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Trivia: The word mithril didn't exist in the original edition of the Hobbit, and was added after LOTR was published. > hence ... Bilbo himself apologizing for
by wolverine876 4y ago
Trivia: The word mithril didn't exist in the original edition of the Hobbit, and was added after LOTR was published.
> hence ... Bilbo himself apologizing for "a different version of the story"
I thought that showed the Ring's effect on Bilbo, something Gandalf talked about too, and which is important to LOTR.
- bombcar 4y agoThat was Tolkien's clever trick for his rewrite - the "original" story was what Bilbo wrote down at the time (the "present") - the new edition was what was later edited in by Bilbo or Frodo as what really went down (after everything had been revealed in LotR.
- wolverine876 4y agoI understand your claim. How do we know which explanation, or whether another explanation, is true? Again, another strong explanation for the change in Bilbo's story: It was a demonstration of the corruption caused by the Ring and its effects on hobbits, an effect corroborated by Gollum's story about how Gollum acquired the Ring - all as explained by Gandalf.