The Hobbit

Something that I find so enjoyable about The Hobbit, and much of Tolkiens work, is the extent of immersive world building he does in his stories, as the characters travel through Middle Earth, the reader is exposed to so many different races with varying livelihoods and languages and cultures, so its no wonder that Tolkien had such a powerful influence on the realm of high fantasy adventure. The main character of the book, Bilbo, goes through a deep change throughout the book, with his own character development being a major portion of the story. Bilbo starts with such a sheltered life, having abandoned the adventurous spirit he had when he was younger. But with the sudden and unexpected offer of adventure given to him by Gandalf, which he at first refuses, Bilbo finds that his life has been uneventful and boring, and goes off anyway. Throughout the novel Bilbo is forced to face many harsh realities and dangers that he is ill prepared for, forced to adapt so that he can hope to see his home again. He bonds with the dwarves and as scared and ill-prepared for the dangers of his quest that he is, he still finds himself trying to outwit trolls and Gollum and a dragon, having to battle goblins and orcs and giant spiders, while also facing the resistance from other dwarves, humans, and elves, and ultimately being faced with the death of one of his companions. When he returns home, though a stronger and likely wiser person, Bilbo has been faced with the dangerous realities of war and greed and the world outside of the Shire, and is forever a changed person, who finds that he cannot ever really go back to how things were before he left.