178-831: Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien 's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . He is a wizard , one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring . Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" ( Dvergatal ) in the Völuspá . As a wizard and the bearer of one of the Three Rings , Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf
356-405: A Bildungsroman rather than a traditional quest. The Jungian concept of individuation is also reflected through this theme of growing maturity and capability, with the author contrasting Bilbo's personal growth against the arrested development of the dwarves. Thus, while Gandalf exerts a parental influence over Bilbo early on, it is Bilbo who gradually takes over leadership of the party, a fact
534-696: A dialect continuum , with no clear geographical boundary between them. Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway , although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden . In what is present-day Denmark and Sweden, most speakers spoke Old East Norse. Though Old Gutnish is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations, it developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th-century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes , Norwegians , Icelanders , and Danes spoke
712-522: A staff ". Yet the Elf Círdan who met him on arrival nevertheless considered him "the greatest spirit and the wisest" and gave him the Elven Ring of Power called Narya , the Ring of Fire, containing a "red" stone for his aid and comfort. Tolkien explicitly links Gandalf to the element fire later in the same essay: Warm and eager was his spirit (and it was enhanced by the ring Narya), for he
890-478: A "present" from Gollum . During this period, he befriended Aragorn and became suspicious of Saruman . He spent as much time as he could in the Shire , strengthening his friendship with Bilbo and Frodo , Bilbo's orphaned cousin and adopted heir. Gandalf returns to the Shire for Bilbo's "eleventy-first" (111th) birthday party, bringing many fireworks for the occasion. After Bilbo, as a prank on his guests, puts on
1068-459: A 1955 letter to W. H. Auden , Tolkien recollects that he began The Hobbit one day early in the 1930s. While he was marking School Certificate papers, he found a blank page. Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." By late 1932 he had finished the story and then lent the manuscript to several friends, including C. S. Lewis and a student of Tolkien's named Elaine Griffiths. In 1936, when Griffiths
1246-481: A binding, but Tolkien objected to several elements. Through several iterations, the final design ended up as mostly the author's. The spine shows runes: two " þ " ( Thráin and Thrór) runes and one " d " (door). The front and back covers were mirror images of each other, with an elongated dragon characteristic of Tolkien's style stamped along the lower edge, and with a sketch of the Misty Mountains stamped along
1424-467: A boy by Samuel Rutherford Crockett 's historical novel The Black Douglas and of basing the Necromancer— Sauron —on its villain, Gilles de Retz . Incidents in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are similar in narrative and style to the novel, and its overall style and imagery have been suggested as having had an influence on Tolkien. The Tolkien scholar Mark T. Hooker has catalogued
1602-727: A change known as Holtzmann's law . An epenthetic vowel became popular by 1200 in Old Danish, 1250 in Old Swedish and Old Norwegian, and 1300 in Old Icelandic. An unstressed vowel was used which varied by dialect. Old Norwegian exhibited all three: /u/ was used in West Norwegian south of Bergen , as in aftur , aftor (older aptr ); North of Bergen, /i/ appeared in aftir , after ; and East Norwegian used /a/ , after , aftær . Old Norse
1780-535: A company of thirteen dwarves . Thorin Oakenshield is the proud, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to the destroyed dwarvish kingdom under the Lonely Mountain . Smaug is a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarvish kingdom of Thorin's grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure. The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of
1958-421: A cup from the dragon's hoard, rousing him to wrath—an incident directly mirroring Beowulf and an action entirely determined by traditional narrative patterns. As Tolkien wrote, "The episode of the theft arose naturally (and almost inevitably) from the circumstances. It is difficult to think of any other way of conducting the story at this point. I fancy the author of Beowulf would say much the same." The name of
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#17327831764692136-417: A female raven or a male crow. All neuter words have identical nominative and accusative forms, and all feminine words have identical nominative and accusative plurals. The gender of some words' plurals does not agree with that of their singulars, such as lim and mund . Some words, such as hungr , have multiple genders, evidenced by their determiners being declined in different genders within
2314-412: A front vowel to be split into a semivowel-vowel sequence before a back vowel in the following syllable. While West Norse only broke /e/ , East Norse also broke /i/ . The change was blocked by a /w/ , /l/ , or /ʀ/ preceding the potentially-broken vowel. Some /ja/ or /jɔ/ and /jaː/ or /jɔː/ result from breaking of /e/ and /eː/ respectively. When a noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb has
2492-462: A gap in the ancient dragon's armour. The enraged dragon, deducing that Lake-town has aided the intruders, flies off to destroy the town. A thrush overhears Bilbo's report of Smaug's vulnerability and tells Lake-town resident Bard. Smaug wreaks havoc on the town, until Bard shoots an arrow into the chink in Smaug's armour , killing the dragon. When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds
2670-409: A given sentence. Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns were declined in four grammatical cases – nominative , accusative , genitive , and dative – in singular and plural numbers. Adjectives and pronouns were additionally declined in three grammatical genders. Some pronouns (first and second person) could have dual number in addition to singular and plural. The genitive
2848-511: A handful of children's books that have been accepted into mainstream literature, alongside Jostein Gaarder 's Sophie's World (1991) and J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series (1997–2007). Tolkien intended The Hobbit as a "fairy-story" and wrote it in a tone suited to addressing children; he said later that the book was not specifically written for children, but had rather been created out of his interest in mythology and legend. Many of
3026-651: A lengthy series of parallels between The Hobbit and Jules Verne 's 1864 Journey to the Center of the Earth . These include, among other things, a hidden runic message and a celestial alignment that direct the adventurers to the goals of their quests. Tolkien's portrayal of goblins in The Hobbit was particularly influenced by George MacDonald 's The Princess and the Goblin . However, MacDonald's influence on Tolkien
3204-496: A linguistic shifting in level from the inanimate to animate. Tolkien saw the idea of animism as closely linked to the emergence of human language and myth: "...The first men to talk of 'trees and stars' saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings... To them the whole of creation was 'myth-woven and elf-patterned'." As in plot and setting, Tolkien brings his literary theories to bear in forming characters and their interactions. He portrays Bilbo as
3382-584: A long vowel or diphthong in the accented syllable and its stem ends in a single l , n , or s , the r (or the elder r - or z -variant ʀ ) in an ending is assimilated. When the accented vowel is short, the ending is dropped. The nominative of the strong masculine declension and some i-stem feminine nouns uses one such -r (ʀ). Óðin-r ( Óðin-ʀ ) becomes Óðinn instead of * Óðinr ( * Óðinʀ ). The verb blása ('to blow'), has third person present tense blæss ('[he] blows') rather than * blæsr ( * blæsʀ ). Similarly,
3560-453: A man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman , a grim but honourable archer of Lake-town . Gandalf tricks Bilbo Baggins into hosting a party for Thorin Oakenshield and his band of twelve dwarves (Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur), who go over their plans to reclaim their ancient home, Lonely Mountain , and its vast treasure from
3738-441: A modern anachronism exploring an essentially antique world. Bilbo is able to negotiate and interact within this antique world because language and tradition make connections between the two worlds. For example, Gollum 's riddles are taken from old historical sources, while those of Bilbo come from modern nursery books. It is the form of the riddle game, familiar to both, which allows Gollum and Bilbo to engage each other, rather than
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#17327831764693916-527: A new type of monster or threat as Bilbo progresses through the landscape. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence, and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey, and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and common sense. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict. Personal growth and forms of heroism are central themes of
4094-474: A noun must mirror the gender of that noun , so that one says, " heill maðr! " but, " heilt barn! ". As in other languages, the grammatical gender of an impersonal noun is generally unrelated to an expected natural gender of that noun. While indeed karl , "man" is masculine, kona , "woman", is feminine, and hús , "house", is neuter, so also are hrafn and kráka , for "raven" and "crow", masculine and feminine respectively, even in reference to
