Wizard Gone Missing - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 12-10-2012, 11:27 AM

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.

12-10-2012, 11:27 AM	#18
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Bladorthin the Trickster 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.