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The Importance Of Heroism In The Hobbit

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“The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt whether one may not be going to prove one 's self a fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to be resisted, and when it be obeyed.” Many people real and fictional are heroes whether accidentally or purposely. The protagonist of The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins was one of the former. Even though he became a hero accidentally he still demonstrates many heroic traits such as bravery, intelligence, and choosing words over brute strength. Bilbo shows bravery when he encountered the spiders and instead of cowering in fear he showed bravery and chose to fight them. (Tolkien, p. 143) An example of when Bilbo showed his intelligence by figuring out how to get in Smaug’s lair. (Tolkien, pp.193-194) Bilbo finally showed his choice of words over strength when he encountered Smaug by talking to Smaug instead of immediately fighting him.
The first theme that is prevalent in The Hobbit is morals. Bilbo is shown to have a moral compass even as a thief and not cause unnecessary bloodshed even when it would be considered acceptable. One example of this is when Bilbo first encountered Gollum. “ Gollum had no sword. Gollum had not actually threatened to kill him, or tried to yet. And he was miserable, alone, lost. A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo’s heart…” (Tolkien, p.81) In this excerpt, Bilbo was trying to escape Gollum and instead of killing Gollum like

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