If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be?
This charming story has a very rustic beginning and develops into something quite different and dark.
Bilbo Baggins – said“hobbit” – happily lives in his hobbit home, on Hobbiton hill in the Shire. This beautiful country has no visible or obvious threats to its existence.
Bilbo is busy with writing a history of his family and events regarding the history of his land and its inhabitants. It’s such a serene and pleasant description with quirky characters and an entirely believable atmosphere.
Then of course, you have Gandalf. He turns out to be a wizard but in the beginning appears to be just an interfering old man with his nose in everybody’s business except his own.
Meanwhile, in other parts of this world, other races and peoples appear and start to insert themselves into the plot line. It’s quite believable again, and adds to the overall plot.
If you’ve read the book you’ll know what emerges as it gets towards the end in Bilbo’s meeting with Gollum. His appearance in the story indicates the direction of the relating of the incidents that will lead to great tension, conflict and destruction of life and whole kingdoms and family lineages in the succeeding 3 books that follow.
So, in spite of the fact that I’ve read these stories many times, I’d like to see a different end to The Hobbit.
WARNING: THIS ENDING WILL ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF ALL J.R.R. TOLKIEN FANS! DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!
My rewrite would go like this: Bilbo finds his way down to the bottom of the mountain where Gollum lives and happily stuffs himself with the fish that swim around in his underground world. Gollum’s distaste for orcs is understandable as is his penchant for strangling and eating the odd one or more now and again. (Alright, a lot! But what’s a Gollum to do?)
You may remember that at some point Gollum drops “his precious” and Bilbo stumbles upon it by accident (?). Then there’s the memorable scene where they play a game of guess the solution of the riddle.
This is where my change takes place. In my ending, the game goes on and on for yonks* and they both get bored. Bilbo chucks the ring in the lake and Gollum dives in to try and find it, alas to no avail and expiring in the effort.
Bilbo escapes and goes back to his Hobbit hole, the dwarves and the orcs make a peace treaty. The ‘rightful king’ dies of old age with no progeny and everybody lives happily ever after.
That way, nobody dies, there’s no war, vast numbers of lives are never put at risk and everyone gets on with living a normal life. Even the volcano shuts down, the Lord of the Rings decides to retire to another universe of his own making with endless amounts of torture death and all manner of suffering and destruction to satisfy his worthless ego.
Et voila! Yay, and there was much rejoicing.
Come on, it’s not bad is it?
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