The Hobbit

by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit: Foil 2 key examples

Chapter 5: Riddles in the Dark
Explanation and Analysis—Foil After Foil:

Throughout his adventure, Bilbo encounters a series of foils that help him build his own identity. One strong example of this motif occurs in Chapter 5, when Gollum correctly guesses Bilbo's riddle about "sun on daisies":

“Ss, ss, ss,” said Gollum. He had been underground a long long time, and was forgetting this sort of thing. But just as Bilbo was beginning to hope that the wretch would not be able to answer, Gollum brought up memories of ages and ages and ages before, when he lived with his grandmother in a hole in a bank by a river, “Sss, sss, my preciouss,” he said. “Sun on the daisies it means, it does.”

Chapter 19: The Last Stage
Explanation and Analysis—Bilbo and Thorin Go Home:

When Bilbo arrives back at home after a year away, he finds that he has been presumed dead and that his house is being looted. The situational irony—he is forced to buy many of his own belongings back—reinforces Bilbo and Thorin's status as foils:

The return of Mr. Bilbo Baggins created quite a disturbance, both under the Hill and over the Hill, and across the Water; it was a great deal more than a nine days’ wonder. The legal bother, indeed, lasted for years. It was quite a long time before Mr. Baggins was in fact admitted to be alive again. The people who had got specially good bargains at the Sale took a deal of convincing; and in the end to save time Bilbo had to buy back quite a lot of his own furniture.

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