[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lorecast.
[SPEAKER_00]: The show that explores the background of Tolkien's amazing world, from the very beginning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every story must come to an end, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's how stories work.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for the Hobbit, this means that the story ends in chapter 19.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't get to 20 chapters, just 19, the last stage.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this chapter isn't just the end of the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually a bookend for the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a returning to the place where the story began.
[SPEAKER_01]: Much like, I don't know, something like the Odyssey.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a character who leaves home and then returns home.
[SPEAKER_01]: The hero's journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's part of why this fits in that template so easily.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for today's episode, I'm not going to break this final chapter into multiple bits.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, really it just works as a single chapter for a single episode to look at it all together at once.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that means that this episode's going to go a little bit long, but here's what we'll do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of having a bonus episode just for patrons, we'll make an extra long episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've only done this a few times and we'll just put it up for everybody this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the way this story ends is important, it brings things back around, but remember, I've discussed how the story of the Hobbit starts out feeling like a fairy tale.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then by the time you are at the lonely mountain, it has become a high fantasy with language almost on par with the Lord of the Rings.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then, we return back to the Shire, or at least Bilbo and Gandalf too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as I discussed a little bit last week, that journey home isn't well, fraught without perils and other things, but it also is backtracking many of the locations that they journeyed on the way into the journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you think about it, that means that their journey into the
[SPEAKER_01]: They are moving from a place of monsters and elves and dangers and fantasy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Back to a world that feels familiar, not just to Bilbo, but to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Shire feels like our own world, especially if you're somebody who grew up in the English countryside.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's not just a journey back to the locations that we saw before, and a movement from fantasy back to reality in a sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a tonal shift as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: We move backwards through the high fantasy tone back to something that's more lighthearted.
[SPEAKER_01]: and like a fairy tale again, and yet just like with the hero's journey, our hero returns home changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gandalf will mention it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He notices Bilbo is a different person on his return voyage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo's attitudes are different.
[SPEAKER_01]: His ability to handle the stresses of his life are different.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's certainly more capable.
[SPEAKER_01]: He fought spiders and dealt with a dragon, but he's also wiser and more wealthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is going to come into play when he returns home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a fun little twist here at the end.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of us know that when he returns home, his house and his property is all being auctioned off.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's just in the nick of time he gets back in order to stop that, but then he has to deal with it for a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: and it makes sense of why having a little bit of extra treasure on the way back will come in handy.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we'll get to all that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And before we do, I just want to genuinely say, you're at the beginning of this episode as we wrap up the story of the Hobbit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for being here on this journey with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, as much as Bilbo has gone on a journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've also gone on a journey revisiting this wonderful book and looking at it in detail on a scale or a scope, I guess you could say, much more granular than I ever have before.
[SPEAKER_01]: and it really has been a journey for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've learned more than I expected to and I've dug into the details and ways that I found surprising and new.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if it wasn't for all of you being here supporting the show and continuing to listen, I would never have done this.
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you so much for being here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so without further ado, this is the final chapter of the Hobbit, chapter 19.
[SPEAKER_01]: This chapter starts out with Bilbo and Gandalf returning to Rivendell, a place that is wonderful.
[SPEAKER_01]: A welcome respite from their journey at this point because they've traveled a long distance again with some things that happened that we haven't been told about, but
[SPEAKER_01]: They are tired.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their ponies are tired, especially the ponie that carried all the baggage is tired.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a theme that you will see throughout this chapter.
[SPEAKER_01]: Many times it will be mentioned that Bilbo or the ponies or whoever are tired.
[SPEAKER_01]: This has been a long journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the theme isn't exhaustion.
[SPEAKER_01]: The theme is actually recovery.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's something about just being in Rivendil that revitalizes the spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's the hospitality of the elves.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's the food and the drink.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're comfortable beds.
[SPEAKER_01]: the songs that they sing and the fires and the fireplaces, or maybe has something to do with Elrond himself and the ring that he bears.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the fact that this is a location that is set aside from the world outside of it in a way similar but not exactly the same to Valinore.
[SPEAKER_01]: and will notice themes of restoration throughout this chapter and not just the the simple idea of why I was tired, I got to sit down for a while and now I can get up and go some more, more of a true healing, a restoration and healing, not just of body but of spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this has a religious kind of component to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You hear this kind of messaging in religious ceremonies
[SPEAKER_01]: giving your anxiety, your grief, your exhaustion to God, or to end depends on the faith that you have, the deity, or the aspect of worship that brings you a rejuvenation of your spirit, and that's sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't something that would be foreign conceptually to Tolkien due to his Catholic beliefs, but yet,
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Middle Earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not a church.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no worship service happening in Rivendell, as far as we are aware.