4272-438: A part. The publisher was encouraged by the book's critical and financial success and, therefore, requested a sequel. As Tolkien's work progressed on its successor , The Lord of the Rings , he made retrospective accommodations for it in The Hobbit . These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of
4450-530: A postcard entitled Der Berggeist ("the mountain spirit"), which he labelled "the origin of Gandalf". It shows a white-bearded man in a large hat and cloak seated among boulders in a mountain forest. Carpenter said that Tolkien recalled buying the postcard during his holiday in Switzerland in 1911. Manfred Zimmerman, however, discovered that the painting was by the German artist Josef Madlener and dates from
4628-668: A sense of humour. Tolkien achieves balance of humour and danger through other means as well, as seen in the foolishness and Cockney dialect of the trolls and in the drunkenness of the elven captors. The general form—that of a journey into strange lands, told in a light-hearted mood and interspersed with songs—may be following the model of The Icelandic Journals by William Morris , an important literary influence on Tolkien. Tolkien's works show many influences from Norse mythology , reflecting his lifelong passion for those stories and his academic interest in Germanic philology . The Hobbit
4806-476: A similar development influenced by Middle Low German . Various languages unrelated to Old Norse and others not closely related have been heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman language ; to a lesser extent, Finnish and Estonian . Russian, Ukrainian , Belarusian , Lithuanian and Latvian also have a few Norse loanwords. The words Rus and Russia , according to one theory, may be named after
4984-695: A veteran may well be summed up by Bilbo's comment: "Victory after all, I suppose! Well, it seems a very gloomy business." On its publication in October 1937, The Hobbit was met with almost unanimously favourable reviews from publications both in the UK and the US, including The Times , Catholic World and New York Post . C. S. Lewis , friend of Tolkien (and later author of The Chronicles of Narnia between 1949 and 1954), writing in The Times reports: The truth
5162-608: A voiced velar fricative [ɣ] in all cases, and others have that realisation only in the middle of words and between vowels (with it otherwise being realised [ɡ] ). The Old East Norse /ʀ/ was an apical consonant , with its precise position unknown; it is reconstructed as a palatal sibilant . It descended from Proto-Germanic /z/ and eventually developed into /r/ , as had already occurred in Old West Norse. The consonant digraphs ⟨hl⟩ , ⟨hr⟩ , and ⟨hn⟩ occurred word-initially. It
5340-467: A vowel or semivowel of a different vowel backness . In the case of i-umlaut and ʀ-umlaut , this entails a fronting of back vowels, with retention of lip rounding. In the case of u-umlaut , this entails labialization of unrounded vowels. Umlaut is phonemic and in many situations grammatically significant as a side effect of losing the Proto-Germanic morphological suffixes whose vowels created
5518-556: A wide brimmed hat, and a staff, or likened him to Merlin of Arthurian legend or the Jungian archetype of the " wise old man ". In The Annotated Hobbit , Douglas Anderson likens Gandalf's role to the Rübezahl mountain spirit of German folktales. He states that the figure can appear as "a guide, a messenger, or a farmer", often depicted as "a bearded man with a staff". The Hobbit The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
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5696-448: A word. Strong verbs ablaut the lemma 's nucleus to derive the past forms of the verb. This parallels English conjugation, where, e.g., the nucleus of sing becomes sang in the past tense and sung in the past participle. Some verbs are derived by ablaut, as the present-in-past verbs do by consequence of being derived from the past tense forms of strong verbs. Umlaut or mutation is an assimilatory process acting on vowels preceding
5874-432: Is "ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men" in an unnamed fantasy world . The world is shown on the endpaper map as "Western Lands" westward and " Wilderland " as the east. Originally this world was self-contained, but as Tolkien began work on The Lord of the Rings , he decided these stories could fit into the legendarium he had been working on privately for decades. The Hobbit and The Lord of
6052-613: Is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien . It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book is recognized as a classic in children's literature and is one of the best-selling books of all time , with over 100 million copies sold. The Hobbit
6230-477: Is a motif explicitly borrowed from Morris. The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns writes that Bilbo's character and adventures match many details of Morris's expedition in Iceland. She comments, for instance, that the humorous drawings of Morris riding through the wilds of Iceland by his friend the artist Edward Burne-Jones can serve well as models for Bilbo on his adventures. Tolkien wrote of being impressed as
6408-630: Is distinguished by the colour of his cloak. For most of his manifestation as a wizard, Gandalf's cloak is grey, hence the names Gandalf the Grey and Greyhame, from Old English hama , "cover, skin". Mithrandir is a name in Sindarin meaning "Grey Pilgrim" or "Grey Wanderer". Midway through The Lord of the Rings , Gandalf becomes the head of the order of Wizards, and is renamed Gandalf the White . This change in status (and clothing) introduces another name for
6586-465: Is expected to exist, such as in the male names Ragnarr , Steinarr (supposedly * Ragnarʀ , * Steinarʀ ), the result is apparently always /rː/ rather than */rʀ/ or */ʀː/ . This is observable in the Runic corpus. In Old Norse, i/j adjacent to i , e , their u-umlauts, and æ was not possible, nor u/v adjacent to u , o , their i-umlauts, and ǫ . At
6764-635: Is found in at least one more place in Norse myth, in the semi-historical Heimskringla , which briefly describes Gandalf Alfgeirsson , a legendary Norse king from eastern Norway and rival of Halfdan the Black . Gandalf is also the name of a Norse sea-king in Henrik Ibsen 's second play, The Burial Mound . The name "Gandolf" occurs as a character in William Morris ' 1896 fantasy novel The Well at
6942-576: Is illustrated with many black-and-white drawings taken from translations of the story into some 25 languages. Tolkien's use of runes, both as decorative devices and as magical signs within the story, has been cited as a major cause for the popularization of runes within " New Age " and esoteric literature, stemming from Tolkien's popularity with the elements of counter-culture in the 1970s. The Hobbit takes cues from narrative models of children's literature , as shown by its omniscient narrator and characters that young children can relate to, such as
7120-584: Is more common in Old West Norse in both phonemic and allophonic positions, while it only occurs sparsely in post-runic Old East Norse and even in runic Old East Norse. This is still a major difference between Swedish and Faroese and Icelandic today. Plurals of neuters do not have u-umlaut at all in Swedish, but in Faroese and Icelandic they do, for example the Faroese and Icelandic plurals of the word land , lond and lönd respectively, in contrast to
7298-529: Is no exception to this; the work shows influences from northern European literature, myths and languages, especially from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda . Examples include the names of the dwarves, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Dwalin, Balin , Dain, Nain, and Thorin Oakenshield, along with Gandalf which was a dwarf-name in the Norse. But while their names are Norse,
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7476-508: Is said that in the ending of the task for which he came he suffered greatly, and was slain, and being sent back from death for a brief while was clothed then in white, and became a radiant flame (yet veiled still save in great need). In Valinor , Gandalf was called Olórin . He was one of the Maiar of Valinor, specifically, one of the people of the Vala Manwë ; he was said to be the wisest of
7654-503: Is set in Middle-earth and follows home-loving Bilbo Baggins , the hobbit of the title, who joins the wizard Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves of Thorin's Company , on a quest to reclaim the dwarves' home and treasure from the dragon Smaug . Bilbo's journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story is told in the form of a picaresque or episodic quest ; several chapters introduce
7832-567: Is sure that Bilbo's ring is the One Ring that Sauron needs to dominate the whole of Middle-earth. The Council of Elrond creates the Fellowship of the Ring, with Gandalf as its leader, to defeat Sauron by destroying the Ring. He takes them south through the Misty Mountains, but is killed fighting a Balrog , an evil spirit-being, in the underground realm of Moria . After he dies, he is sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission as Gandalf
8010-402: Is that in this book a number of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar's with the poet's grasp of mythology... The professor has the air of inventing nothing. He has studied trolls and dragons at first hand and describes them with that fidelity that is worth oceans of glib "originality." Lewis compares
