The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again Chapter 5 Quotes

The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again Chapter 5 Quotes

How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote 1

[Bilbo] must stab the foul thing, put its eyes out, kill it. [Gollum] meant to kill him. No, not a fair fight. He was invisible now. Gollum had no sword. Gollum had not actually threatened to kill him, or tried to yet. And he was miserable, alone, lost. A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo's heart: a glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering. All these thoughts passed in a flash of a second. he trembled. And then quite suddenly in another flash, as if lifted by a new strength and resolve, he leaped. (5.119)

Bilbo pities Gollum and so, even though Gollum "meant to kill [Bilbo]," he can't just stab Gollum without warning in the dark. Which creatures does Bilbo think it is OK to kill? Does Bilbo make the right ethical decision here?

Quote 2

[Gollum] was anxious to appear friendly, at any rate for the moment, and until he found out more about the sword and the hobbit, whether he was quite alone really, whether he was good to eat, and whether Gollum was really hungry. Riddles were all he could think of. Asking them, and sometimes guessing them, had been the only game he had every played with other funny creatures sitting in their holes in the long, long ago, before he lost all of his friends and was driven away, alone, and crept down, down, into the dark under the mountains. (5.22)

Gollum is trying to stall while he has Bilbo right in front of him, so he challenges the hobbit to a riddle game. Why do you think Bilbo agrees? What might have happened if Bilbo had refused to riddle with Gollum? What does this passage in the novel show us about Gollum's character?

Quote 3

[Bilbo] knew, of course, that the riddle-game was sacred and of immense antiquity, and even wicked creatures were afraid to cheat when they played at it. But he felt he could not trust this slimy thing [Gollum] to keep any promise at a pinch. (5.68)

It strikes us as a little odd that Tolkien spends so much time describing the riddle game when the end result doesn't matter: if Bilbo loses, Gollum will try to eat him. And now that Bilbo has won, Gollum is still going to try and kill him. What's the tone of the riddle chapter in The Hobbit? What does it achieve in the novel's plot and character development?