The Most Important Question Of The Day

[ericcoleman]

[Poll #1309305]

Comments

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I answered Bilbo because I was actually able to wade my way through that book.

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

Frodo struck me as being more altruistic in his motivation.

Not that there's anything wrong with Bilbo, i certainly prefered reading The Hobbit to the LOTR. (And i wouldn't have HAD to read LOTR if anyone had given me a straight answer as to the ending. Buggers!)

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

I barely made it through The Hobbit while praying to die... then, masochist that I am, I started the first LOTR books. YIKES! I quit quickly.

I did like the movies, I might someday try to read the books again. MIGHT.

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

I had bounced off the books before watching the movies, too. Once I'd seen the first movie, the characters were people to me, and I cared what happened. Before that, not so much.

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

I think there's truth in that for me, too. Tolkien was... um... *cough* tedious. Now that I have a grasp of the stories and the characters I think I could go back and read them, and enjoy the detail much more.

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

Bilbo was brought into something he did not want, and had not idea what he was getting into. When he found the ring, it was a toy to him. When he met Gollum, he was challenged to a riddle game. Later, when he met Smaug, he gave his titles in riddles, but not his name.

In contrast, when Frodo received the ring, Gandalf told him what it was, and Frodo had already heard Bilbo's wild tales of adventure. He at least had a vague idea what to expect.

Bilbo did what he did because he was pushed into it. Frodo did it more out of obligation, knowing he had to save the world and all. Both would be classic archetypal characters.

I had to read "The Hobbit" for 7th grade English class, and I enjoyed it. It was my first major fantasy novel, maybe with the sole exception of books that had been made into Disney movies. Before that, I read a bunch of children's classics, and had been quite into the Little House on the Prairie books, even visiting some of the museum exhibits in the Midwest.

I chose Bilbo, because he rose to unforseen challenges, rather than Frodo, who pretty much knew what he'd be getting into.

I've seen the movies too, but not the endless hours of added footage, which has a ton of things that were really cool from the books... so I'm told.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I had MANY friends at the time who were heavily into them, so I thought I would give them a shot even thought they didn't sound very interesting to me. My brother MADE me watch the first two movies (the first one in Spanish with English subtitles!) and they were OK, and the next year he dragged me to the third. This is my OLDER brother, BTW (they're all older).

My problem with the books is that there's just too much stuff in them that has nothing to do with moving the plot along. TH was less guilty of this than the others were.

What about Sam?

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

I chose Bilbo instead of Frodo because while Frodo has the imposing task of saving the world, Bilbo goes from a frivolous, comfort-loving homebody who doesn't want adventures to someone who can be considered stalwart and capable of much more than he ever thought. Ultimately Frodo had the harder task and burden, but especially in the movies Frodo has nothing much more to do than look and act scared and burdened. In The Hobbit Bilbo has a more "severe" learning curve. (I tend to like Samwise better than Frodo from the movies, too.)

And I haven't quite read the books every year the way Christopher Lee has...but I have read all four (The Hobbit and the trilogy) multiple times over the years. :D

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Greatest little hobbit of them all!

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Frodo is very noble and heroic and all, but I never liked him that much as a character. After the Fellowship split up, I kept wanting to skip the parts with Frodo and Sam to get back to the more fun characters, despite the fact that Frodo's quest is the important part.

Bilbo is fun.

[freeimprov.livejournal.com]

That was surprisingly difficult.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Orson Bean