The Hobbit as an Archetypical Story

The Hobbit as an Archetypical Story

The Hobbit, Written in 1937 by J.R.R. Tolkien, is an episodic adventure of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo’s adventure takes him away from his quiet little hobbit hole in Hobbiton, through countless perils and unfriendly encounters, to the lonely mountain where Smaug, the magnificent dragon, lies sleeping. As a work of literature, The Hobbit expresses Vogler’s twelve stages of the journey in a very orderly and concise manner. These twelve stages create a journey with many levels of character development and personal growth. Many other fantasy authors have mimicked The Hobbit’s literary structure and molded it to create their own universe with characters that act very much like Bilbo. One such Author is Robert Jordan, author of The Wheel of Time series. Jordan’s first novel in The Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World, follows the twelve stages of the journey in a very similar fashion to Tolkien’s The Hobbit. By examining Bilbo and Rand al’ Thor, The Eye of the World’s protagonist, through their episodic adventures, we can identify the twelve stages of the journey and what key elements Jordan may have borrowed from The Hobbit.

In The Hobbit the episodic adventure starts in Hobbiton, the little village where Bilbo grew up and lived all his life. This is the Ordinary World, the first stage in Vogler’s twelve stages of the journey, where Bilbo encounters Gandalf the wizard and thirteen dwarves. Bilbo leaves the ordinary world of Hobbiton to start his journey with the dwarves and Gandalf, and when he returns after Smaug has been defeated, he finds that the village has remained the same but he has grown and changed from his experiences on the journey. The special world to Bilbo wa...

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...ritten by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan both exhibit a very clear similarity to Vogler’s twelve stages of the journey. Bilbo and Rand both endure many of the same challenges that mold their characters into more knowledgeable and experienced heroes at the end of their journeys. From mentors to guide them, and friends and companions that help them on their way; Rand and Bilbo are both different characters that go on an almost identical journey for adventure and personal growth.

Works Cited

"Archetypes on the Path." Divine Paradox - Ageless Wisdom in Action - meditation, art, sacred tarot. 10 Mar. 2010 .

Jordan, Robert. The eye of the world. New York: T. Doherty Associates, 1990.

Tolkien, J. R.R. The hobbit, or, There and back again,. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.