Bilbo and Desire

            Several of our discussions of fantasy texts have revolved around the concept of desire. This fascinating and inexhaustible topic appears quite clearly in the very first chapter of The Hobbit and will remain significant to our discussion throughout our reading.

            About 5 paragraphs in, the narrator describes Bilbo Baggins’s background, going into detail about his parents, especially his mother. The narrator says, “[Bilbo] got something a bit queer in his make-up from the Took side, something that only waited for a chance to come out” (Tolkien 31). First, what does it mean that Bilbo biologically inherited this trait? Second, what does it mean that he receives this trait through his mother? Third, what is this latent attribute, and will we see it manifest at some point in the story? More interestingly, will there be a “point,” a fixed moment, in which we will see it clearly manifest itself, or will it develop over time? Gandalf certainly plays a role in this seeing as how he catalyzes the narrative and opens the opportunity for Bilbo’s journey, and I want to track Gandalf's involvement in this aspect of Bil. Next come the dwarves.

           After the dwarves arrive and sing the song of the misty mountains, the narrator says that "[as] they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick (45)." This is interesting for many reasons. We have discussed music as possessing a mystical quality in some fantasy, and here we see such an example. Why does the song have such an effect on Bilbo? He “forgot everything else, and was swept away” (43). He wasn’t swept away by the dwarves’ stories of adventure, so why their song of adventure? In fact, as the dwarves are arriving, four of them sit in a corner and talk about “mines and gold and troubles with the goblins, and the depredations of dragons, and lots of other things” (39). This is basically a brief summary of Bilbo’s story-to-come! But it’s not until they start singing about such things that the dwarves capture his attention and interest. The result: he feels desire. Note that he feels “the desire of the hearts of dwarves.” This feeling triggers his “Tookish-ness” and suddenly he has his own desires. Is this the aforementioned “point”? The narrator goes on to describe how when Bilbo saw a flame leap up in the distance “he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again” (46). But was he? As I continue my reading, I am curious to see if this moment is as easy to forget as the narrator makes it seem. I am skeptical of the suggestion that Bilbo's desire altogether disappears and has no affect on his conscious and/or unconscious mind.