![]() I think there is something to be said for both of their characters as being developed as unmarried. ![]() And, of course, that is entirely speculative. Bilbo’s age may reflect Tolkien’s not-so-subtle way of sharing his sons’ adventure with them, by projecting a part of himself onto the character. They were not interested in hearing about married men going off and having adventures - they wanted “boy tales”. The most likely reason is that Tolkien did not want to complicate the adventure for his sons, who were the first audience of The Hobbit. on the more "here's why he wrote it that way" perspective, see this little essay where he posits the following: and then send skittering back home - i.e. With Frodo, both Gandalf and Tolkien imply (if not explicitly state) that he too had some of that "wandering spirit" (in part the desire to "go off" to find Bilbo again) - and also that there was then some sense of the "burden" of the ring inhibiting him, either from going anywhere OR from getting attached (even if he was not consciously aware of it as the cause - the mere aspect of having/keeping it "secret" would make having any other household members more difficult).Īnd then there is just the matter of personality - Tolkien portrays them both as being "eccentric" and a bit bookish/intellectual and inherently less likely to be looking for or wanting a "domestic" household with wife & little rugrat infant/toddler aged kids messing up your home (much easier to have slight older kids around - the age where they can hold conversations, etc and who you can "borrow" and "corrupt". but also didn't quite have the "gumption" to just set off without any purpose or goal (especially as he had that nice little "Bag End" he had inherited at a fairly young age) - so Bilbo was kind of in a proverbial "rut" - both wanting to leave, and yet unable to justify it. With Bilbo I recall there being some text (perhaps in Unfinished Tales in the essay known as "The Quest of Erebor" where he goes into a bit more detail of Gandalf first meeting Thorin and how he "selected" Bilbo for said "adventure") - where he has Gandalf explain that he suspected Bilbo had remained "unattached" just so that he COULD (possibly) some day "go off and have an adventure" - IOW Bilbo didn't want to settle down because he wanted to travel, etc. On the serious side of the question, Tolkien does address it, in both cases. There are other Tolkien-themed subreddits out there! Say hello to our friends in the following places: We're looking at starting a wiki for these common ones. Try searching before posting a new thread: odds are we've already covered some of the "classic" questions ("Who is Tom Bombadil?", "What happened to the Blue Wizards?", "Why couldn't the Eagles just take the Ring?" etc). Please make use of r/TolkienBooks and r/TolkienArt for these. Posts/comments centring entirely on promotion will be removed. You can share your content, but in a discussion-based format. Links are allowed, so long as they contribute to the discussion. No posts that are simply links or title-only. (Some more obscure topics we will allow.) ![]() There are other spaces on Reddit to discuss the movies, games, fanfiction, AI-generated content, etc. This sub is intended primarily for serious posts, although humour in discussion is still welcome.ĭon’t discuss topics that stray too far away from having the centre of attention on Tolkien and his works. Stick to the topic instead of commenting on others. No insults, and no aggressive or passive-aggressive comments. For the full descriptions of the rules, follow this link.Īlways keep in mind that we are all human beings, so treat others how you would like to be treated. Multi-reddit of ALL Tolkien Themed Subreddits!īelow are our general rules.Wondering what books there are to read? See /u/ebneter's great postįull list of All Past Reading Discussions and Other Posts of Note Please see our frequently asked questions. Welcome to r/tolkienfans! This subreddit is a space for the Tolkien nerds of reddit to debate and discuss the whole Tolkien mythos. ![]()
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