The Adventurer

``The Road goes ever on and on

      Down from the door where it begun.

  Now far ahead the Road has gone,

     And I must follow, if I can,

 Pursuing it with eager feet,

   Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

  And whither then? I cannot say.´´

Indeed...

Those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy know of whom we are talking about when the name of Bilbo Baggins pops up: an affable Hobbit from the Hill with no other worries than having breakfast twice a day (if possible), take care of the garden, and smoke tobacco from a pipe on the porch of his comfortable Hobbit-hole. But eventhough this is the first thing we know about his character, we remember Bilbo not for the traditional behaviour of his race, but for a simple reason: being the most famous Hobbit in the world. 

And why is that so?

In their time, some people manage to transcend its test through a tale worth being remembered, a tale that is only worthwhile if it is true. His tookish side, ignited by Gandalf, led Bilbo to an adventure which he would have never imagined living in all his years. Humidity, buzzing insects, dispair, wonder, cunning, bravery, cold, luck... all this and more turned him into that of the Halflings who, with major disbelief, altered the designs of a history being unfolded for ages and ages. (It is worth mentioning that ever since he accidentally put his hand on the One Ring in the depths of the Misty Mountains, the change which years later would put an end to that everlasting ancient history, began, and that is not a minor thing to say.)

The narrator gives us readers kind of an open ending right from the book's first chapter by saying: "...well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end." Generally, the concept of "Adventure" is mistaken as it is commonly compared with feelings of joy, euphoria, enthusiasm and so on. But that is only a part of all the possible feelings one could have when living the adventure.

Yes, Bilbo gained one-fourteenth of the treasure of the Dwarves once the dragon issue and the Battle of Five Armies came to an end, let alone the One Ring. But if I had to answer to that open ending, although it is not even a question, I would say that what the Hobbit really gained from his experiences, all thanks to the initiative of that who was sent by the Powers to fight against the remaining presence of evil in Middle-earth, was a very high reputation, appreciated and understood by those who shared these special moments with him, and misunderstood mostly by those who have always been reluctant to go out there and face the world, to venture themselves outside and possibly return and write memories of the journey down on a red-leathered book.

Little it is what we know about the Bracegirdles or Goodbodies, and it is to the Hobbit that we should give thanks for that as he, in one way or another, found himself running from home without a handkerchief in order to reach his partners in time (folk he had only and unexpectedly met the night before), and ended up embarking himself on his last adventure to the West, or at least that is the last thing we know about his doings. Bilbo Baggins: an adventurer who has been deservedly remembered.