8188-459: Is that the nonphonemic difference between the voiced and the voiceless dental fricative is marked. The oldest texts and runic inscriptions use þ exclusively. Long vowels are denoted with acutes . Most other letters are written with the same glyph as the IPA phoneme, except as shown in the table below. Ablaut patterns are groups of vowels which are swapped, or ablauted, in the nucleus of
8366-593: Is then that Gandalf meets the great horse Shadowfax , who will be his mount and companion. Gandalf rides hard for the Shire, but does not reach it until after Frodo has set out. Knowing that Frodo and his companions will be heading for Rivendell, Gandalf makes his own way there. He learns at Bree that the Hobbits have fallen in with Aragorn. He faces the Nazgûl at Weathertop , but escapes after an all-night battle, drawing four of them northward. Frodo, Aragorn and company face
8544-557: Is unclear whether they were sequences of two consonants (with the first element realised as /h/ or perhaps /x/ ) or as single voiceless sonorants /l̥/ , /r̥/ and /n̥/ respectively. In Old Norwegian, Old Danish and later Old Swedish, the groups ⟨hl⟩ , ⟨hr⟩ , and ⟨hn⟩ were reduced to plain ⟨l⟩ , ⟨r⟩ , ⟨n⟩ , which suggests that they had most likely already been pronounced as voiceless sonorants by Old Norse times. The pronunciation of ⟨hv⟩
8722-620: Is unclear, but it may have been /xʷ/ (the Proto-Germanic pronunciation), /hʷ/ or the similar phoneme /ʍ/ . Unlike the three other digraphs, it was retained much longer in all dialects. Without ever developing into a voiceless sonorant in Icelandic, it instead underwent fortition to a plosive /kv/ , which suggests that instead of being a voiceless sonorant, it retained a stronger frication. Primary stress in Old Norse falls on
8900-564: The Ancrene Wisse (which Tolkien had written on in 1929), and a Christian understanding of Beowulf . Shippey comments that Bilbo is nothing like a king, and that Chance's talk of "types" just muddies the waters, though he agrees with her that there are "self-images of Tolkien" throughout his fiction; and she is right, too, in seeing Middle-earth as a balance between creativity and scholarship, "Germanic past and Christian present". The overcoming of greed and selfishness has been seen as
9078-535: The Latin alphabet , there was no standardized orthography in use in the Middle Ages. A modified version of the letter wynn called vend was used briefly for the sounds /u/ , /v/ , and /w/ . Long vowels were sometimes marked with acutes but also sometimes left unmarked or geminated. The standardized Old Norse spelling was created in the 19th century and is, for the most part, phonemic. The most notable deviation
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#17327831764699256-482: The Misty Mountains , they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground . Although Gandalf kills the goblin king and rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others as they flee the goblins. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and then encounters Gollum , who engages him in a game, each posing a riddle until one of them cannot solve it. If Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him
9434-690: The Norse god Odin in his "Wanderer" guise. Others have described Gandalf as a guide-figure who assists the protagonists, comparable to the Cumaean Sibyl who assisted Aeneas in Virgil 's The Aeneid , or to the figure of Virgil in Dante 's Inferno . Scholars have likened his return in white to the transfiguration of Christ ; he is further described as a prophet , representing one element of Christ's threefold office of prophet, priest, and king, where
9612-620: The Prancing Pony , and heads towards Isengard. There, Saruman horrifies Gandalf by asking him to help him to obtain and use the Ring. Gandalf refuses, and Saruman imprisons him at the top of his tower . Gandalf is rescued by Gwaihir the Eagle , who comes to him as requested via Radagast. In Rohan , Gandalf appeals to King Théoden for a horse. Théoden, under the evil influence of Gríma Wormtongue , Saruman's spy and servant, tells Gandalf to take any horse he pleases, but to leave quickly. It
9790-513: The Ring . Returning to the Shire , Gandalf confirms his suspicion by throwing the Ring into Frodo's hearth-fire and reading the writing that appears on its surface. He tells Frodo the history of the ring, and urges him to take it to Rivendell , warning of grave danger if he stays in the Shire. Gandalf says he will attempt to return for Frodo's 50th birthday party, to accompany him on the road; and that meanwhile Frodo should arrange to leave quietly, as
9968-667: The Rus' people , a Norse tribe, probably from present-day east-central Sweden. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi , respectively. A number of loanwords have been introduced into Irish , many associated with fishing and sailing. A similar influence is found in Scottish Gaelic , with over one hundred loanwords estimated to be in the language, many of which are related to fishing and sailing. Old Norse vowel phonemes mostly come in pairs of long and short. The standardized orthography marks
10146-437: The nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle . His creative endeavours at this time also included letters from Father Christmas to his children—illustrated manuscripts that featured warring gnomes and goblins , and a helpful polar bear —alongside the creation of elven languages and an attendant mythology, including The Book of Lost Tales , which he had been creating since 1917. These works all saw posthumous publication. In
10324-468: The palantír to Aragorn and takes the chastened Pippin with him to Minas Tirith to keep the young Hobbit out of further trouble. Gandalf arrives in time to help to arrange the defences of Minas Tirith. His presence is resented by Denethor , the Steward of Gondor ; but when his son Faramir is gravely wounded in battle, Denethor sinks into despair and madness. Together with Prince Imrahil, Gandalf leads
10502-668: The word stem , so that hyrjar would be pronounced /ˈhyr.jar/ . In compound words, secondary stress falls on the second stem (e.g. lærisveinn , /ˈlɛːɾ.iˌswɛinː/ ). Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark , runic Old Norse was originally written with the Younger Futhark , which had only 16 letters. Because of the limited number of runes, several runes were used for different sounds, and long and short vowels were not distinguished in writing. Medieval runes came into use some time later. As for
10680-526: The " Doctor Dolittle Theme" in The History of The Hobbit , and cites the multitude of talking animals as indicative of this theme. These sapient beings include ravens, a thrush, spiders and the dragon Smaug, alongside the anthropomorphic goblins and elves. Patrick Curry notes that animism is also found in Tolkien's other works, and mentions the "roots of mountains" and "feet of trees" in The Hobbit as
10858-557: The 11th century in most of Old East Norse. However, the distinction still holds in Dalecarlian dialects . The dots in the following vowel table separate the oral from nasal phonemes. Note: The open or open-mid vowels may be transcribed differently: Sometime around the 13th century, /ɔ/ (spelled ⟨ǫ⟩ ) merged with /ø/ or /o/ in most dialects except Old Danish , and Icelandic where /ɔ/ ( ǫ ) merged with /ø/ . This can be determined by their distinction within
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#173278317646911036-979: The 12th-century First Grammatical Treatise but not within the early 13th-century Prose Edda . The nasal vowels, also noted in the First Grammatical Treatise, are assumed to have been lost in most dialects by this time (but notably they are retained in Elfdalian and other dialects of Ovansiljan ). See Old Icelandic for the mergers of /øː/ (spelled ⟨œ⟩ ) with /ɛː/ (spelled ⟨æ⟩ ) and /ɛ/ (spelled ⟨ę⟩ ) with /e/ (spelled ⟨e⟩ ). Old Norse had three diphthong phonemes: /ɛi/ , /ɔu/ , /øy ~ ɛy/ (spelled ⟨ei⟩ , ⟨au⟩ , ⟨ey⟩ respectively). In East Norse these would monophthongize and merge with /eː/ and /øː/ , whereas in West Norse and its descendants
11214-652: The 13 dwarves and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins with their quest to retake the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon, but leaves them to urge the White Council to expel Sauron from his fortress of Dol Guldur . In the course of the quest, Bilbo finds a magical ring. The expulsion succeeds, but in The Lord of the Rings , Gandalf reveals that Sauron's retreat was only a feint, as he soon reappeared in Mordor . Gandalf further explains that, after years of investigation, he
11392-668: The 13th century there. The age of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland is strongly contested, but Swedish settlement had spread the language into the region by the time of the Second Swedish Crusade in the 13th century at the latest. The modern descendants of the Old West Norse dialect are the West Scandinavian languages of Icelandic , Faroese , Norwegian , and the extinct Norn language of Orkney and Shetland , although Norwegian
11570-487: The 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects : Old West Norse (Old West Nordic, often referred to as Old Norse ), Old East Norse (Old East Nordic), and Old Gutnish . Old West Norse and Old East Norse formed
11748-579: The Arkenstone to the besiegers, hoping to head off a war. When they offer the jewel to Thorin in exchange for treasure, Bilbo reveals how they obtained it. Thorin, furious at what he sees as betrayal, banishes Bilbo, and battle seems inevitable when Dáin Ironfoot , Thorin's second cousin, arrives with an army of dwarf warriors. Gandalf reappears to warn all of an approaching army of goblins and Wargs. The dwarves, men and elves band together, but only with
