There and Back Again

[Leaf]

Interesting topic! Alot of the themes you're discussing are culminating in the very last exchange of views between Bilbo and Gandalf:

Originally Posted by The Hobbit. The last stage

» Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!« said Bilbo. »Of course!« said Gandalf. »And why should not they prove true? Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!«

»Thank goodness!« said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco-jar.

I always liked this ending. It is interesting in so many ways. The most interesting aspect is, in my opinion, that here's one of the very few instances where Gandalf errs: but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all! This statement is only true in a strict sense. Bilbo is just a single person in this world. But even though Gandalf's objection is (as always) well reasoned and appropriate given the recent events; it is ultimatly flawed aswell. As it turns out later, Bilbo and his actions are from the uttermost importance for the history of the whole world and everyone in it.

And in way it's as much Tolkien's error as it is Gandalf's. Both of them had no way to foretell Bilbo's special status at the given time. One could also suspect that Gandalf's words were voicing the author's thoughts. I think Tolkien tries to degrade his own protagonist from the center of the story to a mere aspect of his fictional world. A fictional world which began to take shape long before The Hobbit, and without Bilbo. It was lurking in the backround, unpublished and unfinished. So, I think this might be Prof. Tolkien's reflection of his relationship with the character of Bilbo and The Hobbit, as a novel: You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!

It's funny that it came to pass that the wide world of the 'legendarium' couldn't get around Bilbo and The Hobbit after all.