KidLit Forum

There are triple and/ or double situations in "The Hobbit" (examples: 3 sets of Wargs;). Does it connect with the folklore?

There are moments when 2/3 are a simple numbers, but a few examples will try to answer the question above.

The magic meaning: - 3 daughters

"... the mother of this hobbit - of Bilbo Baggins, that is - was the fabulous Belladonna Took, one of the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took." (ch. 1)

3 guesses/chances

"- What have I got in my pocket? [Bilbo] said louder.
- S-s-s-s-s, hissed Gollum. It must give us three guesseses, my preciouss, three guesseses." (ch. 5)

3 qualities

Knowing the truth about the vanishing did not lessen their opinion of Bilbo at all; for they saw that he had some wits, as well as luck and a magic ring-and all three are very useful possessions. ch 8


3 knocks/disturbing

- Why did you and your folk three times try to attack my people at their merrymaking? asked the king.
-We did not attack them, answered Thorin; we came to beg, because we were starving.
(...)
- (...) Did you not three times pursue and trouble my people in the forest and rouse the spiders with your riot and clamour? (ch. 8)

3 as life savior

... three quarters of the people of the town had at least escaped alive; their woods and fields and pastures and cattle and most of their boats remained undamaged; and the dragon
was dead. (ch. 14)

When the dwarfs appear, they come in rounds of two or three:
Bifur, Bofur, Bombur
Balin, Dwalin,
Fili Kili
Oin, Gloin
When I started to read I pictured them as in Snow White, I could relate on something already in my mind, respectively, the nice beardy little men in that fairy tale. But continuing my reading I saw that these dwarves were not at all the ones I expected. They were drinking beer, smashing plates, they made a chaos out of the hobbit's place. I remember from the folklore classes that the dwarfs, in fact, were not quite pleasent creatures, sometimes spitful and revengeful. They were kind only with the persons that shared their feeling. Maybe the fact that they appear in the story in pairs is a way in which the author wants to show their dual nature, sometimes capricious, but sometimes pleasant. In naming the dwarfs the author goes back to folklore as well. In a lot of fairytales, the names of the dwarfs are short, catchy and sometimes they even rhyme. Regarding all these, I think Tolkien is relying on his knowledge of universal folklore and use it intensely in the book.