Hobbit question
 

While I haven't read the book, I saw the cartoon of it the other day. Exactly why did Gandalf & the dwarves think Bilbo would make a great burgler? Bilbo is the furthest from a burgler as someone can be. It would be like picking a stockboy at Walmart to be your heart doctor.

The dwarves didn't think Bilbo would make a great burglar. Gandalf - who'd left a sign on Bilbo's door for the dwarves suggesting that Bilbo was a burglar seeking work, said that Bilbo had been "chosen":And elsewhere:

Didn't the selection of Bilbo have something to do with some his ancestors being a little odd. Well, odd by Hobbit standards, anyhow. Something about somebody named Bullroarer or the Took side of the family sticks in my mind.

Why Gandalf chose Bilbo isn't exactly clear, but Hobbits in general are very stealthy and natural pickpockets and thieves.

HOW RACIST!!!!!

Probably because "The Hobbit" was written as a children's book and JRRT wanted an awkward underdog to be the hero that the kids would identify with.

This was well before he later grafted "The Hobbit" onto his later "Lord of the Rings" epic.

Now what I want to know is that if the Witchking of Angmar is such a fucking badass -- he was tougher than a fifty cent steak in "Return of the King" and couldn't be killed by any man -- was such a pussy in "Fellowship of the Ring."

Yeah, Mr. Badass "gonna break the white wizard" and "eat the King of Rohan" got chased away from Weathertop by a guy with a burning stick. And not only him, but a bunch of his buds as well. "We have you now, Frodo! You won't get away this ti---OH FUCK! IT'S A HIPPIE SWINGING A BURNING STICK AROUND! RUN! RUN! GET AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"

yeah wasn't it a story JRR told to his kids at bedtime or something like that? Also, wasn't this the reason his now dead son was being such an ass about the movies?

Did it have something to do with who Aragorn(sp?) was?

Arogorn might have had some sway over the "Black Riders", although it also wasn't made clear just why they turned away at Weathertop like they did. Frodo's will (resistance to the Witch King's blade) might also have had something to do with it. He was the master of The Ring after all...

I always thought that the Witch King kinda/sorta gained power as Mordor did. And Mordor was more powerful during RotK than it was in FotR.

And Hobbits are quiet as a mouse.

Or it was the rings.

IIRC, Sauron was in possession of the nine rings that controlled the Ringwraiths, so as his power increased, it's also possible that the Ringwraiths grew stronger with him.

Sauron was in possession of the Nine in FOTR.

I've always had the impression that the Ringwraiths and Sauron grow increasingly stronger as the books progress.

Wasn't this topic on 'The Hobbit'?

I'm reading The Hobbit a second time (to my 10 year old). Technically, Gandolf stated in the book that he had been searching for some time in the West for a hero or a burglar but both were in short supply.

But, it isn't especially clear why Gandolf chose Bilblo him exactly but my guess is because Gandolf had some intuition that Bilbo should be on the journey (to find the ring but Gandolf probably did know exactly why). Just like later on (in LOTR) when Gandolf knew about Bilbo's ring and that it was important but not why or exactly what it was.