Chesterton's Hobbit

Reflections on Bilbo, Hobbiton, and an Unexpected Journey

A Brief History

Chesterton was an English writer and apologist, among many other things, at the turn of the 20th century. His two most influential works of apologetics are Orthodoxy (1908) and The Everlasting Man (1925), the former of which I have characterized elsewhere as an intellectual biography, for it chronicles how Chesterton came to his belief in Christianity. The latter is an examination of history, which a certain Clive Staples Lewis described as “the best popular apologetic I know.”¹

Without a doubt, Tolkien was familiar with the writings of Chesterton. After all, in Tolkien’s essay On Fairy Stories (1939), he not only mentions Chesterton multiple times, but at one point mentions a “Chestertonian fantasy,” which allows one to see the world with fresh eyes.² Before I get carried away, the book of our primary focus is The Hobbit (1937). I only provided this short history for one important reason: we must understand that Chesterton influenced Tolkien. More could be said to establish this connection between the two, but for our current purposes, that ought to suffice. In light of all this, I want to show how The Hobbit is Chestertonian.

Hobbiton

In Chesterton’s introductory chapter of Orthodoxy, he asserts that the main problem for philosophers, and the main objective of his book, is to provide an answer to “this double spiritual need, the need for that mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar.”³ Tolkien seems to have taken this idea very seriously in The Hobbit, which we can see firstly in the story’s setting: Hobbiton.⁴

Hobbiton is based on the English countryside, an area many of Tolkien’s readers would either be familiar with or, at least, aware of, and for those of us not fortunate enough to live in such a homely place, we still seem to find Hobbiton a familiar place. In other words, Tolkien begins The Hobbit with a familiar setting. Yet he does not provide us with merely a familiar place. For starters, unlike us Big People⁵ who like to live in houses above the ground, Hobbits prefer to live in holes. A Hobbit hole, however, is “not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell,” but “a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”⁶ Much to the service of Hobbits, Tolkien goes to great lengths to illustrate that a hobbit-hole, despite being a hole, is really quite pleasant. Thus, a Hobbit hole is unfamiliar in that it is, well, a hole, but familiar because it is still homely.

On top of that, Hobbiton is not a place populated by Big People, but rather by Halflings—properly known as Hobbits.⁷ Again, we are confronted with unfamiliarity. Hobbits “are about half our height…have no beards…inclined to be fat in the stomach…[and] their feet grow naturally leathery soles and thick warm brown hair.”⁸ While Hobbits are quite different creatures from us, like us, Hobbits enjoy their beer, pipe-weed, bread, and cheese. Furthermore, in the preface to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes, “It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours.”⁹ Hobbits, then, are creatures really just like us, with only a few dissimilarities. They are unfamiliar creatures that we understand, and that makes them captivating.

If Chesterton is right that humans have a double spiritual need of familiarity and unfamiliarity, then it is no wonder Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings¹⁰ have resonated with so many. For Tolkien’s Hobbiton, filled with its Hobbits, achieves a “view of the world [that combines] an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome” for us readers.¹¹

Bilbo Baggins

As Chesterton has a proclivity to do, he wanders as he writes, and in the second chapter of Orthodoxy, he asserts, “The old fairy tale makes the hero a normal human boy; it is his adventures that are startling; they startle him because he is normal.”¹² Chesterton’s point is that fairy stories work precisely because they discuss “what a sane man will do in a mad world.”¹³

As we have discussed, Hobbits are creatures much like ourselves. They are ordinary folk, even if they are not merely ordinary. This ordinariness is only amplified by who Bilbo Baggins is. He is, as much as a hobbit can be, like us. Bilbo is “a very well-to-do hobbit…people considered [the Bagginses] very respectable…because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected.”¹⁴ In short, Bilbo does just as he is expected, no more, no less. He is, for all intents and purposes, civil, proper, and well-mannered.

Bilbo’s normalcy is what makes him a great main character. As far as we are informed, prior to the events of The Hobbit, Bilbo has never left the Shire. Therefore, on the journey, as we encounter goblins, wargs, elves, dwarves, and more, we are just as startled as Bilbo is. After all, as Chesterton says, “oddities only strike ordinary people. Oddities do not strike odd people.”¹⁵ We can relate to Bilbo’s amazement and fear on his adventure because he is, in fact, one of us. As a result, we are brought further into the story. Moreover, we can understand his groans and complaints about wanting to return to the Shire by a warm fireplace or to have some bread and cheese. Thus, Tolkien has crafted an eminently relatable character.

