Bilbo's Use Of Foreshadowing In The Hobbit

“The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected.” (1) In J.R.R. Tolkien's, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins was no exception to this. He was very content living in the shire, but when Gandalf arrived at his house along with 13 dwarves he finds himself doing something he thought he would never do, going on an adventure. This novel shows that even the common person can become a hero.

Conflict: There is a variety of types of conflict, the main conflict is character vs character. This comes up many times, when Bard is trying to fight off smaug, when the dwarves are
One of the ways he foreshadows is by creating a literary doppelganger to show what could happen if they go down the wrong path. Smeagols transformation into Gollum shows how easily people can be corrupted by power. When Bilbo and Gollum were playing a game of riddles, Bilbo said a riddle about daisies and Gollum “brought up memories of ages and ages and ages before, when he lived with his grandmother in a hole by a river,” (71) but when he found The Ring he was corrupted by power and greed. Gollum is the doppelganger for what will happen to Bilbo once The Ring corrupted his mind, which we do not get to see happen till The Lord of The Rings. However Gollum is also a doppelganger of Thorin once he reclaims the mountain and all of his gold. The gold corrupts his mind and gives him what Tolkien calls ‘Dragon Sickness’. Dragon Sickness refers to when the mass amount of gold corrupts the mind and fills the person affected with greed. Creating a literary doppelganger is a way Tolkien uses foreshadowing to add to this
In the beginning Bilbo is timid, comfortable, and complacent in his secure little hole at Bag End. When Gandalf talks him into embarking on the quest with Thorin’s dwarves, Bilbo becomes so frightened that he faints. As the novel continues Bilbo triumphs over dangers and adversaries, realizing he had courage and strength within him the whole time. Bilbo overcomes many challenges like Confronting the trolls, escaping with Gollum’s ring, slaying the spider, rescuing the dwarves in Mirkwood, and speaking face-to-face with the great dragon Smaug, all of this is proving he is a true hero. Bilbo realizing that he is indeed a hero is a main theme of The