The Hobbit

At the beginning of the novel, the simple life seems antithetical to heroism, but by the end of the novel, after Bilbo has proven his common sense and courage, his resumption of the simple life seems like a small act of heroism in itself. Thorin comments that if more of the contentious warriors of the world lived the way hobbits do, it would be a happier world, and Bilbo’s return to Hobbiton seems an acknowledgment of the same idea. Heroism is important in a world beset with evil, but Tolkien suggests that if everyone lived the simple life of hobbits, evil would be obsolete. So, in a sense, Bilbo does belong in Hobbiton, even if he does not in the eyes of the hobbit community.

As we have seen, the various races portrayed in Middle-Earth each demonstrate very specific invariable characteristics. Human goodness does vary, however. Tolkien shows that in the human race, each individual determines his or her goodness. Bard, for instance, is a hero and a kind man, though grim. But the old Master of Lake Town is greedy and manipulative in an almost pitiful way—he dies out in the desert, clutching gold stolen from the town. Humans seem to be more often good than bad but mostly somewhere in the middle. The elves are the truly good race, and the goblins the truly evil one. Humans can match either race in kind but rarely in degree.