The End of a Quest--Not Necessarily the End of the Story

As I have been wrapping up The Return of the King and through the class's discussions on The Hobbit, I have been reminded of a feature of Tolkien's writing that I find very interesting.  In both of these books, the story does not end with the completion of the central quest.  In The Hobbit, the book does not conclude with the defeat of the dragon.  While the main plot revolved around the company of dwarves' retaking their homeland through destroying Smaug, Tolkien surprises readers by having much more to say even once Bard the Bowman smites the evil beast.  Similarly, in The Return of the King, the ring's destruction does not draw the curtains of the story.  Six more chapters remain between the climb up Mount Doom and the departure to the Grey Havens.

While I believe that Tolkien intended the dragon's defeat and the ring's destruction to be the mechanisms for moving the story's plot, I also think he is intentional in choosing not to end the overall story with the conclusion of the central quests.  If the story were to end with Smaug's death, then we would never have fully seen the completion of Bilbo's dramatic character development.  While Bilbo had changed much from the dinner party at Bag-End, he still had yet to fully demonstrate his courage by going behind Thorin's back and delivering the Arkenstone to Bard.  While confronting trolls, orcs, Gollum, spiders, and the dragon were all incredible feats of courage, Bilbo's "betrayal" of his dwarven friend was actually his most significant show of bravery as he knew Thorin in his madness would despise him for it.  Tolkien needed his protagonist to finish his story arc, and that required an extended plot beyond the golden cavern of Smaug.

Likewise, in The Lord of the Rings, destroying the ring ended Frodo and his friends' quest, but the story still required appropriate denouement.  Aragorn had to fully embrace the kingship of Gondor, and the four hobbits still had to confront the reality of their pleasant, pastoral land being ravaged by Saruman.  And even beyond this unexpected setback, Frodo's story ended with his leaving the shores of Middle-Earth with Gandalf, Bilbo, and the elves.  The quest of the ring brought all these characters together, and they all shared common experiences.  In the end, each had his own ending, and Tolkien wished to share these with his readers.

I am glad Tolkien wrote these stories' endings the way he did.   I believe they are more reflective of how real life works.  After tackling present obstacles, a person's life and story do not end there.  There is more to do and more challenges to face.  Tolkien demonstrates this by adding so much more after those chapters that would normally (and arguably are) the points of highest emotion.  That Tolkien has more to say is another reason why I think both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are still so popular today.

Rules and Promises--"Riddles in the Dark"

"Riddles in the Dark" is perhaps my favorite chapter in The Hobbit.  It introduces the reader to the Ring, to Gollum, and to the event that set forth the events of The Lord of the Rings.  Yet, never before had I deeply considered the role of ancient rules in the great riddle battle between Bilbo Baggins and Gollum.  It seems somewhat odd that I would neglect such a detail.  After all, had I been in Bilbo's shoes lost in the deep darkness of the mountains discovered only by a strange creature intent on devouring me whole, I do not believe I would have put my life on the line through answering riddles.  For one, I am not very adept at answering or asking riddles, but also I would be in possession of a sword and might have used that first when approached by a mysterious creature in the bowels of a goblin pit.  All this made me wonder why both Bilbo and Gollum were content to settle such a matter through a game and whether Bilbo himself would have held to the outcome had he failed to answer one of Gollum's questions.

Gollum himself was intent on breaking the rules of the game by failing to live up to his promise to show Bilbo out if he lost.  When he could not answer Bilbo's famous question concerning pockets and their mysterious contents, Gollum resorted to what would have been cold-blooded murder had he the Ring in his possession.  So while Gollum adhered to the rules during the game, when he had lost, he discarded them and would have carried on in his wicked ways had he the tools to do so.

Bilbo suspected this treachery and was prepared to respond should Gollum suddenly attack him, but I wonder what Bilbo would have done if he could not devise an answer to Gollum's last question.  Would he have allowed himself to be eaten?  If I were in Bilbo's shoes, would I?  Absolutely not.  Thus, could it be possible that both Bilbo and Gollum were prepared to break the ancient rules of riddling when they first agreed to such a game?  I think this is highly likely unless both were firm in their belief that they would walk away victorious and were willing to put their lives--or dinner--on the line.  Perhaps, though, Bilbo had an inkling that Gollum would live up to his word and show the hobbit out, though I believe Bilbo was overall distrustful of the creature, and such unwarranted trust would be terribly naive.  Ultimately, Bilbo probably felt as though he had no other choice and did not wish to antagonize such a dangerous character who was bent on having hobbit for supper.

Whatever the explanation might be, I was glad that a new element was added to my enjoyment of this scene.  I wonder what other subtleties lie within The Hobbit just waiting to come out into the light!