The Hobbit - Chapter 01 - An Unexpected Party

[Alchisiel]

What a coincidence that a chapter by chapter read of The Hobbit has just started as I have just started reading it myself. Instead of getting into whether or not The Hobbit should be included in the Legendarium I will answer Estelyn's questions in her first post.

When did you first read The Hobbit? How did it affect you and what did it mean to you?

I first read The Hobbit roughly three years ago I'm afraid. I was 29 years old. I wasn't even aware that the books existed until The Fellowship of the Ring movie came out. I learned that the books existed when a co-worker of mine told me about them. Of course I went out right away and bought The Hobbit and began to read becoming quite hooked on Middle Earth. Having read it around the time of September 11th, it became the epitome of a good vs. evil story to me.

Bits and pieces of information are scattered throughout this chapter, on Dwarves, dragons, the Necromancer, and the Wizard Gandalf. Which do you find most interesting or helpful?

The information about the dwarves and dragons were important to the story but it was the information about Gandalf's adventures and the pieces of information about the Necromancer that left me wanting to find out more. I think Tolkien does this intentionally and does this very well. I'm even going to go out on a limb and compare it to the television show Lost. Every week the show answers questions you want to know but it also leaves you with more questions at the same time. Tolkien does this as well, such as Tom Bombadil, Belladonna Took and her sisters, the Old Took, etc.