11926-465: The Arkenstone, the most-treasured heirloom of Thorin's family, and hides it away. The Wood-elves and Lake-men request compensation for Lake-town's destruction and settlement of old claims on the treasure. When Thorin refuses to give them anything, they besiege the mountain. However, Thorin manages to send a message to his kinfolk in the Iron Hills and reinforces his position. Bilbo slips out and gives
12104-508: The Balrog falls, it wraps its whip around Gandalf's legs, dragging him over the edge. Gandalf falls into the abyss, crying "Fly, you fools!". Gandalf and the Balrog fall into a deep lake in Moria's underworld. Gandalf pursues the Balrog through the tunnels for eight days until they climb to the peak of Zirakzigil . Here they fight for two days and nights. The Balrog is defeated and cast down onto
12282-626: The Early Sun in His Eyes , Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves and Conversation with Smaug , which features a dwarvish curse written in Tolkien's invented script Tengwar , and signed with two "þ" ("Th") runes. The additional illustrations proved so appealing that George Allen & Unwin adopted the colour plates as well for their second printing, with exception of Bilbo Woke Up with
12460-469: The Early Sun in His Eyes . Different editions have been illustrated in diverse ways. Many follow the original scheme at least loosely, but many others are illustrated by other artists, especially the many translated editions. Some cheaper editions, particularly paperback, are not illustrated except with the maps. "The Children's Book Club" edition of 1942 includes the black-and-white pictures but no maps, an anomaly. Douglas Anderson 's The Annotated Hobbit
12638-455: The Faroe Islands, Faroese has also been influenced by Danish. Both Middle English (especially northern English dialects within the area of the Danelaw ) and Early Scots (including Lowland Scots ) were strongly influenced by Norse and contained many Old Norse loanwords . Consequently, Modern English (including Scottish English ), inherited a significant proportion of its vocabulary directly from Norse. The development of Norman French
12816-596: The Fellowship (comprising nine representatives of the free peoples of Middle-earth , "set against the Nine Riders"), Gandalf and Aragorn lead the Hobbits and their companions south. After an unsuccessful attempt to cross Mount Caradhras in winter, they cross under the mountains through the Mines of Moria under the Misty Mountains, though only Gimli the Dwarf is enthusiastic about that route. In Moria, they discover that
12994-829: The Grey Pilgrim, and reports Gandalf as saying, "Many are my names in many countries. Mithrandir among the Elves , Tharkûn to the Dwarves , Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf ; to the East I go not." In an early draft of The Hobbit , he is called Bladorthin , while the name Gandalf is used by the dwarf who later became Thorin Oakenshield . Each Wizard
13172-673: The Grey, possessing great knowledge and travelling continually. Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring . He is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya , the Ring of Fire. As such, he delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire , while in great need he uses fire as a weapon. As one of the Maiar , he is an immortal spirit from Valinor , but his physical body can be killed. In The Hobbit , Gandalf assists
13350-607: The Hobbits back to the borders of the Shire , before leaving to visit Tom Bombadil . Two years later, Gandalf departs Middle-earth forever. He boards the Ringbearers' ship in the Grey Havens and sets sail to return across the sea to the Undying Lands ; with him are his horse Shadowfax and his friends Frodo, Bilbo , Galadriel , and Elrond . Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter relates that Tolkien owned
13528-700: The Hobbits' equipment. Gandalf rejects Mordor's terms of surrender, starting the Battle of the Morannon . The forces of the West face the full might of Sauron's armies, until the Ring is destroyed in Mount Doom. Gandalf leads the Eagles to rescue Frodo and Sam from the erupting mountain. After the war, Gandalf crowns Aragorn as King Elessar, and helps him find a sapling of the White Tree of Gondor . He accompanies
13706-666: The King After the battle, Gandalf counsels an attack against Sauron's forces at the Black Gate , in an effort to distract the Dark Lord's attention from Frodo and Sam ; they are at that moment scaling Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. Gandalf, Aragorn and the other leaders of the West lead an army to the Black Gate, meeting the nameless lieutenant of Mordor , who shows them Frodo's mithril shirt and other items from
13884-623: The Maiar. He was closely associated with two other Valar: Irmo, in whose gardens he lived, and Nienna , the patron of mercy, who gave him tutelage. When the Valar decided to send the order of the Wizards (Istari) across the Great Sea to Middle-earth to counsel and assist all those who opposed Sauron , Olórin was proposed by Manwë. Olórin initially begged to be excused, declaring he was too weak and that he feared Sauron, but Manwë replied that that
14062-806: The Necromancer was indeed Sauron. The following year a White Council was held, and Gandalf urged that Sauron be driven out. Saruman, however, reassured the Council that Sauron's evident effort to find the One Ring would fail, as the Ring would long since have been carried by the river Anduin to the Sea; and the matter was allowed to rest. But Saruman began actively seeking the Ring near the Gladden Fields where Isildur had been killed. " The Quest of Erebor " in Unfinished Tales elaborates upon
14240-502: The Old Norse words for "raven" and "rook", but their peaceful characters are unlike the typical carrion birds from Old Norse and Old English literature. Tolkien is not simply skimming historical sources for effect: the juxtaposition of old and new styles of expression is seen by the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey as one of the major themes explored in The Hobbit . Maps figure in both saga literature and The Hobbit . Themes from Old English literature , especially from Beowulf , shape
14418-520: The Ring-bearer—in his quest. He persuades Elrond to let Frodo's cousins Merry and Pippin join the Fellowship . The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and
14596-756: The Rings became the end of the " Third Age " of Middle Earth within Arda . Eventually those tales of the earlier periods became published as The Silmarillion and other posthumous works. Tolkien's correspondence and publisher's records show that he was involved in the design and illustration of the entire book. All elements were the subject of considerable correspondence and fussing over by Tolkien. Rayner Unwin, in his publishing memoir, comments: "In 1937 alone Tolkien wrote 26 letters to George Allen & Unwin... detailed, fluent, often pungent, but infinitely polite and exasperatingly precise... I doubt any author today, however famous, would get such scrupulous attention." Even
14774-473: The Swedish plural land and numerous other examples. That also applies to almost all feminine nouns, for example the largest feminine noun group, the o-stem nouns (except the Swedish noun jord mentioned above), and even i-stem nouns and root nouns , such as Old West Norse mǫrk ( mörk in Icelandic) in comparison with Modern and Old Swedish mark . Vowel breaking, or fracture, caused
14952-524: The White Council and the Order of Wizards ; Gandalf takes Saruman's place as head of both. Wormtongue tries to kill Gandalf or Saruman with the palantír of Orthanc, but misses both. Pippin retrieves the palantír , but Gandalf quickly takes it. After the group leaves Isengard, Pippin takes the palantír from a sleeping Gandalf, looks into it, and comes face to face with Sauron himself. Gandalf gives
15130-527: The White. He reappears to three of the Fellowship and helps to counter the enemy in Rohan , then in Gondor , and finally at the Black Gate of Mordor, in each case largely by offering guidance. When victory is complete, he crowns Aragorn as King before leaving Middle-earth for ever to return to Valinor. Tolkien once described Gandalf as an angel incarnate; later, both he and other scholars have likened Gandalf to
15308-492: The World's End , along with the horse "Silverfax", adapted by Tolkien as Gandalf's horse "Shadowfax". Morris' book, inspired by Norse myth, is set in a pseudo- medieval landscape; it deeply influenced Tolkien. The wizard that became Gandalf was originally named Bladorthin . Tolkien came to regret his ad hoc use of Old Norse names, referring to a "rabble of eddaic -named dwarves, ... invented in an idle hour" in 1937. But
15486-658: The ancient world which Bilbo stepped into. Tolkien, a scholar of Beowulf , counted the epic among his "most valued sources" for The Hobbit . Tolkien was one of the first critics to treat Beowulf as a literary work with value beyond the merely historical, with his 1936 lecture Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics . Tolkien borrowed several elements from Beowulf , including a monstrous, intelligent dragon. Certain descriptions in The Hobbit seem to have been lifted straight out of Beowulf with some minor rewording, such as when
15664-405: The bait, though his jaws should close on us... We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves. For, my lords, it may well prove that we ourselves shall perish utterly in a black battle far from the living lands; so that even if Barad-dûr be thrown down, we shall not live to see a new age. But this, I deem, is our duty." J. R. R. Tolkien , The Return of
