A Rich Fantasy Life: The Hobbit (6 Points)

 Not going off prompt once again, I think The Hobbit was a refreshing book to read, which might sound weird being a classic and basically textbook definition fantasy book. I have never read any of The Hobbit nor The Lord of the Rings books, but I have seen The Lord of the Rings movies (which I love). I have never been much of a big reader due to my horrible ADHD habits but honestly, I didn’t expect this book to hold my attention as much as it did! I think I was worried that since it had been such a huge classic, all of the themes and events would be redundant and expected, but even if so, I can’t necessarily blame it if it were to be because it built such a strong foundation for fantasy stories and films today.

Bilbo Baggins, back then in the late 1930s when this book was initially released, as a character was most likely not a common type of hero. He’s a coward who wants nothing extraordinary to do and enjoys living life comfortably without any surprises, quite the opposite of what’s expected of a prophetic adventurer. I feel like if I were to read this on my own, I don’t think Bilbo’s character would’ve been shown to the best of his abilities. I think he has charm to him, but I was reading along with the 2020 theatrical audiobook on Youtube and the voice actor and narrator does him so much justice I love his little quips and tones of annoyance. As we go through this journey with Bilbo, I couldn’t help but completely fall in love with his character as I feel like he is such an unlikely lovable character. Or maybe it’s just because of how different he is from the norm that intrigues me so.

While reading along, I also couldn’t help but compare Bilbo and Gandalf to Walter White and Jessie Pinkman from Breaking Bad; seemingly incomprehensible, I know, but I can’t explain it their relationship reminds me of them with the younger inexperienced one somehow gets into trouble all the time and complains and always has something to say while the older one seems to have everything together but can become very unhinged. Finding this comparison made me enjoy the book even more as I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.