[SPEAKER_01]: And remember, this is written through the lens of Bilbo.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo's experience of the elves.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the people who are here in Rivendell, the elves, have traditions that may not
[SPEAKER_01]: familiar to a Hobbit.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, they might be mentioning deities.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's not uncommon for elves to praise Varda.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Elbreath.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's sort of thing, but maybe Bilbo didn't pick up on that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, when you hear singing, when the elves are joyful, when they're doing things that don't exactly make sense to us or to Bilbo, remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: They come from a different culture.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not just strange because this is the edge of the land of the fey.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're strange because Hobbits don't necessarily know the names of the Valar.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't know those histories and mythologies.
[SPEAKER_01]: They would have to be taught them by the elves.
[SPEAKER_01]: And even then, imagine explaining your deeply held beliefs to somebody who grows up in a society that's very different.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not going to get it, necessarily the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: But none of this is specifically stated in this section.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is all just speculation on my end and a justification for why things might work the way they do here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as they travel into Rivendell, the elves are basically the same as they were before.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're up in the trees singing as if they never left.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's one of the songs that we hear.
[SPEAKER_01]: The dragon is withered.
[SPEAKER_01]: His bones are now crumbled.
[SPEAKER_01]: His armor is shivered.
[SPEAKER_01]: His splendor is humbled.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the very beginning of this clearly they have news that this has happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now how did they get news?
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably from birds I would assume birds seem to be conveyors of news at a distance.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would imagine that there probably aren't too many people other than Bilbo and Gandalf who have made this journey since then, so they must have heard this news somehow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those sword shall be rusted and thrown in crowned parish with strength that man trusted and wealth that they cherished.
[SPEAKER_01]: So now we have references to a few things.
[SPEAKER_01]: One, I think the reference to the throne and the crown perishing is Thorin's death.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was the king under the mountain.
[SPEAKER_01]: That crown has perished.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, the decendency from Thorin does not go a direct line continually down.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't
[SPEAKER_01]: hand the crown to a son or a daughter.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, the crown goes to Dine, his cousin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the next line says, with strength that men trusted and wealth that they cherished.
[SPEAKER_01]: To me, this feels like a reference to Bard.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the rejuvenation of the people of Lake Town, to becoming, again, the people of Dale, people who had been superior individuals.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had built a major city.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were
[SPEAKER_01]: but their power.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that use of their internal strength in order to fight against the dragon and the orcs has created an environment that is safer and more natural than it has been in a long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here grass is still growing and leaves are yet swinging.
[SPEAKER_01]: The white water flowing and elves are yet singing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their sacrifices, their remembering of their strength in such a dire situation, along with the elves and the dwarves, has led to a safe world here still.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, yes, Rivendell was relatively safe compared to many of these other locations.
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't have
[SPEAKER_01]: But those dangers, like we discussed before, could easily have made their way west as the elves and men and dwarves further to their east continue to dwindle and decline, but this brings them another growing season, more flowers and leaves.
[SPEAKER_01]: and the elves are happy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we get the refrain from the very first time they were in Rivendil.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come, Trallo Lalli, come back to the valley.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second part of the poem or song goes like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: The stars are far brighter than gems without measure.
[SPEAKER_01]: The moon is far wider than silver in treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: The fire is more shining on the hearth in the gloaming than gold one by mining.
[SPEAKER_01]: So why go a roaming?
[SPEAKER_01]: Of Trallo Lalli, come back to the valley.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is interesting because it is an argument for the beauty of nature being finer and more beautiful, more brighter than any amount of gold or treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: So why go on a journey when you can stay here?
[SPEAKER_01]: And this might feel contradictory compared to the first section.
[SPEAKER_01]: If Bilbo had stayed here and enjoyed the warmth of the elves and their bright fires and flowers and all of that, then the dragon never would have been killed and all the things that happened in the story wouldn't have happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you have to remember, that's one of the dangers of the land of the fey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that there is both extreme beauty and terrible, terrible horrors.
[SPEAKER_01]: and those extreme beauties are tempting.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're almost as dangerous as the horrors, because if you fall for them, you will stay there forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: They also reframe our real people, building a real person in the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our perspective of nature, we start to see things from a different perspective, and it helps us to find the beauty that was inherent in them that we hadn't noticed before, or hadn't noticed as much.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the final section says, oh, where are you going?
[SPEAKER_01]: So late in returning.
[SPEAKER_01]: The river is flowing.
[SPEAKER_01]: The stars are all burning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wither so laden.
[SPEAKER_01]: So sad and so dreary.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here, elf and elf maiden.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, welcome the weary.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trallollollolly, come back to the valley.
[SPEAKER_01]: Trallollollollollollollollo.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you've got the wrap-up of the song with that, you know, Trallollo stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then now you have the history of things that happened, the nature of the dangers of the beauty and the midsection, but then a response to Bilbo and Gandalf and their questions, where are you going, what are you doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, maybe you're weary.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why so weary?
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll come here.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll give you aid.
[SPEAKER_01]: we will restore you.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a welcome.
