Thorin's destiny, as the grandson of Thror, is to retake the Lonely Mountain from Smaug and reclaim the great halls, caves, and of course treasure of his ancestors. As a result of reclaiming the Mountain and the treasure, Thorin would fulfill his destiny to be the King under the Mountain. However, fate steps in and he unfortunately dies after the Battle of the Five Armies. In his case, Thorin perceived his duty to his ancestors as his destiny and took control of fulfilling it but he could not control his fate.
Bilbo contrasts to Thorin in that he had no idea about his destiny (i.e. his involvement and significant role in the adventures of the story) nor how his destiny would affect the history and future events of Middle Earth. A quote that stood out to me when I finished the Hobbit was Gandalf's response to Bilbo when he notes that the prophecies of the old songs are actually true:
"And why should not they prove true? Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!"
I think what Gandalf says here explains a bit about how a character's fate and destiny are controlled to some level by higher powers who set the prophecies for Middle Earth in place.
I'd be interested to hear/read anyone else's thoughts on this quote, as I think it could be related to characters/events/themes in Tolkien's other works.
I think it is interesting the role that destiny plays in the Hobbit and LOTR. However, it seems that quite frequently Tolkien mentions the role of luck as well. It seems that much of Bilbo's success can be attributed to luck. It is an interesting question to ask whether these things are truly luck, or if it is within the guidance of a higher power not directly mentioned in the books.
ReplyDeleteThe luck that is mentioned quite often for the reason Bilbo manages to get through things is fate in disguise. Even in this quote of Gandalf’s at the end of The Hobbit, he again mentions all of Bilbo’s luck, as if acutely aware of the exact extent of it, and is summing it up, obscurely, as not being luck at all, pointing instead to it being fate, as his “luck” was never for his sake.
ReplyDeleteThe very last part of this quote interests me the most, as Gandalf is stating that without fate, Bilbo would not have been able to accomplish everything that he did. This seems a bit funny as The Hobbit strives on the small and seemingly insignificant. The thrush always comes back to mind when considering this.
While luck may be fate, it certainly does not discount free will. Using the example of Bilbo, the finding of the ring and its powers of invisibility is certainly fate. However, by his own free will Bilbo utilized his wits and bravery to use the ring to defeat the spiders and save the dwarves. In the same vein, the thrush's advice of the dragon's weak spot was essential; however, Bard's choice to stay and fight was equally as crucial. In regards to fate, destiny, and free will it could potentially be described as destiny being the destination, fate as the tools necessary to reach the destination, and free will being the choice to use or not use said tools to reach the destination.
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