What makes somebody a hero? Things that come to my mind when I hear the word are values like courage, leadership, and boldness. “The Hobbit” by J.R.R Tolkien presents a very curious character. His name is Bilbo Baggins and he is a hobbit. He goes from living a quiet comfortable life in his wealthy home under the hill, to going on an epic quest with a company of dwarves in a bodacious attempt to recover the coveted dwarven treasured hoard from a tremendous, wicked dragon. This, in my opinion, is the work of a hero by my definition. Mr. Baggins was not a hero from the start. The hobbit just wanted to remain where he was and follow his usual routine. Adventures were not present in his conscience and if the subject was brought up was greatly …show more content…
Bilbo did not possess any heroic qualities when he left on his adventure, but, as it is recorded in the book: he would not be the same person by the time he returned. The first time you see any heroism in his character is when he gets lost in the goblin tunnels and is under the pursuit of Gollum. Because Bilbo has obtained a magic ring, he is able to become invisible. Gollum can't see the hobbit and is blocking the exit of the tunnel. Now Bilbo is left with a two choices: he can either kill Gollum and easily escape or spare Gollum and try to avoid him on the way out. He decides to take the latter option. This takes no small deal of courage to do. Sometimes sparing a life is harder than taking it. One important thing I would like to point out is that is that for one to be heroic there has to be other people in the equation. It is impossible to be a hero without someone to be heroic towards. Heroism is putting others before yourself. When Bilbo had made his exit, he walked away from it, but eventually decided that it was his duty to go back into the dreaded goblin tunnels and make a desperate attempt to rescue his friends. Luckily, he did not have to because