Our sympathy for Bilbo is only amplified by his being a hobbit, for a hobbit's differences from us Big People, at first glance, don’t seem to make Hobbits more apt for adventures that contain dragons, but likely less so. This, however, is precisely why Bilbo (and Hobbits generally) make for great heroes: “You can make a story out of a hero among dragons; but not a dragon among dragons.”¹⁶ For example, consider Bilbo’s most obvious disadvantage relative to humans—his height. Nevertheless, it is Bilbo’s (and Hobbits’) smallness that makes him a better main character, for “if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small.”¹⁷ Chesterton is talking about humility, but Tolkien takes this idea literally with the stature of Hobbits. Even so, it serves a literary purpose: Middle-earth feels bigger and scarier because of how small and fragile Bilbo seems. Thus, Bilbo is the most unlikely of heroes because he is the most likely of people.

Gandalf’s Choice

Naturally, then, one may ask, why did Gandalf choose Bilbo Baggins to join Thorin’s company of Dwarves? This is a perfectly reasonable question. After all, Thorin and his twelve dwarf companions intend to slay a dragon and regain their gold. A Hobbit, and in particular Bilbo, seems to be an improper choice for this journey, even if he is only to be the burglar. The Dwarves are well aware of this, too. As Gloin says, “if it had not been for the sign on the door, I should have been sure we had come to the wrong house…He looks more like a grocer than a burglar!”¹⁸ Immediately, Gandalf responds to the various doubts of the Dwarves (and our doubts), declaring: “Let’s have no more argument. I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you…There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.”¹⁹

In other words, Gandalf is saying that because he is a wizard, the Dwarves should trust his judgment. Fair enough, I suppose, but that is hardly a reason. It may impart to us a lesson that we should trust the wise despite our doubts, or something along those lines, but that is not the main reason Bilbo was chosen. Instead, Bilbo was primarily chosen for the latter reason: there is more to Bilbo than we would expect or even that Bilbo would expect. Thus, because Bilbo is like us, Tolkien is effectively saying there is more to the ordinary man than we’d expect or even that the ordinary person would expect of themself.

This touches on the main ethos of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which Chesterton puts this way: “The most terribly important things must be left to ordinary men themselves.”²⁰ Chesterton refers to this as the key principle of the democratic faith, and it is for that reason that Gandalf chose Bilbo. Furthermore, it is why Hobbits generally, but Bilbo particularly, make such great main characters. Hobbits as heroes exalt the common man. When Gandalf chooses Bilbo, it feels as if we are chosen. When Gandalf says there is more to Bilbo than even Bilbo knows, we feel there may be more to us than even we know. When Bilbo succeeds, it not only makes us feel as if we have succeeded, but it also vindicates that we, too, are more than we appear. It further reinforces Bilbo’s eminent relatability.

Food, Cheer, and Song

Surprisingly, though, it is Bilbo’s ordinariness that makes him reliable because Bilbo recognizes “ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things; nay, they are more extraordinary.”²¹ This is perhaps the main lesson of The Hobbit. While Chesterton frames the moral generally, Thorin’s famous parting words to Bilbo put it specifically: “There is more in you of good than you know, Child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”²² Bilbo is the hero of the story because he is an ordinary man who values ordinary things, such as good food and good company.

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To illustrate this further, we need to recall the buildup to the Battle of Five Armies:

Unbeknownst to the Dwarves and Bilbo, Smaug, in response to their disturbance, has gone to attack Lake-town. Despite their ignorance, Thorin’s company journeys deeper into the mountain, where Bilbo stumbles upon the Arkenstone. The Arkenstone is more marvelous than all the other gems in the world, so much so that even “Bilbo’s arm went towards it drawn by its enchantment.”²³ Nevertheless, Bilbo takes the stone, keeping it in his pocket without letting the Dwarves know. Of course, Thorin knows of the stone and wants it for himself, for he values it above the rest of the gold.

