Epic Heroism for the Ordinary: Tolkien’s Reworking of Odyssean Heroism in The Hobbit

This article explores The Hobbit as a narrative of two Odyssean homecomings: Thorin’s return to Erebor and Bilbo’s return to Bag End. Thorin undertakes the more direct nostos: as a displaced royal heir, he returns to recover his ancestral household, inheritance, authority, and public identity. Bilbo, by contrast, leaves a secure home and gradually acquires the cunning, adaptability, judgement, and independence that make Thorin’s return possible. Tolkien thus separates heroic position from heroic conduct. This separation produces conflict at Erebor, where Thorin’s defence of royal possession threatens violence and Bilbo uses the Arkenstone to challenge the king he helped restore. By comparing Ithaca, Erebor, and Bag End, the article shows how Tolkien remakes epic homecoming through different relationships among possession, violence, authority, and recognition. Bilbo returns without public acclaim or restored respectability, but with a heroic identity that no longer depends upon communal recognition. The Hobbit therefore relocates heroism within the ordinary person without requiring him to become a lesser version of the epic king.