Quote:
Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
Yesterday I reread an old Mythlore Magazine (sponsored by the Mythopoeic Society) article about the Trickster in fantasy and myth. The author identified Gandalf, in The Hobbit, as fitting the Trickster archetype, in the following ways: - he tricks Bilbo into joining the Dwarves as a thief
- he disappears suddenly with no explanation just before the party meets up with the Trolls
- he reappears - again with no explanation - to get the Dwarves and Bilbo out of their fix with the Trolls
- he disappears just when the Goblins capture the party
- he reappears to save them from the Goblins
- he tricks Beorn into hosting a hobbit and 13 dwarves
- he again leaves without explanation just before they enter Mirkwood
The last thing one can say about a Trickster character is that he is boring! But it's clear that Tolkien had to change, or at least explain, this kind of behavior in the context of his more serious sequel to The Hobbit. |
1. Gandalf doesn't completely trick Bilbo into taking the adventure. Bilbo himself agrees to go.
2. Gandalf had many things to do. I would say not that he disappeared when the trolls came into play, but that without Gandalf they soon got into trouble.
3. He does not disappear when the goblins come to capture the dwarves. He wakes up in time to fight many of, but the cave closes before he can get through to them.
4. We later learn he has left to deal with the Necromancer.
Gandalf apart from a few white lies cannot relate to the trickers in Norse Mythology. Even Odin is far more ominous character than Gandalf.