What’s there to say of The Hobbit that hasn’t already been said? It and the rest of the Tolkien universe kicked off high fantasy as the granddaddy of the genre, fathering such worlds like Dungeons and Dragons, The Elder Scrolls, and the Witcher just to name a few. Although it might have been a radical departure from fantasy in his time, Tokien’s universe became the generic bedrock from which modern high fantasy emerged. This isn’t to say that it’s bland or anything, it became a fictionalized setting which has enough well established foundations in characters, settings and plots that it can facilitate adaptations, fan fiction, and a special place in everyone’s hearts. But I suppose I’ll discuss the book itself though, it’s no surprise that The Hobbit is a more whimsical journey than the Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings discusses psychological dread and horror at the dark forces that plague Middle Earth and particularly the minds of the ring bearers. But the Hobbit is like a light drizzle before the storm, it has its points of suspense with the trolls, spiders and goblins but never is it the hopeless dread of the dark. I also love the character moments between the dwarves and I honestly wished they stuck with that in the movie adaptations, the dwarves were the centerpieces afterall and Bilbo was our lens.
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