The Riddles of The Hobbit by Adam Roberts

The Riddles of The Hobbit by Adam Roberts

Published by Palgrave Macmillan (October 25, 2013)

Review by N. E. White.

From the publisher:

Riddles have lost none of their power over us: we are as fascinated by mysteries, from sudoko to whodunnits, from jokes to philosophical conundrums. The Hobbit is a book threaded through with riddles; most obviously in its central ‘Riddles in the Dark’ chapter, but everywhere else too—what does ‘Good Morning’ mean? What is a burrahobbit? How many versions of the Hobbit are there? What is the buried secret in the nine riddles Bilbo and Gollum swap between one another? What are Ents? Dragons? Wizards? What is the magic of the magic ring?

The Riddles of The Hobbit is a non-fictional exploration of the riddles from the book The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and what they meant to the venerable author. The Riddles of The Hobbit argues that riddles held far more importance to Mr. Tolkien than most may realize, and that the original book itself and the names therein may be riddles as well. Furthermore, this book-essay implies the answers to those riddles are the The Hobbit’s true message.

The author, Adam Roberts, a professor of nineteenth-century literature at the University of London, begins with an introduction on Mr. Tolkien’s literary influences, his deeply held Christian beliefs, and his military experience. In addition, we get a detailed analysis of several popular riddles that circulated during World War One. I specifically liked the explanation of ‘The Egg Shell’, because without it I would have never understood the poem properly, nor would I have never known it was referring to submarines, torpedoes, and the fickle nature of whether one lived or died out under the sea. In addition, the author’s linking of the poem to a riddle underlines the serious nature riddles can exhibit.

We then move on to an exploration of the Anglo-Saxon “Riddleworld”. According to the author, Anglo-Saxon was a riddling culture, and their very view of the world steeped in irony and sarcasm. Thus, riddles played a far more important role than we may attribute to the culture and time, and therefore very important to Tolkien (whose research and interest were tied to this culture).

The author then spends the next chapter summarizing the history of riddles and how Tolkien borrowed from that rich history. The remaining chapters deal specifically with the riddles presented in (and by) The Hobbit. In his chapter on Riddles in the Dark, we learn that riddles held a bonding power in Old English tradition. Gollum and Bilbo’s riddle contest was not put in there to simply entertain the reader, but was a serious battle of wits between our protagonist and antagonist. We are treated with the authors breakdown of each of those riddles told in the dark and their (supposedly) correct answers. In the next chapter, The Riddles of the All-Wise, the author further explores the answers to the riddles presented in the dark, and presents Old English riddles that may have inspired riddles within riddles, or a ring of riddles.

The Puzzle of Two Hobbits chapter delves into the revisions Mr. Tolkein made on The Hobbit, particularly his treatment of the riddles told in the dark by Gollum and Bilbo. This revision, the author posits, changes a lighthearted tale to a story of “grand sacramental drama of incarnation, atonement and redemption.”

The last few chapters similarly root out the history and answers for riddles further presented in The Hobbit and posed by the novel itself. In the end, we are exposed to the very real possibility that the whole book was simply a clever riddle, for which the answer is Mr. Tolkien himself.

Some might say Mr. Roberts takes the notion of riddles in The Hobbit too far. Mr. Tolkien clearly immersed himself with language and riddles, so why wouldn’t he bury a few nuggets for his readers to find? One example of which is the burrahobbit. When Bilbo introduces himself to trolls that about to eat him and his friends, he starts to say he’s a burglar (since that’s what he was hired to do), but quickly changes his answer to ‘hobbit’. But the trolls hear something that sounds like burrahobbit and ask ‘what’s a burrahobbit?’

Mr. Roberts posits that this is yet another riddle. While not answered in the text of the novel itself, if one knows Middle English, then one can loosely deduce that ‘burr’ is derived from the Middle English word ‘burwhe or ‘burwe’, which can mean ‘a ring’. Thus we have a ring-hobbit (a hobbit who carries a ring). Is this Tolkien prophesying future events (which is, apparently, one role of riddles in Anglo-Saxon culture), or is Mr. Roberts making connections where there are none?

Though a short book, this is not an easy, nor quick, read. The author references a myriad of sources and presents many ideas, language theories and possible answers in a relatively small space. I’m afraid I found it rather dense. However, I also found the author’s musing illuminating and educational. Overall, while I’m not sure I agree with all his assertions (Hobbit = Tolkien?), he makes a solid case behind the idea that Tolkien viewed riddles and the riddles within The Hobbit not merely as ornamentation, but as serious contributions to the book’s themes and subtext.

This book is primarily for Tolkien aficionados. If you’ve only read The Lord of the Ring and The Hobbit, then this book’s contents will be understandable. However, even with that under my belt, I felt I could have done with reading more of the material published in support of those two iconic works along with a heavy does of Anglo-Saxon history. Without it, I fear much of the nuanced arguments in The Riddles of the Hobbit went completely over my head. If you are interested in a detailed, scholarly essay exploring the background and importance of Tolkien’s riddles in The Hobbit, then this book fits that bill.

N.E. White, January 2014.