15842-541: The beginning of words, this manifested as a dropping of the initial /j/ (which was general, independent of the following vowel) or /v/ . Compare ON orð , úlfr , ár with English word, wolf, year . In inflections, this manifested as the dropping of the inflectional vowels. Thus, klæði + dat -i remains klæði , and sjáum in Icelandic progressed to sjǫ́um > sjǫ́m > sjám . The * jj and * ww of Proto-Germanic became ggj and ggv respectively in Old Norse,
16020-622: The book to Alice in Wonderland in that both children and adults may find different things to enjoy in it, and places it alongside Flatland , Phantastes , and The Wind in the Willows . W. H. Auden , in his review of the sequel The Fellowship of the Ring , calls The Hobbit "one of the best children's stories of this century". Auden was later to correspond with Tolkien, and they became friends. Old Norse Old Norse , also referred to as Old Nordic , or Old Scandinavian ,
16198-429: The central moral of the story. Whilst greed is a recurring theme in the novel, with many of the episodes stemming from one or more of the characters' simple desire for food (be it trolls eating dwarves or dwarves eating Wood-elf fare) or a desire for beautiful objects, such as gold and jewels, it is only by the Arkenstone's influence upon Thorin that greed, and its attendant vices "coveting" and "malignancy", come fully to
16376-474: The characters of the dwarves are based on fairy tales such as Snow White and Snow-White and Rose-Red as collected by the Brothers Grimm , while the latter tale may have influenced the character of Beorn. Tolkien's use of descriptive names such as Misty Mountains and Bag End echoes the names used in Old Norse sagas . The names of the dwarf-friendly ravens, such as Roäc, are derived from
16554-411: The cluster */Crʀ/ cannot be realized as /Crː/ , nor as */Crʀ/ , nor as */Cʀː/ . The same shortening as in vetr also occurs in lax = laks ('salmon') (as opposed to * lakss , * laksʀ ), botn ('bottom') (as opposed to * botnn , * botnʀ ), and jarl (as opposed to * jarll , * jarlʀ ). Furthermore, wherever the cluster */rʀ/
16732-404: The company ; two types of elves : both puckish and more serious warrior types ; Men ; man-eating trolls ; boulder-throwing giants; evil cave-dwelling goblins ; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic eagles who also speak; evil wolves, or Wargs , who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum , a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn ,
16910-406: The content of the riddles themselves. This idea of a superficial contrast between characters' individual linguistic style, tone and sphere of interest, leading to an understanding of the deeper unity between the ancient and modern, is a recurring theme in The Hobbit . Smaug is the main antagonist. In many ways the Smaug episode reflects and references the dragon of Beowulf , and Tolkien uses
17088-577: The council to evict Sauron, since quite evidently Sauron did not require the One Ring to continue to attract evil to Mirkwood. Then the Council "put[s] forth its power" and drives Sauron from Dol Guldur . Sauron had anticipated this, and had feigned a withdrawal, only to reappear in Mordor . Gandalf spent the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings travelling Middle-earth in search of information on Sauron 's resurgence and Bilbo Baggins 's mysterious ring , spurred particularly by Bilbo's initial misleading story of how he had obtained it as
17266-584: The cup-thief and the dragon's intellect and personality. Named swords of renown, adorned with runes, similarly have Old English connections. In using his elf-sword, Bilbo finally takes his first independent heroic action. By his naming the sword " Sting " we see Bilbo's acceptance of the kinds of cultural and linguistic practices found in Beowulf , signifying his entrance into the ancient world in which he found himself. This progression culminates in Bilbo stealing
17444-441: The decision to use Old Norse names came to have far-reaching consequences in the composition of The Lord of the Rings ; in 1942, Tolkien decided that the work was to be a purported translation from the fictional language of Westron , and in the English translation Old Norse names were taken to represent names in the language of Dale . Gandalf , in this setting, is thus a representation in English (anglicised from Old Norse) of
17622-609: The defenders during the siege of the city. When the forces of Mordor break the main gate, Gandalf, alone on Shadowfax, confronts the Lord of the Nazgûl. At that moment the Rohirrim arrive, causing the Nazgûl to withdraw. Gandalf is about to pursue, but is stopped by Pippin, who requests his intervention to save Faramir – Denethor in desperation was seeking to burn himself and his son on a funeral pyre. Gandalf saves Faramir (but not Denethor, who immolates himself), and plays no further part in
17800-429: The development of high fantasy, and further credits the 1960s paperback debuts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as essential to the creation of a mass market for fiction of this kind as well as the fantasy genre's current status. Tolkien's prose is unpretentious and straightforward, taking as given the existence of his imaginary world and describing its details in a matter-of-fact way, while often introducing
17978-449: The diphthongs remained. Old Norse has six plosive phonemes, /p/ being rare word-initially and /d/ and /b/ pronounced as voiced fricative allophones between vowels except in compound words (e.g. veðrabati ), already in the Proto-Germanic language (e.g. * b *[β] > [v] between vowels). The /ɡ/ phoneme was pronounced as [ɡ] after an /n/ or another /ɡ/ and as [k] before /s/ and /t/ . Some accounts have it
18156-481: The dragon Smaug . Gandalf unveils Thrór's map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, indignant, joins despite himself. The group travels into the wild. Gandalf saves the company from trolls and leads them to Rivendell , where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map. When they attempt to cross
18334-547: The dragon stretches its neck out to sniff for intruders. Likewise, Tolkien's descriptions of the lair as accessed through a secret passage mirror those in Beowulf . Other specific plot elements and features in The Hobbit that show similarities to Beowulf include the title of thief , as Bilbo is called by Gollum and later by Smaug, and Smaug's personality, which leads to the destruction of Lake-town. Tolkien refines parts of Beowulf 's plot that he appears to have found less than satisfactorily described, such as details about
18512-463: The dwarf colony established there by Balin has been annihilated by orcs . The Fellowship fights with the orcs and trolls of Moria and escapes them. At the Bridge of Khazad-dûm , they encounter "Durin's Bane," a fearsome Balrog from ancient times. Gandalf faces the Balrog to enable the others to escape. After a brief exchange of blows, Gandalf breaks the bridge beneath the Balrog with his staff . As
18690-452: The dwarves could not bear to acknowledge. The analogue of the " underworld " and the hero returning from it with a boon (such as the ring, or Elvish blades) that benefits his society is seen to fit the mythic archetypes regarding initiation and male coming-of-age as described by Joseph Campbell . Chance compares the development and growth of Bilbo against other characters to the concepts of just kingship versus sinful kingship derived from
18868-493: The dwarves from giant spiders and then from the dungeons of the Wood-elves. Nearing the Lonely Mountain , the travellers are welcomed by the human inhabitants of Lake-town , who hope the dwarves will fulfil prophecies of Smaug's demise. The expedition reaches the mountain and finds the secret door. The dwarves send a reluctant Bilbo inside to scout the dragon's lair. He steals a great cup and, while conversing with Smaug, spots
19046-476: The episode to put into practice some of the ground-breaking literary theories he had developed about the Old English poem in its portrayal of the dragon as having bestial intelligence. Tolkien greatly prefers this motif over the later medieval trend of using the dragon as a symbolic or allegorical figure, such as in the legend of St. George . Smaug the dragon with his golden hoard may be seen as an example of
19224-683: The extra cost. Thus encouraged, Tolkien supplied a second batch of illustrations. The publisher accepted all of these as well, giving the first edition ten black-and-white illustrations plus the two endpaper maps. The illustrated scenes were: The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the-Water , The Trolls , The Mountain Path , The Misty Mountains looking West from the Eyrie towards Goblin Gate , Beorn 's Hall , Mirkwood , The Elvenking 's Gate , Lake Town , The Front Gate , and The Hall at Bag-End . All but one of
19402-456: The figure of the trickster occurs in every age, whether in sacred rites or picaresque stories. Jaume Albero Poveda similarly calls the "comical episodes" like the riddle game between Bilbo and Gollum "typical of the picaresque novel". Tolkien wished to imitate the prose and poetry romances of the 19th-century Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris in style and approach. The Desolation of Smaug, portraying dragons as detrimental to landscape,
19580-451: The final design of two maps as endpapers, Thror's map , and the Map of Wilderland (see Rhovanion ), both printed in black and red on the paper's cream background. Originally Allen & Unwin planned to illustrate the book only with the endpaper maps, but Tolkien's first tendered sketches so charmed the publisher's staff that they opted to include them without raising the book's price despite
