Fate, destiny, and free will are all crucial aspects of The Hobbit and they are tightly interwoven. I will start with some definitions. I consider fate to be the idea of a definite sequence of events laid out by some higher power. Destiny I think of as the general outline of a person's life, with lots of wiggle room for free will.
I think the hobbit largely embraces the idea of destiny over fate, because the characters are shepherded down a general path, but they make important choices that greatly influence how the story plays out. For example I would say that Bilbo was fated to discover the one ring, but the choice to give Gollum mercy was purely his. Bilbo's choice to give the Arkenstone to Bard to help break the siege of the kingdom under the mountain, helped make it so that the dwarves and elves and men were able to unite against the goblins and the wargs.
In a more general sense, all books are kind of a form of pure fate in and of themselves because nothing will change once they have been published. This often leads to a certain predictability of events, where you know what must happen because of what has happened before. If a book is too predictable this can detract from the story, but I think in the case of The Hobbit there are so many factors the reader cannot account for that there is a great deal of unpredictability.
Sorry for ranting, I don't really know how to wrap this up cleanly.
I think its interesting how you compare the three, as I feel like most people use the terms interchangably. I also think you make an interesting point about how all books are fate in that they are written and wont change, but I think that in saying that, it leaves out the suspension of disbelief that is nessessary when consuming almost any type of media. Yes, the author may have written something, but when something is liked enough, it becomes greater than just the words on the page. I think the amount of fan created works out there proves just that. Even if the book is done, that characters continue on via the people who read it and in a way, I would almost consider that to match more with your defenition of destiny.
ReplyDeleteMerry,
ReplyDeleteYou thoughtfully defined destiny as the outline of a person's life that is still flexed by free will. I would add that usually destiny is defined as inescapable or inevitable. Thus, whatever choices are made by free will, that person should still be living out their destiny. The phrase "fulfill your destiny" indicates that the person has an obligation to work and actively pursue their destiny, though it will supposedly play out regardless. You are right that destiny is given precedence over fate in the Hobbit.