[SPEAKER_01]: This song is recounting the things that happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's explaining their nature in a way, and then it's a welcome to these travelers who you have to remember from their perspective as creatures of the Faye, feel kind of foreign to them too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And even though they know about the major events, the fall of the dragon, all of that stuff,
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't know Bilbo and Gandalf's story from their journey, returning, or even all the details of their journey going, so they're curious.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does it like to be these weary travelers?
[SPEAKER_01]: What did they do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come, join us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will restore you, and we will share with your stories.
[SPEAKER_01]: And how do we know this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the very next two sentences.
[SPEAKER_01]: After we find out that the elves of the valley come out, they welcome them, they leave them across the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says there were many eager ears that evening to hear the tale of their adventures.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Gandalf speaks up and Bilbo is exhausted.
[SPEAKER_01]: He starts kind of,
[SPEAKER_01]: Closing his eyes and kind of drifting in and out of sleep.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's explained that he knows the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just kind of there and he's tired, but Gandalf is willing to share.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's at this moment that Bilbo learned something that Gandalf hadn't explained before.
[SPEAKER_01]: He fills in the gaps in his story.
[SPEAKER_01]: From when he left the party to when he all of a sudden showed up outside of Erador.
[SPEAKER_01]: And remember, Bilbo is writing this down.
[SPEAKER_01]: So from Bilbo's perspective, this is what happened with Gandalf.
[SPEAKER_01]: It appeared that Gandalf had been to a great council of the White Wizards.
[SPEAKER_01]: Notice that's plural.
[SPEAKER_01]: As we know from the Lord of the Rings, there's only ever one White Wizard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gandalf eventually becomes the White Wizard because Saruman becomes the Wizard of many colors.
[SPEAKER_01]: They change their roles.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we know that the other wizards have different colors, and we know that Tolkien went back and re-edited the Hobbit after the Lord of the Rings, and yet chose to leave this in.
[SPEAKER_01]: So is this a moment where Bilbo is retelling what happened, but doesn't fully catch all the nuances?
[SPEAKER_01]: And details because he doesn't understand that there's only one white wizard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he thought all the wizards were white.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Gandalf, even in the Hobbit, is described as Gandalf the Grey.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this seems to imply something beyond what we understand, or at least what Bilbo understands.
[SPEAKER_01]: It continues on, it says, masters of lore and good magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Interesting, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: They understand the histories, because they've been around for so long, but they've also been around forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: And notice here the contrast of good magic with bad magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are wizards, but they're all good wizards.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do good magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's a good thing, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: and that they had it last driven the necromancer from his dark hold in the south of Merquwood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, these are the details that they fill in with the movies, and they go into a lot more detail than a lot of people wanted with the films, but it makes sense that they would have chosen to do this, because it's an important piece of the puzzle.
[SPEAKER_01]: And remember, we talked about how the elves were returning to Merquwood, Thrandouel's people, and eventually, that became a safe and good place again.
[SPEAKER_01]: but it took a bit, and even though the necromancer was driven from dogle-dure during this time, it doesn't mean that all the evils all of a sudden just disappeared from the forest.
[SPEAKER_01]: There were still evil creatures in the forest, so this was the first step in that direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: There long now, Gandalf was saying, the forest will grow somewhat more wholesome, but North will be freed from that horror for many long years, I hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet I wish he were banished from the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: This feels like something that was absolutely added later.
[SPEAKER_01]: This idea that this necromancer character was driven away from the forest, but was not defeated.
[SPEAKER_01]: and would need to be banished from the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: That feels more, I don't know, nuanced and specific than just killed or imprisoned.
[SPEAKER_01]: That whatever this necromancer is, and of course we understand that it's sauron, the only defeat for it would be banishment from the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Elrun's response to this is interesting, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says it would be well indeed, but I fear that will not come about in this age of the world, or for many after.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you might first think, okay, well, does it come about in the third age of the world?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, if the death of Sauron or the defeat of Sauron, let's just call it defeat.
[SPEAKER_01]: happens in that begins the fourth age does that mean it was part of the third age, but I don't think that's actually what's going on here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think what is actually going on here is Elvron has this gift of foresight, but he's also jaded at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been through a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: But also, just because Sauron is defeated at the end of the Lord of the Rings and the ring is destroyed doesn't mean that he's been banished from the world yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just been reduced to a level of power and I don't really like using level of power, but reduced in power authority whatever into a state where he would not actually be able to come back from that again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then maybe this is something that L. Ron gets a glimpse of, or maybe it's simply his experience in wisdom, which helps him to understand the way that this would work.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he knows who Sauron is at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gets it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he again, I'll probably have been talking about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe even in ways that Bilbo is either too sleepy or just doesn't understand because he doesn't have the history and knowledge and lore that they have.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that might be what's going on here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they continue sharing stories and telling tales, Bilbo falls asleep, finds himself in a white bed with the moon shining through the open window.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, what's more, Elvin, than Elves dancing in the moonlight singing songs?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, that's what he hears outside on the banks of the stream.
