offering the treasure he has been seeking for that has been under Smaug’s reign. Thorin eventually turns to his evil side of the novel. He turns against Bilbo because of the fact that he gave the enemies his prize possession. He tries to kill Bilbo and announces that their friendship is no longer going to continue. He also starts a war when the whole situation could have been peaceful. “’By the beard of Burin! I wish I had Gandalf here!