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SME119: Tolkien spent years writing the great epics of the First Age, with elf-lords, kings of men and dwarves hurling themselves against Morgoth. Then he gave the whole weight of the Third Age to a hobbit. In part two of Concerning Hobbits, the panel asks why the heroes of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are hobbits at all.

Jeff Haecker hosts Rob Story, Patrick Mason, Fr. Bryan Shackett and Rob Leonardi. Rob Story starts with Boromir, the warrior-prince trained from birth to be the hero, who dies at the end of the first book because Tolkien’s world does not work that way. Rob Leonardi reads the hobbits through the Incarnation, and Fr. Bryan connects them to eucatastrophe: the good turn that comes from the least likely place and points to the hand of God.

From there the conversation turns to courage. Is it real only when you are afraid? The panel lands on Bilbo alone in the dark tunnel toward Smaug, the moment Tolkien calls the bravest thing he ever did, and Patrick makes the case that courage underlies every other virtue.

Why do hobbits hold out against the One Ring better than men, elves or wizards? The answer is a lack of grand ambition, contentment with a small place in the world, and a knack for the simple goods that Thorin wished more of us valued. Butterbur gets his due as the human version of the same thing, and Merry and Pippin’s conspiracy at Crickhollow stands as a picture of friendship that doesn’t need to understand everything before it helps.

Plus the first images from The Hunt for Gollum, everyone’s favorite hobbit mealtime, whether hobbits should have elvish ears, and listener feedback on Mr. Bliss and Déagol.

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