Framing The Hobbit
Here’s what we know about the AUJ frame story:
• From the opening of the first trailer, we know that the new film includes a scene of Frodo stopping to speak briefly to Bilbo, outside the front door of Bag End. Since the “No admittance except on party business” sign is visible, this is either in the days leading up to the The Long-Expected Party, or on the day itself.
• Also in the first trailer, we see a concerned Bilbo sitting in his study, apparently composing a letter to Frodo. We hear the text in voice-over: “My Dear Frodo. You asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. While I can honestly say that I have told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it.” His serious demeanor here contrasts markedly with his carefree and playful one when he begins his memoir with “Concerning Hobbits.”
• From the TV ads, we know that the film includes Ian Holm as elderly Bilbo speaking (and almost certainly writing) the famous opening line of the novel.
An obvious first question is whether, in the scene that opens the first trailer, Frodo is actually heading off to the woods where he will soon meet Gandalf in FOTR, while Bilbo is about to return to his study and begin to write his memoir. It certainly seems so at first glance. But if that’s the case, why in FOTR does Bilbo call out for Frodo every time he’s interrupted by a knock on the door? Doesn’t he know Frodo’s gone off to the woods, and doesn’t he therefore know the answer to his question, “where is that boy?” On the other hand, perhaps by that time, Frodo had been gone so long that Bilbo expected him back already.
Nor is it helpful to note that Frodo is not carrying a book with him when he sets off, but is reading one when he hears Gandalf singing “The Road Goes Ever On and On” — because in the very next shot in FOTR, Frodo is running through the woods without the book, and we never see it again. This is probably a continuity error, but it could be explained by proposing that Frodo stashed the book back in a hiding place before running to meet Gandalf, and therefore the book was already in the woods. It would not surprise me if these questions are not answered when we see the movie. The temporal relationship of the early frame scenes, as they exist in this version of The Hobbit, to the opening moments of LOTR might be meant to be ambiguous — because everything’s going to be rearranged in the UE.
We can then ask what’s going on with the letter. First, note that it has always been unlikely that the frame consists of Bilbo telling the story to Frodo, as many have assumed. When Gandalf arrives on Bilbo’s birthday, Frodo tells him that Bilbo has been looking at old maps and locking himself in his study. He says nothing about having been regaled with the full and honest tale of Bilbo’s adventures. And all he can conclude from Bilbo’s odd behavior is that his uncle is “up to something,” so he clearly doesn’t even know about the memoir Bilbo has begun. The unabridged Hobbit audiobook runs 11 hours, and the Jackson film trilogy will run at least eight, so Bilbo wouldn’t have time to tell the tale to Frodo in the hours between Gandalf’s arrival and the party.
And in any case, Frodo already knows the story; he just doesn’t know all of it. This is made explicit by the letter, but it’s already been well established. Frodo tells Bilbo that he spent his childhood imagining he was off with him on one of his adventures, and the scene of Bilbo enchanting a group of hobbit children at the Party with the Troll tale makes it clear how much he loves to talk about them. Frodo could probably write the memoir himself, omitting just the parts or aspects that Bilbo had. So the frame story has to involve the writing of the memoir rather than the telling of the story. Having Bilbo write Frodo what’s essentially a cover letter for the memoir is a clever way of bringing Frodo into it.
