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Post by Sparrow on Jan 17, 2005 19:30:35 GMT -6
Thorin awarded Bilbo a coat of mithril mail as the first payment of his reward. What a royal outfit it was! When Bilbo put it on, he felt "magnificent" but noted he probably looked "rather absurd." After so much time and so many miles, without so much as encountering any other hobbit, how has Bilbo stayed in touch with what they would think back home?
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Post by Andorinha on Jan 27, 2005 6:11:25 GMT -6
Bilbo does not need to be "in touch" with the hobbits back home to keep from getting above himself. He is a thoroughly indoctrinated fellow, and quite capable of self-regulation. Bilbo is the product of his culture. He carries around with him a set rules, regulations, and standards of judgment that reflect the major values of the Hobbit community. He has not been gone from that community long enough to have internalized a new set of values. So, Bilbo looks at himself in the mithril corselet, and still sees the image of a simple hobbit "dressed-up-fine," and judges his appearance the way he knows his fellow hobbits would have judged him.
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Post by Stormrider on Jan 27, 2005 6:40:15 GMT -6
When Bilbo returned home, I believe he was dressed as he always was--in simple hobbit attire. I don't believe he displayed his mithril shirt in his home either. (I mislaid my copy of The Hobbit, where IS IT!!)
Sure he came home with a load of treasure and maybe some of it were things he could set on shelves in his home, but I don't believe he set anything out that "bragged" of his adventures.
Can anyone look in their copy of The Hobbit to verify or negate what I just said? I am going off my memory (faulty as it is in my advancing years...lol)
Or are we getting too far ahead of ourselves...we aren't to the end of the story yet!
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Post by Stormrider on Oct 7, 2012 13:13:25 GMT -6
I imagine the mithril shirt was very beautiful not to mention valuable. Bilbo would have used it for what it was intended--protection! Thorin must have realized that there could still be trouble brewing and his burglar would need some kind of protection. Giving Bilbo this one small shirt was a small portion of Bilbo's fee considering the entire hoard involved.
To a simple down-to-earth hobbit, the mithril shirt would be a marvelous thing and more showy than he was comfortable with. Yes, he would have looked at himself as any other hobbit from the Shire would have looked at him and thought Bilbo Baggins silly-looking and putting on airs.
But I think Bilbo has come a long way and he earned the right to that shirt whether he felt he looked silly or not. What an honor to have it.
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