Tolkien’s Viewpoint on Heroism Authors give heroic qualities to characters within literature. Tolkien gives the characters in The Hobbit heroic qualities. The characters given heroic qualities by Tolkien are Bilbo, Beorn, Thorin, and Gandalf. Tolkien then indicates Gandalf is the is the most heroic because of the amount of wisdom Gandalf has, compared to the other heroic characters from The Hobbit. In The Hobbit, all of Tolkien’s characters are heroic because of their courage. Tolkien indicates courage is a positive characteristic by causing the characters to succeed when they act courageously . Bilbo’s use of courage allows him to escape the caves successfully when he was alone (Tolkien 82). Beorn’s use of courage allows him to gain information from the Goblin and Warg as they were on the Carrock (Tolkien 123). Thorin’s use of courage allows him to attack the trolls without getting hurt (Tolkien 38). Gandalf‘s use of courage has allowed him to defeat the Great Goblin and save the dwarves (Tolkien 61). Because the characters are successful because of their courageousness, Tolkien has a positive tone concerning courage. Tolkien implies that wisdom is a positive and heroic characteristic because the heroic characters are placed into scenarios where if they did not have wisdom, they would have …show more content…
Gandalf has more wisdom because he was able to defeat the trolls without physically fighting them (Tolkien 40). Having a plan, Gandalf was able to defeat the trolls using his wisdom. Gandalf’s wisdom differs from Bilbo’s and Thorin’s wisdom because Gandalf was aware that the trolls were able to be defeated in sunlight whereas Bilbo or Thorin knew that was possible. In addition, Gandalf’s wisdom differs from Beorn’s wisdom because Gandalf has the ability to use his magic anywhere, whereas Beorn can only use his shapeshifting powers near the