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, this is one of those moments where it's like, is this just what Elves do?
[SPEAKER_01]: They seem to just break into song all the time, different places, or is this something deeper?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this part of their worship and enjoyment of nature and creation and all of that?
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's what they say, seeing all ye joyful, now seeing all together, the winds in the tree tops, the winds in the heather, the stars are in blossom, the moon is in flower, and bright are the windows of night in her tower.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now that very first line feels like a call to sing together, a call to worship or something like that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, they're talking about wind and stars,
[SPEAKER_01]: And that last line is interesting and tell me if you have a different interpretation of this, and bright are the windows of night in her tower.
[SPEAKER_01]: are those stars?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's another reference to stars, the windows of night being bright being these openings in the canopy of darkness above, that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then it says, dance all ye joyful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now dance all together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Soft is the grass and let foot be like feather.
[SPEAKER_01]: The river is silver.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shadows are fleeting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mary is Maytime and Mary are meeting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another celebration of nature here with grass and the shadows are fleeting because of the recent events, that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But also notice silver, silver in gold that harkens back to the two trees of valenor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then we get sing we now softly and dreams let us weave them wind him in slumber and there let us leave him the wanderer sleepeth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now soft in his pillow, lullaby, lullaby, alder, and willow.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the mentioning of trees, alder, and willow, but also now they're talking about billbow.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who is slumbering here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's also the one who wandered.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it finishes up with this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sign no more pine till the wind of the mourn.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fall moon, dark be the land.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hush, hush, oak, ash, and thorn.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hush to be all water till dawn is at hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they're talking about the trees here, sying, probably in the wind, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And how that would lead to a better sleep for Bilbo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Bilbo wakes up and looks out and says, well, Mary, people, what time by the moon is this?
[SPEAKER_01]: You're lullaby would wake in a drunken goblin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet I thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he understands that they're being friendly and happy and kind, but also he is trying to sleep, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have these moments of, and I feel like these are moments of levity that are kind of building and they become a little bit more obvious as we go, but there's something that's very comfortable, and this isn't a,
[SPEAKER_01]: Big problem to be woken by elves singing in the moon light.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a beautiful sight and all of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they respond and your snores would wake in a stone dragon yet we thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: A kindly pushback, but again, humorous.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is drawing towards Dawn and you have slept now since the night's beginning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tomorrow perhaps you will be cured of weariness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then Bilba responds, a little sleep does a great cure in the house of Elrond, but I will take all the cure I can get.
[SPEAKER_01]: A second good night, fair friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: And just this conversation here leaves you with this sense of warmth and playfulness between the two groups.
[SPEAKER_01]: But everybody is there for the same reasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though they come from what feels like very different societies, there's a little bit of misreading each other a little bit, but there's a kindness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, that theme of rejuvenation rest.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Bilbo stays for a week, and he wakes up the next morning, and he's rejuvenated, and he dances with the elves.
[SPEAKER_01]: They tell more stories, the hang out.
[SPEAKER_01]: He spends a week with Elrond.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Elrond gives him some gifts, and then he and Gandalf head off again.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we get this.
[SPEAKER_01]: The sky darkened in the west before them, and a wind and rain came up to meet them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, sometimes when things are happening in the west, that's some sort of omin of the Valar, something, some powers that be reaching out, that sort of thing, like we've discussed multiple times.
[SPEAKER_01]: but in this case, they just happen to be traveling west and these are the spring storms.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is nature, this is natural and it may not be fun to travel through as a somebody on a journey, but this is the way the world is supposed to work.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's supposed to be rainy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is Maytime.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilba says, Mary is Maytime, as he's getting rained in the face.
[SPEAKER_01]: But our back is two legends, and we are coming home.
[SPEAKER_01]: I suppose this is the first taste of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: A reminder that they are leaving the land of the fey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their back is two legends.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their things behind them exist in this world far away.
[SPEAKER_01]: then in this almost fantasy dream-like place, and yet this reign is awakening him to feelings of being back in reality.
[SPEAKER_01]: This feels grounded.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gandalf responds, there is a long road yet, and Bilbo says, but it is the last road.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's ready to be home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then this is another reminder.
[SPEAKER_01]: For as much as Bilbo loves,
[SPEAKER_01]: Being in Rivendale, and we know from the Lord of the Rings that that's where he goes to retire, he wants to spend the rest of his days there.
[SPEAKER_01]: At this point in his life, he just wants to be home.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter how enchanting and magical and beautiful the land of the elves is, or at least this specific area is, home is really where his heart is leading him at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: And how do we know that they're leaving the fae?
[SPEAKER_01]: The very next line says, they came to the river that marked the very edge of the borderland of the wild.
[SPEAKER_01]: From this point on, they are in a much more natural environment, or maybe not natural is the best way to say it.
