Fantastic Elements in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit

Fantastic Elements in
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
Ahmet Mesut Ateş
Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Zeki Çıraklı
May 13, 2014
KTU Department of English Language and Literature

Outline of the Presentation
1. Fantasy Literature, An Introduction
2. Fantastic Theories of Literature
– J.R.R. Tolkien
– Tzvetan Todorov
3. Fantastic Elements in Tolkien’s the Hobbit
4. Conclusion
5. Works Cited
6. Further Reading
Ahmet Mesut Ateş, KTU Department of English Language and Literature, Turkey

Considering Tolkien’s debated idea that in human art
Fantasy is best left to true literature, this study aims
• to focus on fantasy as discussed in theories of Tolkien
and Todorov and
• to pave the way for a critical analysis of Tolkien’s the
Hobbit
Abstract
Fantastic Elements in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit

Fantasy, in literature, employs supernatural, unreal and
imaginary elements to create a secondary world consistent both
within itself.
Works of fantasy voice the child within and men’s desire to be
careless and free as a child again is what derives us to that kind
of literary works.
Earlier forms of fantasy employed folklore, legends and myth
intricately. This interwoven relationship precluded the
commendation of the genre which is why still today the border
between fantasy and myth is not completely clarified.
Fantasy Literature, An Introduction

Fantasy Literature, An Introduction
Some of the outstanding works of modern fantasy are Alice’s
Adventure in Wonderland; Dracula; The Wonderful Wizard of OZ
and Peter Pan.
Before Tolkien and Todorov, fantasy literature was evaluated
according to Alexander Baumgarten ideas of aesthetics
(Stableford, XLV).
J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, H.P. Lovecraft and T.H. White
popularized the genre and pushed literary critics to acknowledge
the genre.

The 'fairy-story' is really an adult
genre, and one for which a starving
audience exists.
JRR Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories

On Fairy-Stories (Tolkien’s Ars Mythopoetica)
Tolkien treats fairy-stories as the descendants of storytelling tradition and it embodies a
wide range of literary applications. He tries to define terms such as Fairy, Faërie, and
Fantasy repudiating attitudes towards fantastic characters such as Elves, Dwarves and
fairies.
His ars myhtopoetica is indeed an arden “defence of the power of imagination” (Makai 35).
Theory of Sub-Creation
Tolkien had an acute belief in the “generalization and the abstraction” power of the
language:
The mind that thought of light, heavy, … swift, also conceived of magic that
would make heavy things light and able to fly... (Tolkien 22)
For Tolkien, It is humanity's very divinity—our status as inexorable sub-creators because we
have been divinely created.
Fantastic Theories of Literature

Fantasy is derived notions of unreality, Fantasy is “a higher form of Art,
indeed the most nearly pure [and] the most potent” (Tolkien 47).
Recovery: seeing the things in a way that enables us not only to
appreciate the thing but also its parts, things that make it a whole.
Escape is the primary function of fairy stories. Escape is not from the
reality or the primary world but rather more serious things such as
“hunger, poverty, and death” (Tolkien 66-7).
Consolation is the sudden and unpredictable turn of events. It is the
joyous turn of events at the end of the tale. All fairy stories should
have consolation.
Elements of Fantasy

The literature of fantastic leaves us with
two notions – reality and literature – each
one as unsatisfactory as the other.
Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic

Tzvetan Todorov’s Theory of Fantastic
The work of analysing literature is fundamentally the analysis of
human, his relationship with himself and the surrounding society
and all works of art “stimulate reflection on that;” and what
literature provides the reader with is the “capacity for
compassion with beings different from ourselves” (Todorov 27-
31).
Todorov’s conception of “fantastic” text obscures the distinction
between the factual and fictional worlds (Rabkin 1). The more
fictional beings represent us, the more they become repetitive
and vain.
Fantastic Theories of Literature

Todorov postulates three requirements for Pure fantastic:
1. The work should sustain the reader’s hesitation between natural and
supernatural to the end.
2. The characters should share the hesitation and enable the reader to
identify himself with the character
3. The reader should be aware that the work is a fantastic one and
should not attempt to read it as an allegory.
Todorov suggests the first and the third rule constitute the genre
but the second rule, as well, is mostly fulfilled. Both the second
and the third rule depend on the first rule: reader’s hesitation.
Elements of Fantasy

In a hole in the ground
there lived a hobbit.

