The Hobbit Trilogy: Money and Life Lessons (SPOILER ALERT!)

I just finished watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. You know I am a fan, I wouldn't miss it for the world! My first AND only movie I watched in the theater for this year. I said to myself that I would gladly spend money for The Hobbit movie and nothing else. I said 'no' to The Guardians of the Galaxy and Interstellar because of this. So there I was. But it was a money well-spent, if you are in to the whole Lord of the Rings thing.


Last night, as I spent my 6 hours ( yep, S-I-X hours!) watching the last two extended edition The Hobbit movies ( An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug), which I watched countless times,in preparation for the sequel, The Battle of the Five Armies. I realized that there are lessons to be learned in this whole Hobbit trilogy. I thought I'd share it with you guys. Here it is:

• Who says the way to your goal is easy? It never is.

The 13th dwarves, headed by the dwarf prince Thorin Oakenshield, with Bilbo Baggin's and Gandalf the Grey's goal was to reclaim the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. Their way to the goal was met with hardships, from mountain trolls to escaping the goblin tunnel and fighting Azog the Defiler, even fighting woodelves who later become one of their allies.

To reach Erebor, they must overcome hurdles, just as we need to battle our way to our goal and treat every hurdle as a way to strengthen ourselves and those relationships around us.

• "Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you?... The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there." -Gandalf to Bilbo Baggins

To find ourselves, sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone. To travel and to see what's out there is an enriching experience.

• "You have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back." -Gandalf the Grey to Bilbo

    "Can you promise that I will come back?" -Bilbo Baggins' answer
    "No, and if you do, you will not be the same." -Gandalf the Grey

Told you travelling, living abroad and stepping out of your comfort zone can change you. Need I say more?

• "But home is now behind you, the world is ahead." -Gandalf the Grey to Bilbo

• It is sad, Frodo, how old alliances can be broken. How friendships between peoples can be lost and for what...? (scoffs)- Bilbo Baggins (referring to the rift between elves and dwarves over the white gems)

I told you about the story of how debt could ruin relationship. Ask yourself before lending to a family member/treasured friends, "Is this Php ____ the price of your relationship/friendship?"

• Thror's love of gold had grown too fierce. A sickness had begun to grow within him. It was a sickness of the mind. And where sickness thrives, bad things will follow." -Bilbo Baggins

*Thror (Thorin Oakenshield's grandfather, the original King Under the Mountain)

Oh, how contentment is such an elusive thing. It's human nature to want more, as what I mentioned in one of my blog posts, apparently it's true to dwarves,too. hehe!

Greed is one of the highlights of the movie. How Thorin succumbs to greed after the death of Smaug, when they are inside the Halls of Erebor. When he saw the vast gold, he suddenly forgot all his promises he made to the people of Dale.

• Great story doesn't always begin with fireworks and that whole shebangs, it could begin "in a hole in the ground."

* hole in the ground- where Hobbits' live

Do not begin to think that you want somebody else's life other than your own. Carve your own adventure!

• "There's a lot more to him that appearances suggest, and he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself "- Gandalf the Grey to the 13th dwarves and Bilbo

Ahhh, lucky are those who found someone who believes in you even though people, including yourself, don't really believe in you. Maybe we can be a "Gandalf" to someone.

• "True courage is about knowing  not when to take a life.. but when to spare one." --Gandalf to Bilbo ( when Gandalf handed Bilbo and elven sword which Bilbo later called Sting)

• "Mithrandir... why the halfling?" -Lady Galadriel to Gandalf

    "I do not know... Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I found. I have found it is the small things... everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love." -Gandalf

*Mithrandir is one of Gandalf's aliases. I believe it is only elves that call him that.
*Saruman- the white wizard

• "You! What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive the wild? That you have no place amongst us? I have never been so wrong in all my life. But I am sorry I doubted you." - Thorin to Bilbo

Accepting that you are wrong and saying sorry is a nice thing to do, but it is sooo hard.  Great people say sorry.

• Reading contracts-even the fine print (just how Bilbo read the contract, even fainted after reading it)
• Honoring your words over money
• At the end, when Bilbo arrived at the Shire after his great adventure with the dwarves, I smiled... I see myself in it. It's like me arriving at 'my' Shire (Philippines) having returned from 'my' great adventure (working abroad).

Ahhh, The Hobbit trilogy is really over. I was sad, big time! My last movie in the country. My last Five Guys as well! Counting days till I come home for good.

P.S. Sorry if I haven't been blogging a whole lot. My mind is all over the place. I will try and keep up, swear!