19758-407: The first edition of The Hobbit , Bladorthin/Gandalf is described as being a "little old man", distinct from a dwarf, but not of the full human stature that would later be described in The Lord of the Rings . Even in The Lord of the Rings , Gandalf was not tall; shorter, for example, than Elrond or the other wizards. When writing The Hobbit in the early 1930s Tolkien gave the name Gandalf to
19936-548: The fore in the story and provide the moral crux of the tale. Bilbo steals the Arkenstone—a most ancient relic of the dwarves—and attempts to ransom it to Thorin for peace. However, Thorin turns on the Hobbit as a traitor, disregarding all the promises and "at your services" he had previously bestowed. In the end Bilbo gives up the precious stone and most of his share of the treasure to help those in greater need. Tolkien also explores
20114-406: The general tone is kept light-hearted, being interspersed with songs and humour. One example of the use of song to maintain tone is when Thorin and Company are kidnapped by goblins, who, when marching them into the underworld, sing: Clap! Snap! the black crack! Grip, grab! Pinch, nab! And down down to Goblin-town You go, my lad! This onomatopoeic singing undercuts the dangerous scene with
20292-424: The hero being plucked from his rural home and thrown into a far-off war where traditional types of heroism are shown to be futile. The tale as such explores the theme of heroism. As Janet Brennan Croft notes, Tolkien's literary reaction to war at this time differed from most post-war writers by eschewing irony as a method for distancing events and instead using mythology to mediate his experiences. Similarities to
20470-501: The illustrations were a full page, and one, the Mirkwood illustration, required a separate plate. Satisfied with his skills, the publishers asked Tolkien to design a dust jacket. This project, too, became the subject of many iterations and much correspondence, with Tolkien always writing disparagingly of his own ability to draw. The runic inscription around the edges of the illustration are a phonetic transliteration of English, giving
20648-547: The initial reviews refer to the work as a fairy story. However, according to Jack Zipes writing in The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales , Bilbo is an atypical character for a fairy tale. The work is much longer than Tolkien's ideal proposed in his essay On Fairy-Stories . Many fairy tale motifs, such as the repetition of similar events seen in the dwarves' arrival at Bilbo's and Beorn's homes, and folklore themes, such as trolls turning to stone, are to be found in
20826-537: The king to join in the fight against Sauron. Gandalf sets off to gather warriors of the Westfold to assist Théoden in the coming battle with Saruman. Gandalf arrives just in time to defeat Saruman's army in the battle of Helm's Deep . Gandalf and the King ride to Isengard , which has just been destroyed by Treebeard and his Ents , who are accompanied by Merry and Pippin. Gandalf breaks Saruman's staff and expels him from
21004-457: The leader of the Dwarves , the character later called Thorin Oakenshield . The name is taken from the same source as all the other Dwarf names (save Balin ) in The Hobbit : the " Catalogue of Dwarves " in the Völuspá . The Old Norse name Gandalfr incorporates the words gandr meaning "wand", "staff" or (especially in compounds) " magic " and álfr " elf ". The name Gandalf
21182-399: The long vowels with an acute accent. In medieval manuscripts, it is often unmarked but sometimes marked with an accent or through gemination . Old Norse had nasalized versions of all ten vowel places. These occurred as allophones of the vowels before nasal consonants and in places where a nasal had followed it in an older form of the word, before it was absorbed into a neighboring sound. If
21360-409: The maps, of which Tolkien originally proposed five, were considered and debated. He wished Thror's Map to be tipped in (that is, glued in after the book has been bound) at first mention in the text, and with the moon letter runes on the reverse so they could be seen when held up to the light. In the end the cost, as well as the shading of the maps, which would be difficult to reproduce, resulted in
21538-582: The medieval image of Jews, whilst their warlike nature stems from accounts in the Hebrew Bible . The Dwarvish calendar invented for The Hobbit reflects the Jewish calendar which begins in late autumn. And although Tolkien denied that he used allegory , the dwarves taking Bilbo out of his complacent existence has been seen as an eloquent metaphor for the "impoverishment of Western society without Jews." The scholar of literature James L. Hodge describes
21716-483: The mid-1920s. Carpenter acknowledged that Tolkien was probably mistaken about the origin of the postcard. An additional influence may have been Väinämöinen , a demigod and the central character in Finnish folklore and the national epic Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot . Väinämöinen was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, magical singing voice. Throughout the early drafts, and through to
21894-679: The most conservative language, such that in present-day Iceland, schoolchildren are able to read the 12th-century Icelandic sagas in the original language (in editions with normalised spelling). Old Icelandic was very close to Old Norwegian , and together they formed Old West Norse , which was also spoken in Norse settlements in Greenland , the Faroes , Ireland , Scotland , the Isle of Man , northwest England, and in Normandy . Old East Norse
22072-604: The motif of jewels that inspire intense greed that corrupts those who covet them in the Silmarillion , and there are connections between the words "Arkenstone" and " Silmaril " in Tolkien's invented etymologies. The Hobbit employs themes of animism . An important concept in anthropology and child development , animism is the idea that all things—including inanimate objects and natural events, such as storms or purses, as well as living things like animals and plants—possess human-like intelligence. John D. Rateliff calls this
22250-702: The mountainside. Gandalf also dies, and his body lies on the peak while his spirit travels "out of thought and time". Gandalf is "sent back" as Gandalf the White, and returns to life on the mountain top. Gwaihir carries him to Lothlórien , where he is healed of his injuries and re-clothed in white robes by Galadriel . He travels to Fangorn Forest, where he encounters Aragorn , Gimli , and Legolas (who are tracking Merry and Pippin ). They mistake him for Saruman , but he stops their attacks and reveals himself. They travel to Rohan , where Gandalf finds that Théoden has been further weakened by Wormtongue's influence. He breaks Wormtongue's hold over Théoden, and convinces
22428-495: The name the Dwarves of Erebor had given to Olórin in the language they used "externally" in their daily affairs, while Tharkûn is the (untranslated) name, presumably of the same meaning, that the Dwarves gave him in their native Khuzdul language. Gandalf's role and importance was substantially increased in the conception of The Lord of the Rings , and in a letter of 1954, Tolkien refers to Gandalf as an " angel incarnate". In
22606-491: The narrative flow with asides (a device common to both children's and Anglo-Saxon literature), has his own linguistic style separate from those of the main characters. The basic form of the story is that of a quest , told in episodes. For the most part of the book, each chapter introduces a different denizen of the Wilderland, some helpful and friendly towards the protagonists, and others threatening or dangerous. However
22784-557: The narrative voice addressing the reader directly, the narrative voice contributes significantly to the success of the novel. The scholar Lois R. Kuznets comments that the "obtrusive narrator" is part of a standard "rhetoric of childhood"; C. W. Sullivan III adds that Tolkien may have taken the idea of an intrusive narrator from the medieval texts Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Emer O'Sullivan, in her Comparative Children's Literature , notes The Hobbit as one of
22962-514: The nasal was absorbed by a stressed vowel, it would also lengthen the vowel. This nasalization also occurred in the other Germanic languages, but were not retained long. They were noted in the First Grammatical Treatise , and otherwise might have remained unknown. The First Grammarian marked these with a dot above the letter. This notation did not catch on, and would soon be obsolete. Nasal and oral vowels probably merged around
23140-450: The new and fantastic in an almost casual manner. This down-to-earth style, also found in later fantasy such as Richard Adams ' Watership Down and Peter Beagle 's The Last Unicorn , accepts readers into the fictional world , rather than cajoling or attempting to convince them of its reality. While The Hobbit is written in a simple, friendly language, each of its characters has a unique voice. The narrator, who occasionally interrupts
23318-573: The oldest and least in stature, but Círdan the Shipwright felt that he was the greatest on their first meeting in the Havens, and gave him Narya , the Ring of Fire. Saruman , the chief Wizard, learned of the gift and resented it. Gandalf hid the ring well, and it was not widely known until he left with the other ring-bearers at the end of the Third Age that he, and not Círdan, was the holder of
23496-641: The other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and Gaelic ( Scottish and/or Irish ). Although Swedish, Danish and Norwegian have diverged the most, they still retain considerable mutual intelligibility . Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, particularly if speaking slowly. The languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders. This could be because these languages have been mutually affected by each other, as well as having