[SPEAKER_01]: A world that feels familiar as opposed to a world that doesn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: A world that feels civilized that has homes and roads
[SPEAKER_01]: as opposed to a place that is wild and filled with beasts and elves and all sorts of other things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now interestingly, the rain in this melting snow has made the river a little bit fuller harder to pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now that makes sense physically melting water from snow and extra rainfall will swell a river.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it also, I think implies something more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes returning home isn't easy, no matter how much you want to get there, it's not always simple.
[SPEAKER_01]: It actually takes some effort to move back into that real world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Imagine coming back from a vacation, you're on holiday somewhere, which they, this is called later on, is the holiday for Bilba, but we understand that word in kind of different terms today.
[SPEAKER_01]: But imagine you go in vacation and then you have to think about returning home and as much as you love your home as much as you long to be there, there's something about that return journey that just feels a little bit difficult sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo recalls the events that previously happened a year ago, that's how much time has passed here, and also when the pony fell in the river and also dealing with the trolls who have kind of wandered down from the hills.
[SPEAKER_01]: their first sense of something from the wild and croaching on their world that they were more familiar with.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they remember the treasure from the trolls that they hid, and they decided to dig it back up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Milba says, I have enough to last me my time.
[SPEAKER_01]: You had better take this Gandalf.
[SPEAKER_01]: I dare say you can find a use for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And interestingly, this is how Gandalf responds to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Indeed, I can said the wizard, but share and share like you may find that you have more needs than you expect.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think there are two things happening here.
[SPEAKER_01]: The most obvious one is that Gandalf has a sense either through his wisdom or some level of foresight that the amount of treasure that Bilba brought back with him is
[SPEAKER_01]: significant, especially in the Shire, but there may be some things that are about to happen, which would make him wish that he had a little bit more money to be able to spend, which is absolutely true.
[SPEAKER_01]: But also, he's very positive when, when Bilba says, hey, maybe you should take this treasure, you'll find something to do with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, indeed I can, then it makes me wonder.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does Gandalf do with that treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does he invest in, I don't know, communities somewhere?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does he donate it to a charitable cause?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does he give it to a Lord or a King somewhere because they're going to do good things with it?
[SPEAKER_01]: What does a wizard do with bags of treasure?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we also have to remember that he's a physical being.
[SPEAKER_01]: He can't just survive without warmth and food places to sleep.
[SPEAKER_01]: So how does he fund those travels and the things that he needs when he goes places?
[SPEAKER_01]: Point, sure, sure he has plenty of friends, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he goes to Rivendil and Elrond is happy to give him a room in some food.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time,
[SPEAKER_01]: there are many places he goes where he isn't necessarily welcome or the distance between them is great and he needs the supplies to get to and from.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would imagine just having some wealth is beneficial because it's not like he does a whole lot of
[SPEAKER_01]: meaning a labor in order to earn some money to go out on the road again, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's an interesting question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me know if you have some thoughts on how a wizard would use treasure.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they pack up the treasure and of course the ponies are not happy about an even heavier load to have to carry.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're told that the grass is thick and he enjoys walking through the grass.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember with his bare feet, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he mobs his face with a red handkerchief.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're very specifically told here.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, none of his that he brought with him
[SPEAKER_01]: And the weather was brightened hot again, which is why he was sweating and needed to wipe his face with his handkerchief.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this has a slightly humorous tone to it too, because we remember back to when he left in a hurry and he had to borrow a cloak and all of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: This idea that these comforts from home didn't make it all the way back.
[SPEAKER_01]: also can feel symbolic, this idea that there are pieces of him that were lost along the way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in this case, they've been replaced, those pieces of him that were lost, but by something similar, but yet still different.
[SPEAKER_01]: This one is from Elrond, and he's bringing that back to his world.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where he is now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're told that the shapes of the land and the trees were as well known to him as his hands and toes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he comes up a rise and he can see his hill in the distance.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we get a poem, or maybe it's a song, it says that he said this, so it feels more poetic than songlike.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, Rhodes, go ever, ever on, over rock and under tree, by caves where never sun has shown, by streams that never find the sea, over snow by winter's zone, and through the
[SPEAKER_01]: Now let's pause here.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a little bit strange to all of a sudden just go spouting off poetry, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But we've established early on that there were these fairy tale like qualities and also old myth-like qualities about all of a sudden using song and poems as a way to convey things in a more entertaining sort of way that was less literal and how a character would talk.
[SPEAKER_01]: But maybe there's something here about another piece of a thing that Bilbo brought with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: the breaking out into poetry or song kind of like the elves do, and notice the symbolism here, a lot more nature rocks and trees, the sun, the sea, snow, flowers, and even dark places, caves, where the sun doesn't shine, and mountains in the moon, again, a reference to the moon.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rhodes go ever, ever on, under cloud, and under star, yet feet that wandering have gone turn it last to home afar.
[SPEAKER_01]: Eyes that fire and sword have seen, and horror in the halls of stone, look at last on meadows green, and trees and hills, they long, have known.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo in this very short poem is encapsulating his journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what it was like for him to go off to these faraway places, see these beautiful, magnificent, and also terrifying things, horrors.
