Examples Of Bilbo In The Hobbit

Bilbo Baggins Hero

Bilbo Baggins is a hero just like Odysseus and Beowulf. But what exactly defines a hero? A hero is someone who is admired for their achievements or puts themselves in danger to help others. Odysseus came home from his epic journey, Beowulf defeated several monsters, and Bilbo overcomes his fear and saves Thorin’s life. The main theme of The Hobbit is Bilbo developing into a hero. At the start of the story, he was timid. As the story went on, he was becoming braver.

At the start of the story, Bilbo was called upon to help with a quest. Thorin, a dwarf, lost his home to a dragon along with several others. They need Bilbo to come with them to help retrieve the arkenstone from their home from a dragon. At first Bilbo refuses,

but then changes his mind. With his group of 15 people, he set out on a journe. His first major conflict was with 3 large monsters. He was left alone to get their horses back. He failed and got captured. With little time left before they all got cooked. Bilbo saw Gandalf in the distance going for a sneak attack. Bilbo tried to distract them by acting like a fool, saying random stuff just to by time. It worked and Gandalf defeated them. His next heroic like conflict was when he fell down the goblin rivean. He saw a ring and picked it up. He saw a small goblin who challenge him to a riddle contest to leave. If he loses he gets eaten. He solved several riddles and finally put out a riddle that the small goblin can't solve. The small goblin panics and can’t find his ring. The goblin suspects him of having the ring and attacks him. Bilbo runs away but eventually trips and falls. The ring flew up into the air and landed on his finger and went invisible. The goblin lost him and cried. Bilbo saw his group and had the moral choice of killing the small goblin or leaving him. Bilbo decided to leave him and went on his way.
He also had conflict with his group.

At first, Thorin did not like Bilbo at all. Some other dwarfs did not like him either, but some also likes him along with Gandalf. When Bilbo escapes the goblin cave and finds his group while still being invisible, the group is wondering where he went. Thorin says that he had his chance to leave and took it. Bilbo takes off the ring and reveals himself to the group. Thorin, not being relieve that he is back, yells at him and asks how he escaped and why he came back. Later, Thorin fights Azog and loses. Thorin is on the ground severely hurt and is about to get his head taken off. Right before the axe cuts his head clean off, Bilbo pushes the orc out of the way to save Thorin. Later, as they are taken to a remote cliff, Thorin wakes up and thanks Bilbo for saving him and being apart of the group.

Bilbo is similar to Beowulf in many ways. Beowulf only has followers because he showed his strength by defeating Grendel. Bilbo shows his strength by saving Thorin and earns his trust. Beowulf is not apart of Hrothgar’s kingdom, but fights for them anyway. Bilbo is not a dwarf but still helps them. They also both gained sword thanks to their bravery. Both their sword also have names. The last similarity is that they both fight to save a city. They are different since Bilbo started out weak and timid, while Beowulf was strong from the start. Another difference is Beowulf volunteered while Bilbo was

chosen.
All of the above are hero qualities of Bilbo and the reason why Bilbo is considered a hero.