Originally posted by: Tiptup
As someone pointed out on this forum a while back. Tolkien did alter the Hobbit's riddle scene with Gollum. Initially the ring was an openly revealed prize, but in light of the LotR books, Tolkien knew that Gollum would not riddle for something with that much control over him.
Though, Tolkien never erased that previous version of the Hobbit and even worked the old version into his newer version as a story element. It became a lie that Bilbo told to ease his conscience, which was an awesome way to make a change like this.
As someone pointed out on this forum a while back. Tolkien did alter the Hobbit's riddle scene with Gollum. Initially the ring was an openly revealed prize, but in light of the LotR books, Tolkien knew that Gollum would not riddle for something with that much control over him.
Though, Tolkien never erased that previous version of the Hobbit and even worked the old version into his newer version as a story element. It became a lie that Bilbo told to ease his conscience, which was an awesome way to make a change like this.
I agree. But it would have worked a lot better if it had just been kept that way. The Hobbit told the lie, and the lie was revealed in LOTR. It makes less sense when he went back to The Hobbit and changed it so that Gollum doesn't openly bargain the ring. Now we have Bilbo's story telling the truth, yet he admits the non-existant lie in LOTR.