23674-481: The other two roles are taken by Frodo and Aragorn . The Gandalf character has been featured in radio, television, stage, video game, music, and film adaptations, including Ralph Bakshi 's 1978 animated film . His best-known portrayal is by Ian McKellen in Peter Jackson 's 2001–2003 The Lord of the Rings film series, where the actor based his acclaimed performance on Tolkien himself. McKellen reprised
23852-402: The quest was born. Gandalf meets with Bilbo in the opening of The Hobbit . He arranges for a tea party, to which he invites the thirteen dwarves, and thus arranges the travelling group central to the narrative. Gandalf contributes the map and key to Erebor to assist the quest. On this quest Gandalf acquires the sword, Glamdring , from the trolls' treasure hoard. Elrond informs them that
24030-516: The remaining five on Weathertop a few nights later. Gandalf reaches Rivendell just before Frodo's arrival. In Rivendell, Gandalf helps Elrond drive off the Nazgûl pursuing Frodo, and plays a leading role in the Council of Elrond as the only person who knows the full history of the ring. He reveals that Saruman has betrayed them and is in league with Sauron. When it is decided that the Ring has to be destroyed, Gandalf volunteers to accompany Frodo—now
24208-432: The ring and disappears, Gandalf urges his old friend to leave the ring to Frodo, as they had planned. Bilbo becomes hostile, accusing Gandalf of trying to steal the ring. Alarmed, Gandalf tells Bilbo that is foolish. Coming to his senses, Bilbo admits that the ring has been troubling him, and leaves it behind for Frodo as he departs for Rivendell . Over the next 17 years, Gandalf travels extensively, searching for answers on
24386-468: The ring. He finds some answers in Isildur's scroll, in the archives of Minas Tirith . Gandalf searches long and hard for Gollum, often assisted by Aragorn, who eventually succeeds in capturing Gollum. Gandalf questions Gollum, threatening him with fire when he proves unwilling to speak. Gandalf learns that Sauron had imprisoned Gollum in his fortress of Barad-dûr , and tortured him to reveal what he knew of
24564-560: The role in Jackson's 2012–2014 film series The Hobbit . Tolkien derived the name Gandalf from Gandálfr, a dwarf in the Völuspá 's Dvergatal , a list of dwarf-names. In Old Norse , the name means staff-elf . This is reflected in his name Tharkûn , which is "said to mean 'Staff-man'" in Khuzdul , the language Tolkien invented for his Dwarves . Gandalf is given several names and epithets in Tolkien's writings. Faramir calls him
24742-536: The root vowel, ǫ , is short. The clusters */Clʀ, Csʀ, Cnʀ, Crʀ/ cannot yield */Clː, Csː, Cnː, Crː/ respectively, instead /Cl, Cs, Cn, Cr/ . The effect of this shortening can result in the lack of distinction between some forms of the noun. In the case of vetr ('winter'), the nominative and accusative singular and plural forms are identical. The nominative singular and nominative and accusative plural would otherwise have been OWN * vetrr , OEN * wintrʀ . These forms are impossible because
24920-441: The same language, dǫnsk tunga ("Danish tongue"; speakers of Old East Norse would have said dansk tunga ). Another term was norrœnt mál ("northern speech"). Today Old Norse has developed into the modern North Germanic languages Icelandic , Faroese , Norwegian , Danish , Swedish , and other North Germanic varieties of which Norwegian, Danish and Swedish retain considerable mutual intelligibility . Icelandic remains
25098-413: The same letter Tolkien states he was given the form of an old man in order to limit his powers on Earth. Both in 1965 and 1971 Tolkien again refers to Gandalf as an angelic being. In a 1946 letter, Tolkien stated that he thought of Gandalf as an "Odinic wanderer". Other commentators have similarly compared Gandalf to the Norse god Odin in his "Wanderer" guise—an old man with one eye, a long white beard,
25276-539: The servants of Sauron will be searching for him. Outside the Shire, Gandalf encounters the wizard Radagast the Brown , who brings the news that the Nazgûl have ridden out of Mordor—and a request from Saruman that Gandalf come to Isengard . Gandalf asks him to send out animals to observe the Nazgûl, and to report to him at Isengard. Gandalf leaves a letter to Frodo (urging his immediate departure) with Barliman Butterbur at
25454-472: The small, food-obsessed, and morally ambiguous Bilbo. The text emphasizes the relationship between time and narrative progress and it openly distinguishes "safe" from "dangerous" in its geography. Both are key elements of works intended for children, as is the "home-away-home" (or there and back again ) plot structure typical of the Bildungsroman . While Tolkien later claimed to dislike the aspect of
25632-434: The story as picaresque , a genre of fiction in which a hero relies on his wits to survive a series of risky episodes. Hodge further likens Bilbo's admittedly unheroic business of burglary to the trickster role of some pagan gods and mythical figures: Hermes steals cattle from Apollo , Prometheus and Coyote steal fire, Odin steals the mead of poetry , and so on. Hodge quotes the psychiatrist Carl Jung as saying that
25810-522: The story behind The Hobbit . It tells of a chance meeting between Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield , a Dwarf -king in exile, in the Prancing Pony inn at Bree . Gandalf had for some time foreseen the coming war with Sauron , and knew that the North was especially vulnerable. If Rivendell were to be attacked, the dragon Smaug could cause great devastation. He persuaded Thorin that he could help him regain his lost territory of Erebor from Smaug, and so
25988-507: The story of his adventures . In the early 1930s Tolkien was pursuing an academic career at Oxford as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon , with a fellowship at Pembroke College . Several of his poems had been published in magazines and small collections, including Goblin Feet and The Cat and the Fiddle: A Nursery Rhyme Undone and its Scandalous Secret Unlocked , a reworking of
26166-400: The story, along with motifs of warfare. These themes have led critics to view Tolkien's own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story. The author's scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences, but more recent fiction including adventure stories and the works of William Morris also played
26344-494: The story. The book is popularly called (and often marketed as) a fantasy novel , but like Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald , both of which influenced Tolkien and contain fantasy elements, it is primarily identified as being children's literature. The two genres are not mutually exclusive, so some definitions of high fantasy include works for children by authors such as L. Frank Baum and Lloyd Alexander alongside
26522-577: The sword was made in Gondolin , a city long ago destroyed, where Elrond's father lived as a child. After escaping from the Misty Mountains pursued by goblins and wargs , the party is carried to safety by the Great Eagles . Gandalf then persuades Beorn to house and provision the company for the trip through Mirkwood . Gandalf leaves the company before they enter Mirkwood, saying that he had pressing business to attend to. He turns up again before
26700-575: The third of the Elven-rings . Gandalf's relationship with Saruman, the head of their Order, was strained. The Wizards were commanded to aid Men , Elves , and Dwarves , but only through counsel; they were forbidden to use force to dominate them, though Saruman increasingly disregarded this. Gandalf suspected early on that an evil presence, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur , was not a Nazgûl but Sauron himself. He went to Dol Guldur to discover
26878-589: The thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm. "You cannot pass," he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire , wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn . Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass." J. R. R. Tolkien , The Fellowship of the Ring Taking charge of
27056-437: The timely arrival of the eagles and Beorn, who fights in his bear form and kills the goblin general, do they win the climactic Battle of Five Armies. Thorin is fatally wounded and reconciles with Bilbo before he dies. Bilbo accepts only a small portion of his share of the treasure, having no want or need for more, but still returns home a very wealthy hobbit roughly a year and a month after he first left. Years later, he writes
27234-420: The title of the book and details of the author and publisher. The original jacket design contained several shades of various colours, but Tolkien redrew it several times using fewer colours each time. His final design consisted of four colours. The publishers, mindful of the cost, removed the red from the sun to end up with only black, blue, and green ink on white stock. The publisher's production staff designed
27412-544: The traditional relationship between evil and metallurgy as collated in the depiction of Pandæmonium with its "Belched fire and rolling smoke" in John Milton 's Paradise Lost . Of all the characters, Smaug's speech is the most modern, using idioms such as "Don't let your imagination run away with you!" Just as Tolkien's literary theories have been seen to influence the tale, so have Tolkien's experiences. The Hobbit may be read as Tolkien's parable of World War I with
27590-425: The truth, but the Necromancer withdrew before him, only to return with greater force, and the White Council was formed in response. Galadriel had hoped Gandalf would lead the council, but he refused, declining to be bound by any but the Valar who had sent him. Saruman was chosen instead, as the most knowledgeable about Sauron's work in the Second Age . Gandalf returned to Dol Guldur "at great peril" and learned that
