Exploring Tolkien17 Joulu 2024

126. Why Did Tolkien Change The Hobbit (and what did he change)? : The Hobbit #15

Once Tolkien finished writing The Lord of the Rings, it became clear to him that The Hobbit needed to change–particularly Bilbo and Gollum’s interaction in chapter 5, “Riddles in the Dark”. But what exactly did he change? How necessary was it? Did it make The Hobbit Better?

If you haven’t read the original chapter, you can download a PDF here!

Be sure to check out our side-by-side comparison, to easily spot the differences between the original and rewritten chapter.

This week we look at:

Why Tolkien though the tone and style of The Hobbit was a mistake.
How Tolkien ret-conned The Lord of the Rings into The Hobbit – right in the prologue!
Tolkien’s original depiction of Gandalf explaining Bilbo’s lies to Frodo (found in Peoples of Middle-earth).
How Tolkien changed the Ring into a character.
How Tolkien changed Gollum into a villain.
How Tolkien even made the orcs more sinister.

In our extended episode (available for our members) we talk about:

How Tolkien should really ever be the only person to write more Middle-earth stories.
Screenwriter Phillipa Boyen’s comments on The War of the Rohirrim movie and how the untold story is the most “compelling” story.
How her story can’t “ruin Tolkien”.
A few thoughts on the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia Netflix series.

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🔗 Episode Links
The History of The Hobbit
The Annotated Hobbit
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🔍 If You Like Tolkien
The History of The Hobbit
The Expanded Letters of JRR Tolkien (audiobook)
The Expanded Letters of JRR Tolkien (book)
The Silmarillion
The Children of Hurin
The Atlas of Middle-earth
Make Tolkien Great Again – Tengwar Hat

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116. Hollywood Doesn’t Understand the Númenoreans’ Faith

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115. Tom Bombadil has Become Obi-Wan in The Rings of Power

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114. Rings of Power Returns – Episode 1 Review

Season 2 of The Rings of Power is here! And with it comes new hackneyed phrases, ridiculous contrivances, and incredible coincidences. Things aren’t looking up. Don’t worry, though… we’ll be back read...

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113. Looking at the War of the Rohirrim Trailer (and Rings of Power clips)

We discuss the the latest visions of Middle-earth by Amazon and Warner Bros… we’ll get back to The Hobbit soon! This week we: * React to The War of the Rohirrim trailer * Take a look at how The Rings ...

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111. This is why Tolkien SHOULD have rewritten The Hobbit : The Hobbit #7

We weren’t huge fans of Tolkien’s changes to chapter 1 of The Hobbit in his abandoned 1960 rewrite–but chapter 2 surprised us with it’s pitch-perfect changes! Some of the things we discuss are: Want ...

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110. A Brave Burglar and Deficient Dwarves : The Hobbit #6

Join our Free Discord Channel! It’s not that the trolls aren’t scary… or are they? Did Tolkien mean for them to be frightening? In this episode we get into how the trolls find a balance, of sorts, bet...

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