The Hobbit is a piece of prose written by J.R.R Tolkien. In the story the main character Bilbo Baggins fits the definition of a traditional hero. A traditional hero is someone with a physical strength, a forceful personality, and a craving for adventure or even conflict. Traditional heroes also often leave home, seek out honor and glory, and repeatedly prove themselves worthy. Bilbo proves that he is a hero throughout the story with his characteristics, choices, and behaviors. This shows what a traditional hero is and that Bilbo fits that definition. To begin with Bilbo proves to the reader that he is a hero with his characteristics. First, when thinking of a traditional hero the first thing that comes to mind is bravery. Bilbo shows glimpse …show more content…
To begin, Bilbo steals the Arkenstone from Smaug. When Bilbo goes back into Smaug's Lair he pockets the Arkenstone making excuses to himself for the theft. This shows a heroic behavior because one of the main goals of their journey was the Arkenstone and Bilbo goes down and gets all by himself. In addition to that another one of his heroic behaviors is when he found the Keyhole on the side of the mountain so they could enter Smaug's lair. While they were waiting Bilbo remembers the moon runes from Elrond and shouts out to the dwarves and suddenly a ray of the setting sun shines on the wall, which cracks to reveal a keyhole. This is a heroic behavior because the ray shows the keyhole only once a year for a certain amount of time and if Bilbo never would've never seen it they would've never entered the cave. Bilbo also finds the weak spot on Smaug so he can be killed. When Bilbo goes into the cave he notices a small bare patch on Smaug's jewel-encrusted underbelly. This shows a heroic behavior because this led to Smaug being killed which was one of the biggest and baddest creatures on their journey. This indicates how Bilbo's behaviors make him a traditional