The Heroic Quest Patterns In The Hobbit, By J. R.

On earth there are four seasons, winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each year they go in the same order like a pattern, like the seasons many books follow a set pattern. Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, discovered a pattern in stories about heroes and wrote all the ten stages of the pattern he called the Heroic Quest Pattern. In J.R.R Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, Tolkien uses the the Heroic Quest pattern to write about Bilbo Baggins adventure to defeat Smaug, the goblins and the wargs. Campbell’s ten stages of the Heroic Quest are included inside The Hobbit and are categorized into three categories; departure, trials, and return. In the beginning of most novels and stories the hero is brought through the departure

In The Hobbit, Bilbo’s first “trial” is his encounter with Gollum, a slimy, nasty creature. Tolkien describes Gollum as “as dark as darkness, except for two pale round eyes in his thin face.” (Tolkien 68). When Bilbo wins the riddle game Gollum thought of, Gollum tries to attack him, Bilbo did not kill Gollum because he pitied the lonely creature. Bilbo also realizes he is more courageous than he thought. After Gollum, Bilbo came upon giant, deadly spiders, that captured him and the dwarves. In the novel, The Hobbit, spiders are described as “He could on see the things eyes, but could feel it's hairy legs….”(Tolkien 143). Bilbo defeated them with a new found confidence when he began teasing them and removing his ring that made him invisible. Furthermore, one of the biggest trials Bilbo found himself in was when he was with Smaug.Bilbo outsmarts Smaug by learning that “No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time to understand it.”(Tolkien 205). Bilbo was tiny compared to Smaug's immense size, he was terrified, but managed to not get eaten or roasted by Smaug because all of his other trials had prepared him. In Campbell's “Road of Trials,” stage the trials usually prepare the hero for his or hers biggest test with the

“The Magic Flight” is the stage after “The Road of Trials,” in this stage is about the hero's return to his or hers world accompanied by his or her guardian (Campbell). Once the battle is done Bilbo is reunited with Gandalf, they both are allowed to return home. Next comes the “Master of Two Worlds” where the hero's has the ability to pass back and forth from one world to another (Campbell). In The Hobbit, Bilbo is able to stop at most of the places he gone during his adventure such as; The Homely House, Beorn's Hall , and the Dwarves mountain and stay there when needed. The last stage is “The Freedom to Live,” the hero is now able to to live in freedom (Campbell). Bilbo Baggins is able to live in peace in his homely hobbit hole, with a few rewards from the journey such has his sword in which he named “Sting” and some loot from the hoard. Atlas the hero has finally became a hero and can now be in peace knowing he contributed to defeating