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Why does Gandalf say Bilbo is as fierce as a dragon in a pinch?

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Gandalf says Bilbo is as fierce as a dragon in a pinch to reassure the dwarves of Bilbo's hidden potential and courage. Gandalf, knowledgeable about hobbits and a keen judge of character, believes in Bilbo's ability to rise to the occasion despite his initial fear. Additionally, Gandalf may be following a higher counsel, ensuring Bilbo's participation in the adventure for reasons not immediately clear.

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In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Gandalf the wizard recruits Bilbo Baggins to join the company of Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves in their quest to win back the Lonely Mountain and its hoard of treasure from the fearsome dragon Smaug. When Bilbo has a fit of fear after he hears of the danger involved, Gandalf assures the dwarves that he is "one of the best—as fierce as a dragon in a pinch." Gandalf says this for two reasons, both of which have to do with his responsibilities and abilities as a wizard.

First of all, as is brought out in The Hobbit and also in The Lord of the Rings , Gandalf studies the history of Middle Earth and has a great deal of knowledge about its peoples. He bases his assessment of Bilbo's abilities partly on how hobbits have reacted to danger and enemies in the...

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past. For instance, Tolkien brings up the example of the Old Took's great granduncle Bullroarer, who lopped off the head of a goblin king in the Battle of the Green Fields. This propensity of hobbits to defend themselves well when they are in danger is brought out more clearly in the section called "On Hobbits" at the beginning ofThe Fellowship of the Ring:

Nevertheless, ease and peace had left this people still curiously tough.

Though slow to quarrel, and for sport killing nothing that lived, they were doughty at bay, and at need could still handle arms. They shot well with the bow, for they were keen-eyed and sure at the mark.

Besides the knowledge that Gandalf has of hobbits in general, as a wizard, he is also prescient and a keen judge of character. As he tells the dwarves,

If I say he is a burglar, a burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.

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Why does Gandalf say Bilbo is as fierce as a dragon in The Hobbit?

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the wizard Gandalf has brought thirteen dwarves to Bilbo's hobbit hole and decided that Bilbo will make the fourteenth man for an adventure, but Gandalf needs to convince the dwarves of Bilbo's merit. When Bilbo falls down in a fit after hearing the dangers involved in the journey, Gandalf says that he is an "excitable little fellow" but "as fierce as a dragon in a pinch."

Gandalf is exaggerating more than a little here, for Bilbo never is as fierce as a dragon, although he does attempt to outwit one with some success. But Gandalf needs to make sure that Bilbo goes on the adventure with the dwarves, and therefore he has to stretch the truth a bit. Why Gandalf has chosen Bilbo for this job remains a mystery for a long time, and the reasons are never fully clarified. There is something in Bilbo that is hidden so deep that the hobbit himself is not aware of it. Gandalf is following his own counsel as always and maybe even the counsel of a power higher than the wizard. Bilbo is simply supposed to go on this adventure, and it seems that he is supposed to come home with the Ring, too. Gandalf will say what he must to make sure the hobbit sets out with the dwarves.

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