[Dragaera] _Taltos_ and _The Hobbit_

[Alexx Kay]

> Heck, they're both stories where the protagonist is comfortable at home
> but is
> convinced to go There and Back Again.

And, as I very nearly wrote in my first draft, they are both convinced by
incredibly weak arguments.

>> * The magical hiring figure isn't around for most of the major action
>> sequences.  (Admittedly, this is a standard Campbellian trope.)
>
> Who's Campbell?

Joseph Campbell, popularizer of the notion of The Hero's Journey, a set of
archetypal steps that all great mythological stories allegedly progress
through.  The wizard abandoning the hero midway through is one of those
steps.

>> * The last major action of each protagonist is to give an item which
>> they
>> do not technically own to a third party (Arkenstone, goddess's blood).
> ...
>
> At some risk to themselves but ultimately solving other people's problem.

Well, Bilbo's action doesn't solve things.  It delays open confrontation a
bit, which may have proved crucial to the reasonably-happy ending, but it
wasn't, in itself, a solution.

Alexx

"Everyone makes fun of France and everyone tries to take it over.
 Obviously, invasion is the sincerest form of flattery."
      -- Madeleine Reynaud des MilleRoses