"The Hobbit" Discussion Questions and Answers

Thank you, Michelle, for doing these!

Jesse

Michelle

Mom

1. Who was your favorite member of Thorin’s party, and why? Who was your favorite character in the book and in the movie? (can be outside the dwarves/bilbo)

My favorite member of Thorin’s party was Balin. In a way, I think he watched out for Bilbo at times. My favorite deed of his was when he went down to Smaug’s lair with Bilbo when no one else would. I thought that was neat. He is a great example of leadership characteristics. My favorite character in the same book would be Gandalf, and my favorite character in the movie would probably be Thorin. I love the portrayal of him in the movie. He’s portrayed (I think) as an Aragorn-type figure in the movie.

Thorins party - I like Kili and Fili, as well as Balin. Probably because they are talked about the most, and actually have personalities. In the entire book I thought the guy who turned into a bear was cool, and I liked Bard. In the movie, I thought the dwarf who talked to Bilbo when he was about to leave (right before they get captured by goblins) was one of the nicer dwarves to Bilbo, so I liked him.

I liked how so many of the dwarves names rhymed.  I liked Balin because he seemed friendlier towards Bilbo - as stated above.  My favorite character is Bilbo - even though he seems small and timid, he really stuck with it and was able to do things that I’m sure he never thought he’d be able to do.  He showed great courage when needed.

2. Thorin shows a lot of stubbornness and pride throughout the book. What do you feel are his redeeming qualities, as a leader of the Dwarven people?

He’s a leader. I think he strove to do his best in protecting and providing for his people.  

He had a hard life, so he was trying to redeem his heritage. I found him hard to like in the book, but sometimes he cut down his pride and really seemed to appreciate and befriend Bilbo.

I guess I kind of felt like as a character in the book, he deserved to be the one to die at the end.  If he had lived it seems like it would have been harder to establish peace unless he really changed.  Redeeming qualities - he was true to his word to Bilbo about giving him his share of the treasure, etc.

3. The two races that are most definitive of evil or goodness are the goblins and elves. It’s hard to imagine an evil elf as it would be to imagine a good goblin. And yet, the Elves were not particularly kind or fair to the Dwarves in particular, but show respect and friendship towards Bilbo. We know there is animosity between Thorin and the Elves, but what are your feelings about the Elf King and his way he treated them (as opposed to Elrond?)

I feel that the Elf King was definitely less kind towards them than Elrond. It’s true that the Elf King gave them plenty of food, etc while the dwarves were imprisoned. I think he could have treated them with a little more kindness and been a little more forgiving for things of the past.

These Elves seemed to be a lot different then Elrond and the Elves in The Hobbit. A lot more woodsy and different.

Elronds elves hadn’t lived in as close a proximity to Thorin’s people, so there wasn’t as much animosity between them.  Thorin felt like the elves had deserted his people in not helping them fight the dragon when it first came.  The elves probably thought it pointless to fight a dragon, but they could have at least helped the dwarves in their escape?  Perhaps offered them temporary shelter, food, etc.?  These elves didn’t seem as hospitable, and seemed like they delighted in playing tricks on people - as when the dwarves are trying to catch up with them at the campfires when they were all so hungry.

4. Where do you think humans fit in with the races. Are they a “good” race, like the Elves?

With that perspective, I think that the human race were like the dwarves. They were as accepting like Elrond. I think they and the dwarves are more focused on providing for and protecting their own people. Except Bard...I think Bard was a par above all the other humans in Lake-town.

I think it shows us time and time again that men have the choice about how they want to be. Look at Bard and the Master of the town. Bard showed real courage and was very pardonable and kind to the Dwarves, but wanted to help his town and rebuild it. The Master of the Town, however, showed the greed of men and was not an upstanding man. Kind of reflects the future relationship of Frodo with Borimir, who succombs to the rings temptations, and his brother Faramir helping Frodo and not being tempted in the least. So, they aren’t inherently bad or evil. But their choices account for their actions.

Amen to what Michelle said - and what Jesse said too.  People can be good or bad depending on what they do.

5. Why do you think the dwarves are lumped together without much characteristics differentiating them? Who of the company was significantly referenced throughout? Why do you think that is?

I think one reason why they were just lumped together without much characteristics differentiating them was because the book was a simpler book than Lord of the Rings. Tolkien spent more time on the story, and I understand why. I think (my opinion) he brought specific dwarves, because they had character traits that he felt would add to the overall story. Some of the ones I remember were Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin and Bombur.

Yeah, the only ones that stood out to me were the ones Jesse mentioned.

Bombur because he was fat and always last.  Fili and Kili because they were youngest and always sent on errands.  Balin because he was the oldest and Thorin because he was the king.  The rest were just part of the group.

6. Do you think Bilbo fits in at Hobbiton once he returns? What does that say about being an adventurer and living a quiet life?

I don’t think he fits in as well after he returns. Other hobbits (since they sheltered lives) :) think of him as queer. What that says is that once you become an adventurer, your life changes. You learn lessons you wouldn’t learn otherwise.

What Jesse said. I think he still enjoys the comfort of Hobbiton, but isn’t necessarily looked at the same and doesn’t necessarily ‘fit in’ anymore.

