June 1914 would be the year that would begin one of the bloodiest conflicts in all of human history. More than 38 millions lives were lost, yet the individual stories of each combatant is often lost to the annals of history. In other works such as All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque or The Metal Gear Solid series by Hideo Kojima, the spotlight shines on the brutish and hellish landscapes of war. However, J.R.R Tolkien in The Hobbit instead focuses upon the heroic journey of growing up and passing into adulthood that occurs from the adventures of war. J.R.R Tolkien incorporates the hero’s journey and claims that through the adventures of war, children grow into men as their experiences shape and permanently change their lives. The adventure begins in the normal world. Bilbo Baggins lives a simple life in his …show more content…
However, Bilbo realizes that Smaug is not the emotionless killing machine that he was made out to be. While he may be cruel, Smaug carries himself with pride and acts with human intelligence. He is not very different from Bilbo. When he talks with Bilbo, he asks with surprising courteousness, “You seem familiar with my name, but I don’t seem to remember smelling you before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?” (Tolkien 204). Through this encounter, Bilbo learns that the enemies he encounters throughout his journey are not just mindless beasts. Instead, they are “human-beings” with their own lives and adventures. We the soldiers of WWI were first sent into battle, they were told to kill the enemy. They enemy was just some shapeless bogeyman. He had not souls and definitely had no emotions. However while on the battlefield, the soldiers soon realized that their enemies were not shapeless monsters. Instead, they were also human, humans who could laugh and cry and feel fear. Through war, they understood that the other is not that different from