“Gandalf! Good gracious me! Not the wandering wizard that gave Old Took a pair of diamond studs that fastened themselves and never came undone till ordered? Not the fellow who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties, about dragons and goblins and giants and the rescue of princesses and the unexpected luck of widows sons?”(J.R.R.Tolkien, 7)  The Hobbit, also known as There and Back Again, is a wonder-filled fantasy about a well-to-do hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, twelve boisterous but brave dwarves along with their strong leader, a dwarf prince known as Thorin Oakenshield, and a kind wizard, Gandalf. Bilbo is convinced by Gandalf to go on an indescribable adventure with his dwarf friends, and on his journey, encounters giant spiders, cruel goblins, fair elves, and a fire-breathing dragon, all to help his friend Thorin regain his home, the Lonely Mountain, which was stolen from him by the nefarious dragon Smaug. By the conclusion of his adventure, the bravery that was hiding in Bilbo has come out, and he shines like the true hero he is; He gains many friends among wizards, dwarves, and elves; he is named elf friend by the king of elves. The story of Bilbo’s enthralling adventure takes place in a magical land known as Middle Earth. Magic keeps the story lively, and the story requires magic to be interesting, not dull and pedestrian.

Gandalf the Grey wizard as previously mentioned is full of magic and needs his staff. The staff is an inanimate object he uses to direct his magic. With his scraggly grey robes and smoky grey beard, he can be a raging enemy or an influential ally.  During the beginning of the long journey to defeat the dishonorable, greedy Smaug and reclaim a titanic hoard of dwarfish gold and jewels, Gandalf uses his magic to save the dwarves from trolls that are attempting to consume them along with Bilbo. He uses magic to alter his voice and keeps the trolls distracted until day shines her sparkling rays on the nefarious trolls-daylight turns trolls to stone. Later on in the journey, when Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves are taking shelter in an innocent looking cave from fighting rock giants during a perilous storm, the floor disappears and goblins spring out of the ground to capture the dwarves, but Gandalf escapes, using magic to burn some goblins and disappear. Bilbo had seen the floor disappear, and yelled, which wakes Gandalf in time to escape.“When the goblins came to grab him, there was a terrific flash like lightning in the cave, a smell like gunpowder, and several of them fell dead.”(J.R.R. Tolkien, 56)  His escape allows him to rescue the dwarves from the goblins later. After escaping from the goblin cavern, large carnivore wolves called Wargs trap the group in a cluster of trees on the edge of a canyon. Gandalf sets fire to pinecones using his fire magic, and hurls the fiery projectiles at the at the malignant Wargs, which stops them from attacking the trees the dwarves are perched in; Wargs hate fire, for it hurts their coats of fur. They stop attacking and worry about getting the fire out of their fur. This gives time for Gandalf to call for the Great Eagles, again using magic, and the Eagles grab the dwarves out of the trees and set them down elsewhere, free. Without the magic of Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves would quickly be slaughtered and the story would be boring, or there would always be fighting when Thorin and Company get rescued, but with the aid of magic, the story stays riveting.

Bilbo Baggins, a peace-loving hobbit from the Shire is a key character in the story, and while he himself does not have magic like Gandalf, he comes into possession of the golden powerful ring while groping around in the pitch black of a cavern. This ring is the central theme for Lord of the Rings. The ring was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron thousands of years ago. During a battle to defeat Sauron, a man called Isildur kills Sauron and takes the ring, but is killed by orcs, which are mutant goblins, and loses the ring. The magic ring corrupts the mind and soul, and brings out the worst in people; the attraction of the ring leads to Smeagol killing his best friend. Smeagol is the good side of Gollum, and sane but after hundreds of years, he is reduced to a bony carnivorous creature. The ring expanded his lifespan hundreds of years. Gollum tries to kill Bilbo, but the ring has the power to hide the bearer from the sight of others when worn. “Curse the Baggins! It’s gone!”(Gollum, 77) After getting the ring, Bilbo uses it to keep him invisible from giant spiders and leads them away from the captured dwarves, so he can free them from the clutches of the spiders. He is the only member to evade capture using the ring, so it is his responsibility to free the dwarves so they don’t get eaten. Just a little after escaping from the spiders, the ring keeps him out of sight of wood elves that capture the dwarves, for elves dislike dwarves, so he can sneak into the Elf King’s castle and liberate the captured dwarves again. When the elves march into the castle, he marches in right alongside them, and hides for weeks, eating bread and drinking wine when no elves are around. He takes messages to the dwarves, and a few weeks after capture, he obtains the keys to the cells of the dwarves from the drunken chief of the guard. He frees the dwarves and stuffs them in empty barrels, which are then rolled down the river to freedom. This magical ring of invisibility keeps the story entertaining, and every rescue unique, with Bilbo lurking in every corner.

Magic has been interwoven into the fabric of the story, making it enchanting. There are mystical creatures like dragons, goblins, elves, orcs. wizards, and giant eagles, which are not commonplace. These characters make the story less commonplace. Beorn, a man who was given the power to turn into a bear and back, has the unique ability to talk to all animals and helps the dwarves in their journey before they enter Mirkwood, a dark, dank forest. He turns into a giant bear too, not a normal sized bear. The entourage must enter Mirkwood to get to the Lonely Mountain, or they have to go through more goblin-infested mountains. The Great Eagles- large flying eagles, are very magical and majestic; they can commune with Gandalf. They grab the trapped dwarves out of the trees and pull them right from the clutches of the Wargs. You also have the protective wood elves, who live at the borders of  Mirkwood and trap the dwarves for intruding on their territory. They use magical gates that the elf king controls to make sure no intruder can get in or out of his realm, though Bilbo barely manages to escape and re-enter so he can free the desperate dwarves. Elves are immortal unless killed in battle, so they can’t die of old age. Everything in this story is full of magic, including the villains, and keep the story pleasurable.

Throughout the story, Magic brings excitement and wonder to the intriguing tale of Bilbo Baggins in his noble quest to help someone in need reclaim their home. Every character and every rescue has a component of magic in it. Tolkien paints a world that is full of magic and goes on to show how magic disappears, and only non-magical men remain. However, if you really look around us, men are quite magical too as our ancestors would tell us; what is the ability to talk across oceans or fly across the world or reach the moon if not magic?  This story teaches you about magic in a raw form, and how everyone can have a magic of their own. “ Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found.I have found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love.”(Gandalf,261) Magic keeps the story alive, along with some villains and mythological creatures, created by the healthy imagination of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, an amazing author. Our world is just as magical as Middle Earth. We can fly and go places other than using a horse. We can go to the moon! The technology and science that has done this are more magical than anything in this world. Our world is magic, but a different kind.

Sources

• The Hobbit
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966. Print.
• Lord of the Rings
  • Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. Print.