"Gained" not "learned"

Arnthro

Active Member
"He may have lost the neighbor's respect, but he gained-well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end." - The Hobbit chapter 1

I was a little excited last night and I used the word "learned" instead of "gained" when commenting upon how Bilbo truly realizes what he realizes in his exchange with Frodo and The Ring in the Hall of Fire.

Though, I still believe it all comes to a head for Bilbo in this moment with Frodo. Everything Bilbo has done, gained, and learned all comes together in The Hall of Fire and in this exchange with Frodo (that isn't particularly verbose or long....just powerful and humbling for Bilbo).
I believe this is partly why Bilbo says, "everything" when he says he is sorry.

The "in the end" portion of the sentence from "The Hobbit" can certainly be taken all the way to the Havens but at that point I beleive it would be semantics for "in the end."

I (and others from the discussions last night) believe the critical moment for Bilbo is in the H.O.F. in Many Meetings and I believe it is where the book "The Hobbit" gets or begins its true conclusion .... trickling into the council of Elrond and The Havens but mainly because Bilbo is just there.
Bilbo already gained his understanding of "everything" (as it relates to him) by the council and the Havens.
 
Bilbo's "Ah-hah" moment seems like one of those tailor-made movie moments, where a character suddenly has their whole life flash in front of their eyes, and they finally *get it*. When we read it, it's easy to read it at the same pace as everything else, but I wonder if that's how Bilbo experienced that moment. Or whether for him, time briefly stopped as he caught up with all of his years of rationalization about what the Ring was and what it was doing to him.
 
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