Why The Hobbit Makes the Perfect Valentine's Day Movie

{February 13, according to Fandango, appears to be the last day The Hobbit AUJ will be showing in theaters.  (In Java programming, we would call this an "off-by-one" error.)  Still, this post is totally legit if you celebrate St. Valentine's Day early, or stretch it out over two days.  :)  Here goes.}

Though I would find any excuse to re-watch it, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey really qualifies itself as a great Valentine's Day film.  This, for the number one reason: a central theme in the story is love.  At face value, The Hobbit is only a lighthearted fantasy saga with some fairytale villains and a comedic unlikely hero, who has a love/hate relationship with the idea of "going on an adventure."  But the core of the story, through which it serves as a perfect prequel to The Lord of the Rings, is much deeper: it is built on the ongoing conflict between good and evil, vengeance and forgiveness, and hatred and love.

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As Balin wryly puts it, there's nothing heroic about him or the other twelve dwarves who show up for "An Unexpected Party" at the hobbit's home.  Bilbo Baggins would agree; he is disgusted by his unwanted guests and feels quite superior in about every way (especially table manners).  The one exception is their kingly leader, Thorin Oakenshield.  He is a proud dwarf dead-set on fulfilling his seemingly crazy plan: to retake - from the dragon Smaug - his ancestral home and fortune that is buried inside the Lonely Mountain.

Though he knows well their several faults, Thorin respects and loves his followers like brothers; his simple and only request of them is "Loyalty, honor, and willing heart.  I can ask no more than that."  He puts aside his pride because he loves his people, and they stick by him with loyalty equal to his own.  Eventually, Bilbo is also persuaded to help him.

In a similar vein, the wizard Gandalf's loyalty to a free Middle Earth is so strong that it forces him to endure scorn (and later, persecution) from his leader, Saruman, in order to plead with him for its safety's sake:

Gandalf refuses to ignore his own Churchillian intuition, and instead insists on explaining what he has learned about the growing evil, not because it is comfortable but because it is true.  His self-sacrifice in The Hobbit is a relatively small one, yet without this first step he would not be able to give more, as he later does in The Lord of the Rings.  Gandalf's love is a fatherly love, and one wedded to preparedness.
 
For, as he tries to tell Bilbo, enemies will appear where none are expected, and in unexpected forms.  At the start of his travels, Bilbo can hardly comprehend the idea of having enemies, or wishing to deal them death.  He soon finds this becoming increasingly easier. What catches him completely unawares is the temptation to hate, seemingly justified by the fact that the one he hates is his would-be murderer.  It is only after an immense mental struggle that Bilbo overcomes this hatred and learns to love his enemy.  After this, and only afterwards, is he finally able to have mercy on one who is determined to kill him.

The Hobbit, then, is not an obvious choice for Valentine's Day movie night, yet repeatedly love plays a vital role in the storyline.  Even true romantic love, despite its absence, is related to each of the types of love in The Hobbit: they are all gifts given unselfishly, as sincere love always is.

Source: google.com via Susan on Pinterest  | Eowyn and Faramir, from The Return of the King

“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places.  But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.”
- The Fellowship of the Ring