Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
Like I said, it can all be made to work in the context of LotR. But I think the biggest thing that changed between the two books was JRRT himself.
Re-reading the Hobbit, it almost feels like a distinct setting from LotR's Middle-Earth
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
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Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
Well, himself and the intent of the work. The Hobbit was written as a story for kids; his own kids, originally, as I recall. The narrator's voice in it, with its modern asides, and the tonal differences all make sense for such a story.
Yeah, well, The Hobbit was published in 1937. LotR was published in 1954. Are you the same person as you were 17 ears ago, back in 2005?
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
I'm actually aging backwards, like Merlin or Benjamin Buttons (has anyone ever seen those two together?), so it remains to be seen.
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Cordwainer Fish
Imp. Int. Scout Svc. (Dishon. Ret.)
I've come to think of The Hobbit as being the version of the story told by Samwise to his grandchildren.
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Well, I'm still here at EN World, so yeah pretty much.
Nephilim00
Explorer
Maybe if you listen to Serkis reading LOTR they would seem more similar.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
It's the first sentence of the thread, my man.
MarkB
Legend
That you're listening to his reading of The Hobbit. Not that you've listened to his reading of LotR.
Tolkien really wanted to write about the Elder Days and get that published, but knew that would be a tall order. 'The Hobbit' was written to drum up interest in the themes he wanted to explore, but it wasn't originally the same world as the Elder Days. When 'The Hobbit' was successful he went back to his publisher to drum up support for the Elder Days, but they just wanted more stories with Hobbits. We didn't even get his Elder Day stories until after he passed away and his son, Christopher Tolkien (his literary executor), put together the stories he liked best and called it the Silmarillion.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
It has to be said...
Another thing that deserves mention is that both The Hobbit and LOTR were written with different audiences in mind. One wonders what The Hobbit would've been like had it been written for adults, or LOTR if it had been written for children.
Another thing that deserves mention is that both The Hobbit and LOTR were written with different audiences in mind. One wonders what The Hobbit would've been like had it been written for adults, or LOTR if it had been written for children.
deganawida
Hero
Frankly, as I've aged, I've grown to prefer the fairy tale approach of The Hobbit and Farmer Giles of Ham over the tone of The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings. I've grown to appreciate works of wonder in the familiar world over epic works in legendary worlds. Thus, I appreciate that he wrote them in different styles.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
Including Tom Bombadil in a book for children would be needlessly cruel.
Yeah, that shouldn't be discounted. Our relentless drive to make it a single continuous universe can be stymied by the fact that it is a story, not a universe.
Bedrockgames
Legend
I see these as very different books. One was written for children, and it has an appropriate style for that, whereas LoTR feels more literary to me. They are both trying to do different things but using the same setting. And obviously the ideas for the setting were able to develop more by the time he got to Lord of the Rings.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Poor Tom Bombadil. One day he'll appear in an adaptation, along with Glorfindel...
Joking aside, his presence does feel more in line with The Hobbit than other elements of LOTR.
Joking aside, his presence does feel more in line with The Hobbit than other elements of LOTR.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Tolkien uses the authorial device that he is the translator, not the author. The Hobbit is based on Bilbo's diaries, and reflects his perspective on events, whilst LotR is based on Frodo's diaries (completed by Sam). The movie versions hint at, but don't sufficiently lean into IMO, the idea that Bilbo is an unreliable narrator.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
I get the in-world explanation, but it's still hard for me to reconcile just how different the setting of the Hobbit is in many ways. This is probably my fifth or sixth time reading it and, if folks haven't read it recently, just remembering it, a lot of the little details are striking in how they aren't what anyone would associate with the world of LotR.
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
I find the most disturbing element of the Serkis LotR audiobook is when he sings every line of Tom Bombadil's dialog. Every. Line.
Celebrim
Legend
Could you perhaps list those for me?
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