Talking animals and civilized orcs simply did not fit Tolkien’s theological hierarchy, and, as a result, Tolkien struggled mightily to harmonize creatures of The Hobbit with the rest of the Legendarium. Tolkien’s three races of sentient, created beings (Elves, Men, and Dwarves) each have their own cosmology and eschatology, designed by Tolkien as distinct threads in the fabric of Arda. ![]() The chapter asserts that these contrasts caused Tolkien considerable trouble in the years after The Hobbit was published. The Lord of the Eagles wears an incongruous golden crown, and the spiders of Mirkwood banter humorously and are offended by bad poetry, all in sharp contrast to the eagles and spiders of LOTR and The Silmarillion. Similarly, a fairly diverse cast of talking animal characters lends The Hobbit an almost Narnian feel, a tone very distinct from the rest of Tolkien’s works (Tolkien, Letters 42). Unlike the more bestial trolls and orcs of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit incorporates a “civilized” race of goblins, replete with an apparently independent king, a developed culture, and autonomous self-awareness. The Cockney trolls, boulder-tossing giants, social goblins, and anthropomorphized beasts found within The Hobbit all run contrary to Tolkien’s later ideals of how Ilúvatar structured the lives and moralities of the races of Middle-earth. ![]() This chapter argues that the publication of The Hobbit, prior to the publication of any other works in the Legendarium, created a series of continuity challenges for Tolkien regarding the spiritual state of his non-human characters.
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