[SPEAKER_01]: He mentions here in Halls of Stone, and yet the joy, the warmth of returning to a place where he's familiar, a place with meadows green and trees and hills.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I often talk about Tolkien's perspective and his experience and the things that he are very, very much about him, that he puts in these stories.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this to me feels a hundred percent like Tolkien being Bilbo in this moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tolkien creating art, writing a poem, which he loved to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loved to write poems.
[SPEAKER_01]: But writing a poem about this return from this journey, this perilous journey, with beauties and tears, and yet to come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: and to be welcomed by the green grass and the trees and the hills that are familiar to him as familiar as the back of his hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in this moment, Gandalf notices that this is very different from the Bilbo that he left with.
[SPEAKER_01]: breaking out into poetry, having this kind of wistful remembrance of the journey that he was on, all of that feels a little different.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Gandalf says, my dear Bilbo, something is the matter with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are not the hobbit that you were.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Bilbo doesn't respond to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is in a moment of conversation.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is just a thing that Gandalf notices in order to point it out to us the audience that this Bilbo has changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we've noticed it in pieces, we've noticed it through his heroic and courageous deeds, his coming into his own throughout the journey, his willingness to try to do the right thing in a very difficult situation with the Arkansas.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of that, and yet this is a billboe who's returning, who doesn't have to be courageous, he already was.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's somebody who has found rest in Rivendil, and yet comes home.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he has a wistful remembrance of that adventure in a way that he never would have expected on the onset of the journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gandalf is right.
[SPEAKER_01]: This Bilbo is a very different Bilbo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet, in this moment, returning home, he doesn't get the piece that he was hoping for.
[SPEAKER_01]: He comes across a dilemma, another problem, something he has to solve.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love that this part was added to the end of the Hobbit because I feel like this does a few things.
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, it lets us
[SPEAKER_01]: Come back into reality and remember the kinds of struggles and stresses of the real world.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't come back and have to fight another dragon, or deal with Orcs attacking the shire, or something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He comes back and he has to deal with his friends and his neighbors.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's something that's just so human about having to go through that dilemma.
[SPEAKER_01]: Secondly, that might make you think of something else.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Hobbits return to the Shire, but it again is not what they expect when they get there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll get to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It'll be a while until we get to the return of the King in the end of that story.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I feel like this not just sets the stage because, yeah, in that situation, they do come back to a Shire that's being attacked and taken over by bad guys, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that's a thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That does happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, that happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: But
[SPEAKER_01]: This also sets a standard for the way Tolkien writes a story and concludes it.
[SPEAKER_01]: In that when you think it is over, it is not.
[SPEAKER_01]: The characters take the things that they learn from their journey and then they figure out that they can use that strength, that courage, in a very real situation that isn't off on some journey in a fantasy land.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's dealing with problems at home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bless me!
[SPEAKER_01]: What's going on, he cried?
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a great commotion in people of all sorts, respectable and unrespectable, were thick round the door, and many were going in and out, not even wiping their feet on the mat, as Bilbo noticed with annoyance.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the bag in part of him going, hey, what are you doing in my house?
[SPEAKER_01]: He shows up right in time for this auction.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been a year, people think that he's dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't tell anyone where he was going.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they're auctioning off everything in his house, and he's got nice stuff, but he also has a very nice plot of land and people want it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now notice, Tolkien doesn't set this up as like he returns home and people are holding some sort of remembrance of him laying their memories to rest if they don't have a body to later rest that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not what happens here.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see that these hobbits, these people who he, through his journey, will have protected and they will never ever really admit to that or understand it.
[SPEAKER_01]: are more worried about the things in his home and his plot of land than anything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: And how is this not exactly how we are, how human beings are, the things that we care about now are the things that seem so short-sighted that don't really matter in the long run and yet because they are comfortable, they have the mental and emotional bandwidth for those
[SPEAKER_01]: because they're comfortable.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a commentary on Western society and those of us who have clearly more than we need wanting more.
[SPEAKER_01]: The auction notice on the door says, on June the 22nd, masters grub grub and burrows would sell by auction the effects of the late Bilbo Baggins Esquire of Bagend Underhill Hobbiton.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sail to commence at 10 o'clock sharp.
[SPEAKER_01]: This feels very
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, British to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe those of you who are from Britain can say, like, yes, no, this is absolutely a very British way to set that up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very specific.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very, I don't know, proper.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's the best way to say it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And not only are they having an auction, but they're selling things from next to nothing to old songs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Old songs here is interesting because it's a reference to the phrase, like, sell it for a song or the cost was that of a song or something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know exactly the framework and the way people use this specifically, but that reference to a song, I do know, means something is cheap.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't cost very much.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's easy to sing a song for somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: and that's not of a significant cost.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, basically, they're giving his stuff away for way, way, way less than it's worth, and they're not even making that much money off of the auction.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just basically giving everything away.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which again, it's kind of a, I don't know, a slight an annoyance on Bilbo.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, not only are you selling my stuff, but you're not even charging for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This stuff is valuable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, we get kind of the fallout of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It specifically says, the return of Mr. Bilbo Baggins created quite a disturbance, both under the hill and over the hill and across the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a great deal more than a nine days wonder.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody was talking about this, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Things like this don't happen in the shire.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hobbits don't disappear for a year and they just show up somewhere with a bunch of...