I don’t know that he totally fit in even before he left though - due to being the grandson of Belladona Took.  I think he was looked at as slightly different before his adventures.  He was definitely looked at as different after his return.  I think he enjoyed the peace and quiet, but also missed the excitement and adventure.  Perhaps he wished he could have excitement and adventure while still enjoying the comforts of home?

7. What strengths can we gage from the heroes of the story? Bilbo? Bard? Etc.?

Bilbo - Courage; Bard - He’s a great leader with amazing leadership qualities; Gandalf - Wise; The other dwarves in Thorin’s group - Loyal

Bilbo seems to not get easily offended by the comments and lack of trust he gets over and over again from Thorin. When things are going well they love him, and then they go back to blaming him. So I thought that was interesting that he is easily forgiving. He also shows a lot of courage and is truly a very likeable character, which I wasn’t sure would happen when he first is introduced. I also was happily surprised by Bard, and felt he had a lot of strengths: Not just with courage and leadership, but also with how he reacted to Thorin’s pride of the money, etc. Gandalf also put a lot of trust in others to accomplish things that needed to be done so he could do things himself, delegating, and not judging the races as harshly as the Dwarves did. He was a lot more trusting of others. Lots of good things to learn from the characters in the book.

I agree with the above.  Bard was an exceptional man.  Bilbo showed great courage and strength of character and lack of greed. Gandalf showed leadership, but also knew when to back off and let others find their own way too.

8. What is the relationship that Thorin has with his nephews? What does it say of their relationship that Kili and Fili died defending him? (I don’t think Natalie is going to like movie #3)

I think it shows that they have a truly strong relationship.

Something I read said JRR Tolkein may have used it to symbolize the special relationship family lines have, and another suggested that perhaps he hadn’t thought it through that if Thorin died, one of them would inherit the Kingdom - who would most likely not be as forgiving of the other races as the general cousin or whoemever, so he decided to just kill them off. I was pretty bummed.

Tolkein seems to value family relationships highly in the Hobbit as well as in LOTR.  Fili and Kili defend Thorin - Eomeir (?) defends her uncle the king from the black rider king guy in LOTR.

9. Do you think Bilbo betrayed the Dwarves, or saved them when he made an allegiance with the Elves & handed them the Dwarves most precious treasure?

I believe he was trying to save them and succeeded. It could’ve been an ugly one-sided battle otherwise.

I can see why the Dwarves would feel betrayed. Seemed kind of underhanded and sneaky, but I guess technically he didn’t do anything wrong - and yes, he was trying to actually solve problems and stop their pride from causing worse issues.

It ended up turning out ok, but if the humans/elves hadn’t cooperated it could have stayed ugly.  I think Bilbo showing his unselfishness and lack of greed helped the others overcome some of the greed they may have felt otherwise and made them want to be more cooperative in settling things peacefully.

10. What role does wealth play in the theme of the? And people’s obsession with it? What can we take from that in our own lives?

I think a great lesson I learned was from Thorin. He gave in to the “natural dwarf” and obsessed about the wealth so much that he almost killed his dwarves and himself over it. We can take from that that when dealing with wealth, we need to be humble. When we are blessed with it, we need to use for the good of mankind and not keep it all to ourselves and hurt others and ourselves by being prideful. I mean..look at Ducktales with Scrooge McDuck. His nephews helped him a lot :)

It was interesting how much stronger Thorin’s greed seemed to be once he saw the piles of gold, etc after the dragon was slain. To most of us it would seem logical to share some of that gold with the people who helped defeat the dragon, but greed took over and once that happened, it was hard for Thorin to give up any of his gold. We have to be careful to keep our own priorities in line with the Savior’s and realize that money can be good or evil, depending on how we use it (or place our hearts on it.)

11. What are you most looking forward to seeing in the next few movies of The Hobbit? Where do you think the movie is going to end off in the 2nd movie?

In the next few movies, I am excited to see Beorn and Bard and watch them as they leave their marks on the storyline. I’m also excited to see Bilbo strengthen his courage more through all the things he will do in the next two movies. I think the second movie will end off when either they reach Lake-town (right before they leave for The Lonely Mountain) or right when Bilbo enters the Lonely Mountain and sees Smaug.

I’m most excited to see Legolas and the Elves in the 2nd one. :) And of course Bard and the other fun characters. I bet the Spiders will be creepy.

I have been thinking along the same lines as Jesse.  I’m excited to see how they do Beorn, and his magical animals.  I would think they would end before the dragon is killed, perhaps ending with him waking up?  Or they could kill the dragon and leave off in the middle of the conflict between the races and use the 3rd movie to solve that and transition to LOTR.   I’m looking forward to seeing how in the 3rd movie they do the transition to LOTR. I never thought of that, Janice :) (about the transitioning)

Feel free to add any other discussion questions. These are the ones I thought of.

Fun facts:

I have some fun facts I learned from books James got me for mothers day and my birthday. I’ll have to find them for the discussion. Basically it talks about how there isn’t a lot of character traits of the dwarves other than Balin, Bombur, and the 2 youngest Dwarves & Thorin - so in the movie they tried to give all the dwarves their own backstories and they have their own particular traits/habits and even have fighting buddies, etc. Pretty cool nerdy facts.

Thanks for sharing that, Michelle and James!