The Hobbit
The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving
hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the
treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo's
journey takes him from light-hearted, rural
surroundings into more sinister territory – over
the Misty Mountains and in the black forest of
Mirkwood. After a journey woven with mishaps
and encounters with trolls, Elves, goblins, wargs
and giant spiders they finally reach the
desolation of Smaug and Bilbo helps the
dwarves to get their mountain back.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole … it was hobbit-
hole, and that means comfort. … one morning
long ago in the quiet of the world, when there
was less noise and more green…
The Hobbit 3-5

Warriors are busy fighting one another in
distant land. … Swords in these parts are mostly
blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields
as cradles or dish-covers; dragons are
comfortably far-off…
The Hobbit 26

… they came to lands where people spoke
strangely, [e]ven Bilbo… could see that: from
their size, and the shape of their legs, not to
mention their language, which was not
drawing-room fashion at all, at all.
The Hobbit 37-41

Tolkien’s fantastic realm, the
Middle-earth, consists of hobbits,
elves, dwarves wizards, goblins,
trolls, eagles and noble men.

His name is Beorn … and he is a skin-changer. …He
changes his skin: sometimes … a huge black bear,
sometimes … a great strong … man with huge arms.
Some say that he is a man descended from the first men.
… He is under no enchantment but his own. He keeps
cattle and horses which … work for him and talk to him.
He does not eat them…
The Hobbit 135-6

Does it guess easy? It must have a competition
with us, my preciouss! If preciouss asks, and it
doesn’t answer, we eats it, my preciouss. If it
asks us, and we doesn’t answer, then we does
what it wants, eh? We shows it the way out, yes!
The Hobbit 87

[Bilbo] must stab the foul thing [Gollum], put its eyes out,
kill it. It meant to kill him. … Gollum had no sword… And
he was miserable, alone, lost. A sudden understanding, a
pity mixed with horror, walled up in Bilbo’s heart: a
glimpse of endless unmarked days without the light or
hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and
whispering.
The Hobbit 102

Out went all light. The fires leaped up in black
smokes. … the cries of the others got steadily
further and fainter… all noise at last died right
away, and hew was left alone in complete
silence and darkness. That was the most
miserable moments.
The Hobbit 179-80

Wisps of vapour floated up and past him and he began
to sweat. A sound, too, began to throb in his ears ... the
unmistakable gurgling noise of some vast animal snoring
… It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from
there was the bravest thing he ever did. … He fought the
real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the
vast danger that lay in it.
The Hobbit 249

Flames unquenchable sprang high into the night. Another
swoop and another, … still no arrow hindered Smaug or hurt
him more than a fly from the marshes. Out of dark something
fluttered to [Bard’s] shoulder … it perched by his ear and it
brought him the news [Smaug’s weakness in its armour]. … Bard
drew his bow … the great bow twanged. The black arrow sped
straight from the string, straight for the hollow… In it smote and
vanished, barb, shaft and feather, so fierce was its flight. With a
shriek that deafened men … Smaug … crashed down from high
in ruin. … and the silence. And that was the end of Smaug.
The Hobbit 288-90

There is nothing like looking. You
certainly usually find something, if you
look, but it is not always quite the
something you were after.
The Hobbit 69

Conclusion
J.R.R. Tolkien has managed to create an artful work of
literature in his book, the Hobbit. The work exhibits
fantastic elements as categorized by Tolkien himself in “On
Fairy-Stories” and Tzvetan Todorov in The Fantastic.
Fantasy, in 20th century became a wide-spread mode of
literature and works of writers such JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis,
HP Lovecraft and TH White paved the way for its
acknowledgement in literary circles.
Works of fantasy literature try to compensate for the
failures of the factual world and improve the readers’
experience through their utilization of magical,
supernatural and unreal events and images.

If more of us valued food and
cheer and songs above
hoarded gold, it would be a
merrier world.

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