[SPEAKER_01]: ponies and a wizard and bags of gold or anything like that, that's weird, that's crazy, and everyone's going to talk about it because that is not normal.
[SPEAKER_01]: The next sentence says, the legal bother indeed lasted for years.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was quite a long time before Mr. Baggins was in fact admitted to be alive again.
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, I feel like this is that staunchness of like polite society being like, well, are you the real Bilbo Baggins?
[SPEAKER_01]: It also leans into the fact that they were being disrespectful.
[SPEAKER_01]: stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And furthermore, they think he's odd.
[SPEAKER_01]: They think he's weird.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't fit among everyone else anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe he never really did.
[SPEAKER_01]: He just pretended.
[SPEAKER_01]: He needed to lean into that bag inside of his personality in order to get along with everyone else.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is interesting to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is one of the reasons why I think somebody like Tolkien probably understood the way that neurodiversity works, that people who are not neurotypical, people who are autistic, or ADHD, or any number of other things, often spend a lot of time masking.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's describing that for Bilbo.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo doesn't fit in.
[SPEAKER_01]: His natural inclinations on his took side make him different from the average other hobby.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so in order to fit into society in the past, he had to mask.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had to pretend to be more baggins than he was.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the bag inside of his personality did not help him survive in the wild.
[SPEAKER_01]: The took side did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Leaning into his neuro-diversity is what made him a hero.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me say that again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Leaning into his neurodiversity, the thing that made him different from everybody else around him is what made him stand out.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the thing that gave him courage.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the thing that allowed him to process the situations he was in and make different decisions.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the thing that made him look at the dilemma with the arc in stone.
[SPEAKER_01]: And go, you know what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone typical around me is
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't I make a more rational decision and do something different?
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe I'm projecting a little bit into this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let me know if you agree with this.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that there's something strong here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not sure Tolkien would have noticed this about his own writing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you could probably argue that something similar like this happens with many heroes.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's something about them that sets them apart from everybody else, and that's just the nature of being a hero.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes that's heroism, courage, those kinds of things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's feats of strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's great knowledge that they've acquired.
[SPEAKER_01]: But often times, it's the people who are not neurotypical, who are the ones who obsess over things that allow them to become different enough from the average population.
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe there's something there, I think maybe even subconsciously, from Tolkien, on this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as it describes what else is going on, the Sackville Baggins is, of course, become the villains of this part of the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: They never admit that...
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo actually returned and it was actually him.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were never on good terms with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: They wanted his silver spoons, which of course disappear, but his land too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from that point on, Bilbo did not like them very much.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did not feel respected by them and realized that they were just greedy and they didn't really care about him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And due to all of this, he loses his reputation.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's known in Hobbit Circles as being an elf friend, which is a slight, and that he had the honor of the dwarves and wizards and such folk that passed that way, which is so funny because we as the audience,
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't view this the same way the Hobbit's view it because we went on the journey with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know that it is not a slight to be an Elf friend.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is not a slight to have the honor of dwarves and wizards and other such folk.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, that is one of the highest honors you can possibly have.
[SPEAKER_01]: But everyone else here didn't go on that journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were not changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: We ourselves have been on the journey with Bilbo from the beginning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our perspectives, our knowledge, maybe even our courage, has also grown with Bilbo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And with all of this, Bilbo doesn't mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's content.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is, for the first time in his life, confident in his own skin.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, I am sorry to say he did not mind, which feels like an ironic statement.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was quite content and the sound of the kettle on his heart was ever after more musical than it had been even in the quiet days before the unexpected party.
[SPEAKER_01]: He learns to find beauty and value and thankfulness in the things in his life that bring him joy.
[SPEAKER_01]: His sword, he hung over the mantle piece.
[SPEAKER_01]: His coat of mail was arranged on a stand in the hall.
[SPEAKER_01]: He displays the treasures of his journey with pride.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't hide them away.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then on top of it, it says he lent his coat to a museum.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, maybe there's a museum somewhere in the Shire.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I assume so.
[SPEAKER_01]: I assume that that's what this means.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that seems interesting, who runs the museum.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those people must have some, I don't know, understanding of what he went through or at least value these items.
[SPEAKER_01]: His golden silver was largely spent in presence.
[SPEAKER_01]: both useful and extravagant.