Meanwhile, Lake-town has been destroyed by Smaug, but not without Smaug paying for it with his life. In the aftermath, Bard, the one who killed Smaug, requests and is granted support from the Elvenking, who had earlier in the Dwarves’ journey held them captive. Consequently, Thorin’s company has made more enemies than friends, and understandably, Bard and the Elves would like a share of the gold. Eventually, they bring their request to Thorin, who says, “nothing we will give.”²⁴

Bilbo, recognizing both the escalating tensions and the dire situation, sneaks out one night to meet with Bard and the Elvenking in their tent. Once he is brought to them, Bilbo explains that if they use the Arkenstone, they will be able to exchange it for, at least, some gold since it is Thorin’s foremost desire. Bilbo then gives the Arkenstone to Bard and the Elvenking, despite risking his entire—and well-deserved—reward. Gandalf, who has been elsewhere for the latter half of the journey and is now in the tent with Bard and the Elvenking, reveals himself to Bilbo, saying, “Well done! Mr. Baggins…There is always more to you than anyone expects!”²⁵

The following morning, Bard and the Elvenking come back to the mountain to barter with Thorin, and once they reveal the Arkenstone, he is enraged. Bilbo, in an act of honesty, takes the burden on himself. Even with all the help he has provided to Thorin and his company, Bilbo is cast away. Finally, despite all Bilbo’s efforts for peace, the Battle of Five Armies still breaks out with the arrival of the goblins.

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The contrast between Bilbo and the rest of the world—particularly Thorin—is what highlights how extraordinary Bilbo is. However, Bilbo’s extraordinariness is paradoxical, for it is his ordinariness that makes him extraordinary. Only Bilbo is ordinary enough to prefer a warm meal over a heap of gold, or even the Arkenstone. It is that ordinary preference of his that allows Bilbo to seek peace when others seek war and to do what is right even when Thorin is blinded by gold.

Thus, Bilbo vindicates the democratic faith and Gandalf’s assertion that there truly is more to Bilbo than anyone expects. In doing so, Bilbo further exalts the common man, for it is the common man who rightly appreciates food, cheer, and song over glory, riches, and power. Unexpectedly, then, the most extraordinary thing in Middle-earth turns out to be an ordinary Hobbit with his ordinary desires. Or, as Chesterton similarly expressed, “The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.”²⁶

Tookish

With all that said, why would such an ordinary hobbit like Bilbo Baggins go through all the trouble of such a dangerous quest? After all, as the Dwarves put rather bluntly, “[If you die,] funeral expenses to be defrayed by us or our representatives.”²⁷ The answer is that Bilbo is a Took, which means he is a bit Tookish. It is here that Chesterton's idea of a double spiritual need—to have at once “an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome”—becomes most visible.²⁸ We have already spoken about the more welcoming side of Bilbo, the Baggins’s temperament. However, if Chesterton is right that we have a spiritual need for wonder, then unless Bilbo also has a need for wonder, he will be too ordinary. Naturally, then, we find that Tolkien gave Bilbo a more wondrous side: his Tookish side.

You see, Belladonna Took married Bungo Baggins, and they are Bilbo’s parents, so Bilbo is half Took, half Baggins. He is the Chestertonian hobbit, for Bilbo embodies the “need to be happy in this wonderland without at once being merely comfortable.”²⁹ While Bilbo, as we have said, was a proper hobbit, he also did have that itch for wonder and adventure that we all have. In other words, we have that same Tookishness that Bilbo himself has—the spontaneity to do something altogether unexpected. This, of course, is right where The Hobbit begins with Bilbo doing something Tookish.

After the Dwarves have gathered at Bilbo’s home with Gandalf, they begin discussing their plans and the role that Bilbo will play in them. At first, Bilbo wants no part of the Dwarves and their plans, and in all honesty, he feels overwhelmed by what is an unexpected night. Nevertheless, as the night continued, Bilbo’s Tookish side got more and more intrigued. At one point in the night, Gloin remarks on his doubts, “As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow bobbing and puffing on the mat, I had my doubts.”³⁰ In Bilbo’s defense, he did not expect visitors that night, much less a platoon of Dwarves, and he was still part Baggins after all. Yet, this led to the most unexpected moment of the night. Bilbo’s temperament flipped. Whether he simply could not hold back from adventure, or whether his Tookish pride flared up, is uncertain, but either way “The Took side had won.”³¹

In sum, the reason why Bilbo joined such a perilous journey is that he, too, has a double spiritual need, and on this occasion, the need for wonder won.