27768-497: The umlaut allophones . Some /y/ , /yː/ , /ø/ , /øː/ , /ɛ/ , /ɛː/ , /øy/ , and all /ɛi/ were obtained by i-umlaut from /u/ , /uː/ , /o/ , /oː/ , /a/ , /aː/ , /au/ , and /ai/ respectively. Others were formed via ʀ-umlaut from /u/ , /uː/ , /a/ , /aː/ , and /au/ . Some /y/ , /yː/ , /ø/ , /øː/ , and all /ɔ/ , /ɔː/ were obtained by u-umlaut from /i/ , /iː/ , /e/ , /eː/ , and /a/ , /aː/ respectively. See Old Icelandic for information on /ɔː/ . /œ/
27946-412: The unfolding Battle of the Pelennor Fields . "This, then, is my counsel," [said Gandalf.] "We have not the Ring. In wisdom or great folly it has been sent away to be destroyed, lest it destroy us. Without it we cannot by force defeat [Sauron's] force. But we must at all costs keep his Eye from his true peril... We must call out his hidden strength, so that he shall empty his land... We must make ourselves
28124-438: The upper edge. Once illustrations were approved for the book, Tolkien proposed colour plates as well. The publisher would not relent on this, so Tolkien pinned his hopes on the American edition to be published about six months later. Houghton Mifflin rewarded these hopes with the replacement of the frontispiece ( The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water ) in colour and the addition of new colour plates: Rivendell , Bilbo Woke Up with
28302-482: The verb skína ('to shine') had present tense third person skínn (rather than * skínr , * skínʀ ); while kala ('to cool down') had present tense third person kell (rather than * kelr , * kelʀ ). The rule is not absolute, with certain counter-examples such as vinr ('friend'), which has the synonym vin , yet retains the unabsorbed version, and jǫtunn (' giant '), where assimilation takes place even though
28480-425: The walls of Erebor disguised as an old man, revealing himself when it seems the Men of Esgaroth and the Mirkwood Elves will fight Thorin and the dwarves over Smaug's treasure. The Battle of Five Armies ensues when hosts of goblins and wargs attack all three parties. After the battle, Gandalf accompanies Bilbo back to the Shire , revealing at Rivendell what his pressing business had been: Gandalf had once again urged
28658-454: The way out of the tunnels, but if he fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility , Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them. The goblins and Wargs give chase, but the company are saved by eagles. They rest in the house of the skin-changer Beorn. The company enters the dark forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf, who has other responsibilities. In Mirkwood, Bilbo first saves
28836-432: The wizard Radagast is taken from the name of the Slavic deity Radogost . The representation of the dwarves in The Hobbit was influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding the Jewish people and their history . The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their ancient homeland at the Lonely Mountain, and living among other groups whilst retaining their own culture are all derived from
29014-470: The wizard: the White Rider. However, characters who speak Elvish still refer to him as Mithrandir . At times in The Lord of the Rings , other characters address Gandalf by insulting nicknames: Stormcrow, Láthspell ("Ill-news" in Old English ), and "Grey Fool". Tolkien describes Gandalf as the last of the wizards to appear in Middle-earth , one who "seemed the least, less tall than the others, and in looks more aged, grey-haired and grey-clad, and leaning on
29192-418: The wizards was to advise and counsel but never to attempt to match Sauron's strength with their own. It might be, too, that the kings and lords of Middle-earth would be more receptive to the advice of a humble old man than a more glorious form giving them direct commands. The wizards arrived in Middle-earth separately, early in the Third Age ; Gandalf was the last, landing in the Havens of Mithlond. He seemed
29370-418: The works of Gene Wolfe and Jonathan Swift , which are more often considered adult literature. The Hobbit has been called "the most popular of all twentieth-century fantasies written for children". Jane Chance , however, considers the book to be a children's novel only in the sense that it appeals to the child in an adult reader. Sullivan credits the first publication of The Hobbit as an important step in
29548-420: The works of other writers who faced the Great War are seen in The Hobbit , including portraying warfare as anti- pastoral : in "The Desolation of Smaug", both the area under the influence of Smaug before his demise and the setting for the Battle of Five Armies later are described as barren, damaged landscapes. The Hobbit makes a warning against repeating the tragedies of World War I, and Tolkien's attitude as
29726-536: The world into which Bilbo stumbled. The work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games , and video games. Several of these adaptations have received critical recognition on their own merits. Bilbo Baggins , the protagonist, is a respectable, reserved and well-to-do hobbit —a race resembling short humans with furry, leathery feet who live in underground houses and are mainly farmers and gardeners. Gandalf , an itinerant wizard , introduces Bilbo to
29904-404: Was a moderately inflected language with high levels of nominal and verbal inflection. Most of the fused morphemes are retained in modern Icelandic, especially in regard to noun case declensions, whereas modern Norwegian in comparison has moved towards more analytical word structures. Old Norse had three grammatical genders – masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives or pronouns referring to
30082-442: Was a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age , the Christianization of Scandinavia , and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 8th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by
30260-413: Was all the more reason for him to go. As one of the Maiar, Gandalf was not a mortal Man but an angelic being who had taken human form. As one of those spirits, Olórin was in service to the Creator ( Eru Ilúvatar ) and the Creator's ' Secret Fire '. Along with the other Maiar who entered into Middle-earth as the five Wizards, he took on the specific form of an old man as a sign of his humility . The role of
30438-400: Was also influenced by Norse. Through Norman, to a smaller extent, so was modern French. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system. Contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel phonemes, has changed at least as much in Icelandic as in
30616-464: Was heavily influenced by the East dialect, and is today more similar to East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) than to Icelandic and Faroese. The descendants of the Old East Norse dialect are the East Scandinavian languages of Danish and Swedish . Among these, the grammar of Icelandic and Faroese have changed the least from Old Norse in the last thousand years, though their pronunciations both have changed considerably from Old Norse. With Danish rule of
30794-416: Was more profound than the shaping of individual characters and episodes; his works helped Tolkien form his whole thinking on the role of fantasy within his Christian faith . The evolution and maturation of the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is central to the story. This journey of maturation, where Bilbo gains a clear sense of identity and confidence in the outside world, may be seen in psychological terms as
30972-494: Was not proud, and sought neither power nor praise ... Mostly he journeyed tirelessly on foot, leaning on a staff, and so he was called among Men of the North Gandalf 'the Elf of the Wand'. For they deemed him (though in error) to be of Elven-kind, since he would at times work wonders among them, loving especially the beauty of fire; and yet such marvels he wrought mostly for mirth and delight, and desired not that any should hold him in awe or take his counsels out of fear. ... Yet it
31150-535: Was obtained through a simultaneous u- and i-umlaut of /a/ . It appears in words like gøra ( gjǫra , geyra ), from Proto-Germanic *garwijaną , and commonly in verbs with a velar consonant before the suffix like søkkva < *sankwijaną . OEN often preserves the original value of the vowel directly preceding runic ʀ while OWN receives ʀ-umlaut. Compare runic OEN glaʀ, haʀi, hrauʀ with OWN gler, heri (later héri ), hrøyrr/hreyrr ("glass", "hare", "pile of rocks"). U-umlaut
31328-427: Was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Kievan Rus' , eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language , ranging from Vinland in the West to the Volga River in the East. In Kievan Rus' , it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod , probably lasting into
31506-403: Was the Enemy of Sauron , opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succours in wanhope and distress; but his joy, and his swift wrath, were veiled in garments grey as ash, so that only those that knew him well glimpsed the flame that was within. Merry he could be, and kindly to the young and simple, yet quick at times to sharp speech and the rebuking of folly; but he
31684-503: Was visited in Oxford by Susan Dagnall, a staff member of the publisher George Allen & Unwin , she is reported to have either lent Dagnall the book or suggested she borrow it from Tolkien. In any event, Dagnall was impressed by it, and showed the book to Stanley Unwin , who then asked his 10-year-old son Rayner to review it. Rayner's favourable comments settled Allen & Unwin's decision to publish Tolkien's book. The setting of The Hobbit , as described on its original dust jacket,
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