I would say pardon the pun in the title, but I use far too many puns in my life to start apologizing or asking for begged pardons now. As far as prompts are concerned, this one is about as easy to answer as I imagine any could be. I count myself as one single drop in the great bucket making up the influenced readers and discipled students of J.R.R Tolkien. The Hobbit was that book which grabbed me by the metaphorical collar and shook me into the devotion for words which laid the foundation of my earliest years. I don’t remember precisely what age I was when my dad read it to me, but I remember how it made me feel. The absolute delight and wonder of Middle Earth; of Hobbiton; of Rivendell; of Beorn’s cabin; of Mirkwood! And all the while, as lost as you could find yourself in any of these, the distant peaks of the Misty Mountains waited in abeyance. Always waiting for the reader, and always the reader knew that where they were was taking them closer to those mountains. Closer to Smaug.
Bilbo Baggins was not Achilles. His hobbit mother did not dip him into the River Styx when he was even littler than little. He was as overwhelmed by the adventure Gandalf whisked him into as any of us would be. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t my favorite character! I loved Bilbo and Gandalf and the party of dwarves dearly, but my favorite character was Thorin Oakenshield! He was brave, and strong, and dedicated to his friends and his quest, and I just loved him. If you haven’t read The Hobbit, my solemn entreaty would be to do so posthaste, and to stop reading here if you don’t plan on doing so at some point, because this is a spoiler.
The strongest memory I have associated with the books of my childhood is crying underneath my blanket after hearing that Thorin died. It broke my little heart, and it began a years-long happening where it felt like any character I fell in love with inevitably perished. Tolkien, you monster! Breaking my heart like that. If that isn’t the highest form of praise—being able to so stir emotions in a young reader—then I don’t know what is. As a writer, I can only hope to live up to such a standard as that; being able to break children’s hearts like mine was broken!
I recall seeing a speech the actor Chadwick Boseman gave, when he was honoring Denzel Washington for Denzel’s legacy and influence on those actors that came after him. Chadwick said that actors such as himself were standing on the shoulders of Denzel; that they were indebted to the standard he set and the inspiration within them he stirred. That’s how I feel about J.R.R Tolkien and The Hobbit. It instilled in me the same wonder and fascination I try and capture when I write and started me down a road paved with language. Talk about leaving a legacy! That’s my answer, and I can’t recommend The Hobbit highly enough. 🙂
Michael Riley Writing 
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