[SPEAKER_01]: Notice, not on himself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he had to use some of it in order to get his stuff back.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what was left over, he used for presence, useful, and extravagant.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this part is cute.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which to a certain extent accounts for the affections of his nephew's and his nieces.
[SPEAKER_01]: He spoils the kids in his family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, Bilbo tells them stories about his
[SPEAKER_01]: even though they aren't his own kids, and eventually he will have Frodo, which is important, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But even before Frodo, he is influencing the upcoming generation to view the world a little bit differently.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what about the magic ring?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he kept it a great secret, and he chiefly used it when unpleasant collars came.
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably the sackfield baggons is, I would assume.
[SPEAKER_01]: He took to writing poetry, he visited with the elves, and nobody understood this.
[SPEAKER_01]: They said poor old baggons.
[SPEAKER_01]: and yet he remained happy to the end of his days, and those were extraordinarily long.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another hints about what's about to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know why he lives in extraordinarily long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the final scene plays out, and it kind of just buttons up every little bit of what was remaining.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the movies, they often show him working on his stories, the writing, his writing is memoirs here, and he calls it there and back again a Hobbit's holiday, and that's where he uses holiday in a way that is a little different than we would use it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe at this point in his life, he views it more like it was a holiday because he looks back on it with fondness even though it was very tragic and difficult at the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then somebody comes to the door.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Gandalf.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gandalf has returned.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some years later, and with him is Balan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course it's Balan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Balan was the one who took most kindly and affectionately to Bilbo from the beginning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bilbo says, come in, come in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Excited to see his old friends and notices that Balancedoo in a lot better than he used to.
[SPEAKER_01]: His beard's longer.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has actual real gold buttons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Things seem to be going well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Balancedoo fills him in on what's going on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bard has rebuilt the town of Dale.
[SPEAKER_01]: The people of Laketown are doing a lot better.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's drawing new men from different locations that are all coming together and grow this new society under a good
[SPEAKER_01]: being healed, plants and flowers and birds, trees with fruit are growing in that land again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lake Town was refounded, and we get the final conclusion for what happens to the master.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody comes together, the dwarves, the elves, the men to rebuild these towns and locations, but the master having too much gold and greed and falling to dragon sickness, fleas into the wild and dies of starvation out in the wastes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of a final note on a story and a kind of a moral warning about the dangers of greed and disconnecting from the people around you, not understanding what truly has value, the way that Bilbo and everyone all seems to have learned
[SPEAKER_01]: Balanced as the new master is of a wiser kind and very popular for of course he gets most of the credit for the present prosperity they are making songs that say that in his day the rivers run with gold.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now remember that's what the song said.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what the prophecy said.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Bilba points out that maybe the prophecies did come true after a fashion, and Gandalf responds, and he says, of course, and why should they not prove true?
[SPEAKER_01]: Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't really suppose to you that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember of luck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, every time, throughout this entire story, for the last year and a half, that I pointed out the use of the word luck.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, according to Gandalf,
[SPEAKER_01]: It means something more.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't suppose that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your soul benefit.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a fine person, Mr. Baggins.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I am very fond of you, but you are only quite a little fellow, and a wide world after all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank goodness said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco jar.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for being with me for this entire exploration of the Hobbit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really do appreciate you returning and being here every week and all of your support, all your listens, sharing it with other people, all of that stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Quick reminder, well first of all, this episode was recorded a little bit early before it was released.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to pre-record stuff for the holidays, so I can take some time off.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if the shoutouts and things aren't up to date yet, don't worry.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will get shouted out in a few trips, so once I'm back and doing new content and all that sort of thing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That is on Patreon, so if you're looking for more content over the holidays or the rest of the holiday, I guess this will be out just after Christmas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Also, please think about leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcast if I can see it, I'll read it out on a future episode, or anywhere you listen, or, and this might be something fun to do for the holidays, post online.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've enjoyed this series, if you want to shout out the show, and let other people know that they should check it out, go to a site like Reddit or forum somewhere, where people talk about Tolkien and Lord of the Rings and that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And just take a minute to leave a post.
[SPEAKER_01]: You might get some people's attention, and might draw them to the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you enjoyed it, they might enjoy it as well, and I would appreciate the expanded reach of the show.
[SPEAKER_01]: That would be great.
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you, everybody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have a wonderful rest of your holidays.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll be back next time with a kind of a wrap-up episode of the Hobbit where I'll be sharing some of your thoughts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then after that, we'll be getting into the Lord of the Rings.
[SPEAKER_01]: So beware the Black Riders.
[SPEAKER_01]: And shout your doors.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you next time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening to the Lord of the Rings lorecast.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you'd like to learn more about other fantasy worlds, check out my other podcasts.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Elder Scrolls lorecast, the Witcher lorecast, and more, at robotsradio.net.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you'd like to reach out, I'd love to hear from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Send me a note on Twitter at robots underscore radio, or join our amazing community on the robots radio discord.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are links in the show notes, or just search robots radio discord, or find the link on robotsradio.net.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you next time.