Originally posted by: C3PX
Hmm, I looked into the whole Bilbo and dragon thing a little more. Actually that whole sequence is very similar to parts of Beowulf. Tolkien borrowed plenty of things from plenty of different myths and legends. I think he would actually be proud that new writers and borrowing from the legend he wrote.
Hmm, I looked into the whole Bilbo and dragon thing a little more. Actually that whole sequence is very similar to parts of Beowulf. Tolkien borrowed plenty of things from plenty of different myths and legends. I think he would actually be proud that new writers and borrowing from the legend he wrote.
I've been meaning to bring this up as well. I remember reading Beowulf in school last year (and loving it, by the way), and it struck me that the dragon scenario sounded an awful lot like that in The Hobbit.
For those of you not familiar with Beowulf, there is a part in it where it tells about a dragon living in a mountain atop a vast collection of wealth. One day, a burglar shows up and steals a cup from the dragon's stockpile, and the dragon gets furious and burns a nearby village. Sound familiar to anyone?