Bilbo and Gollum: The Pity of Bilbo

In the recent movie, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” they portray a scene alluded to several times in both the film and book of “The Lord of the Rings,” the scene in which Bilbo has the chance to kill Gollum…

…But doesn’t.

The fact that Bilbo felt pity for Gollum, a wretched creature that would quite willingly consume him, shows how masterfully Tolkien portrayed Gollum. It says in “The Hobbit,” that Bilbo feels a sudden understanding, and pity, pity and horror. He imagines days and years in the dark, eating raw fish, having no company but one’s self, and he begins in a way to understand Gollum, and he does not kill Gollum.

The fact that he showed mercy is extremely important in “The Lord of the Rings,” if Bilbo had killed Gollum, would the quest to destroy the Ring have succeeded? No. Frodo would have taken the Ring for his own, and in the end, he would have been destroyed, taken by the Ringwraiths, and Sauron would have regained the Ring. Because Bilbo showed mercy to Gollum, because he didn’t stab him when he had a chance, Gollum was there in Mount Doom, wrested the Ring from Frodo, and because of the misstep of Gollum, the Ring is destroyed.