My wife loves J. R. R. Tolkien. I don’t mean she has read four or five of his books, I mean we have more than one book shelve full of his works. When I wanted to get her something special for our anniversary I picked up his newly released translation of Beowulf. So when I say we have had deep conversations about The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings, I mean we have had epic conversations about many aspects of these books.
One of my favorites, and this is really just a rehashing of all of those great internet quizzes that followed the movie releases, is “which race/character are you most like?” I actually like this game more than she does, and I like to rehash it every so often. I think the main reason is that as I grow older I realize that the person I want to be might not be who I actually am.
When I first read the books I wanted to be an elf. They are beautiful, they are talented, and they run around in the woods all day. Being a kid that grew up running around the woods, this is who I always wanted to be… on the other hand I would not really mind being a dwarf… I do like to think of myself as abnormally strong and having an amazing beard… but if I am honest with myself I know I am actually more like a Hobbit.
I love to stay home. I like six good meals a day with a little ale and tea. I like my garden, a good book, and music. And as my young daughter pointed out last night, I have big hairy feet. So the real question is, which Hobbit am I most like?
I am not as adventurous as Peregrin Took or Meriadoc Brandybuck… and I am defiantly not a hero like Frodo Baggins. For awhile I would have said that I am Samwise Gamgee; I love to garden, tend to be the practical and the voice of reason, and tend to “lead” through action even if I don’t have the rank. Yet if I am honest with myself I don’t know if I am as good of a friend as ol’ Sam. While I would like to think I would carry a friend the last few miles… to be honest, those six meals a day have started to get you me.
On the other hand Bilbo Baggins got caught up in adventure that he never meant to go on… and I have posted before, that is the course I feel my life has taken. I also tend to attract weirdo’s (Gollum, Gollum!), have crazy friends, and can’t say that if I found a perfectly good magic ring laying in the dirt that I might not also have put it in my pocket. Maybe I am actually a Bilbo in dwarf’s clothing (it is a really nice beard).
If I were to revisit this subject again in six months or a year I am sure I would feel differently. In fact I may reread all of the books in the near future (something I just did with the Harry Potter series) and do just that. Either way, I have to say there is something cathartic about bench marking both your good and bad traits against great characters.
Let me know who you think you are most like in a message below.
