Fantasy is a type of genre that allows the reader to experience a place or world unlike any they have before. Fantasy lifts all our ideas of reality, and allows us to be a part of experiences that we would otherwise have no chance of taking part in. One of the first genres to be used in literary fiction was romance and this genre embraced fantasy by creating princesses and princes fighting an epic battle and mythical creatures such as dragons, Vampires and Ghost. In this paper I will explain how J.R.R Tolkien “The Hobbit” fits the genre of fantasy. This is important because every writer has there own writing style and there favorite genre. The novel “The Hobbit” by J.R.R Tolkien fits the characteristics of the fantasy genre because it has everything a fantasy book would have such as mythical creatures, wizards and an epic hero. J.R.R Tolkien was a scholar of English language and was a professor at oxford. He Specialized in Anglo Saxon and medieval literature. Tolkien being writing fantasy novels in 1976 and has said “No other Genre can put you in such a magical state expect fantasy”(A Short History of fantasy pg.123). J.R.R Tolkien has explained that his love for fantasy goes back to his childhood and when he would read books and forget about everything and everyone around him. J.R.R Tolkien has used every aspect of fantasy in his book “The Hobbit”.
The majority of fantasy is based in a medieval-type setting, a unique fantasy world created by the author, but one that usually draws upon many common influences,
Which makes “The Hobbit” the perfect example. The main character in the hobbit is named Bilbo Baggins and he lives a quiet, peaceful life he is a hobbit one of a race of small, plump people about half the size of human. One day he is asked to go on an epic adventure with a powerful wizard named Gandalf to defeat a powerful, talking dragon named Smaug who lives on a tall mountain. Shortly after they all set out for the epic adventure three hungry trolls captures them. The two escape and continue their adventure, they finally reach the mountain and defeat the powerful dragon Smaug Gandalf the wizards says “So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.”(The Hobbit Chapter 20), to infer that even mythical creatures die. Mythical creatures are an imaginary being of myth or fable. In most fantasy’s mythical creatures are used to create a world unlike our own and to make the reader imagine how the creatures may look. J.R.R Tolkien creates his own version of a mythical creature, which is a hobbit they are about half the size humans with pig like features. There is also a wizard in the book named Gandalf; a wizard is a man who has magical powers and the ability to use earth as the source for his magic. Dragons are one of the most used mythical creatures used in the fantasy genre they have been used in thousands of folk tales and story’s, in the hobbit one of the main characters is a talking dragon named Smuag. By using mythical creatures in the hobbit the author is creating a magical world, which is one of the main aspects of the fantasy genre. Romance is one of the first genres of writing to include fantasy aspects. Romance is also the main subject in many famous fantasy writings such as Cinderella, Snow White and many old folk tales. J.R.R Tolkien also includes romance in his book
“The Hobbit” by making Bilbo the main character of the book desperate for love and a companion. Unlike all other romance folk tales there is no happy ending for Bilbo, he does not find the girl of his dream on his adventure. J.R.R Tolkien chose to end the story with Bilbo not finding a companion to show that it is not always a happy ending to every story and every fantasy novel. Medieval Society has been a big influence in the fantasy genre. The belief in magic and fantasy was widely believed back in the middles ages. J.R.R Tolkien set his book “The Hobbit” back in medieval times to give it historic and fantasy appeal.