There and Back Again

The primary title of this book is The Hobbit, though curiously, it is given a second title, There and Back Again. I call it a second title, not a subtitle, because although the full name can be The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, the ‘or’ suggests that the book is properly called either. Why would Tolkien give his book two distinct titles?

There are a few considerations. First, Bilbo’s journey literally goes from Hobbiton to the Lonely Mountain and back again to Hobbiton. Second, in some sort of humble way, Bilbo, being the ‘true’ author,³² didn’t want to give a title that seemed so self-centered. Third, it is simply that neither Bilbo nor Tolkien could decide on which title they preferred. While any of those options could be true, I think there is another option that is at least as likely as the first option, and which may explain why The Hobbit is structured the way it is. Of course, we have to return to Chesterton’s Orthodoxy.

Chesterton begins Orthodoxy by comparing his adoption into Christianity to his idea of “writing a romance [about] an English yachtsman who slightly miscalculated his course and discovered England under the impression that it was a new island.”³³ Anyhow, Chesterton says he was unable to find the effort or time to write such a story. Well, Tolkien nearly wrote that exact story with The Hobbit.

The Hobbit begins in Hobbiton. It is an adventure that essentially starts in the English countryside, the journey then requires us to leave the English countryside, and finally, the journey ends back where it started. It is a story very similar to that of Chesterton’s English yachtsman, and it is a journey that embraces the double spiritual need of humans. After all, “What could be more delightful than to have in the same few minutes all the fascinating terrors of going abroad combined with all the humane security of coming home again?”³⁴ It is thus the most fulfilling journey. Perhaps, then, Tolkien modeled The Hobbit in this manner because he was writing a Chestertonian fantasy—one where the proper ending is home.

Unfortunately, Chesterton passed away in 1936, about one year before The Hobbit’s release date. This is only speculation, but I fancy that Tolkien gave The Hobbit the second title, There and Back Again, as a nod to the late and great Gilbert Keith Chesterton. I’m sure Chesterton would’ve loved reading it.

Summing Up

Likely, many of us have read The Hobbit, but we either were unable to put into words why we liked it so much or we struggled to describe it succinctly. However, once we encounter Chesterton, we can see the philosophical underpinnings of The Hobbit, which helps us to appreciate Chesterton and Tolkien’s work more fully. In the end, The Hobbit and its main character, Bilbo Baggins, are quintessentially Chestertonian, for we are presented with a world and characters that are both familiar and unfamiliar, which is preeminently true of Bilbo Baggins—Chesterton’s Hobbit.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Everlasting_Man

2. https://coolcalvary.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/on-fairy-stories1.pdf

3. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: With Annotations and Guided Reading by Trevin Wax, ed. Trevin Wax (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2022), 5.

4. Hobbiton is a village within the Shire.

5. Hobbits refer to us, ‘normal humans,’ as the Big People.

6. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Collector’s Edition, Tolkien Illustrated Editions (New York: William Morrow, 2024), 3.

7. In Middle-earth, non-Hobbits typically refer to Hobbits as Halflings.

8. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 4.

9. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Collector’s Edition: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings (New York: William Morrow, 2024), 2.

10. Tolkien draws much of his setting from European folklore, literature, and mythology, so this philosophy of familiar yet unfamiliar found in Hobbiton holds throughout all Middle-earth.

11. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 6.

Assuming Chesterton is right about humanity’s double spiritual need, then Tolkien’s adherence to this need may explain part of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings’ popularity.

12. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 16.

13. Ibid.

14. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 3-4.

15. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 16.

16. Ibid.

17. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 39.

18. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 19.

19. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 20.

20. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 65.

This is more extremely shown in The Lord of the Rings, where Frodo, Bilbo’s heir, along with Samwise Gamgee, are tasked with destroying the most destructive weapon in Middle-earth.

21. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 64.

22. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 269.

23. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 223.

24. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 248.

25. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 255.

26. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/127319-the-most-extraordinary-thing-in-the-world-is-an-ordinary

27. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 29.

28. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 6.

29. Ibid.

30. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 19.

31. Ibid.

32. Although Tolkien literally wrote The Hobbit, in The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo is writing this book. So, the idea is that in the world of Middle-earth, Bilbo is the original and real author.

33. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 4.

34. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 5.