There are no ghosts in The Hobbit, unlike Icelandic folktales and sagas, but in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien very successfully adapts the Icelandic ghost to a new genre, possibly inspired by such stories as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published when he was five.

What he instead does is stumbles more or less accidentally on new technology (or as it happens ancient, as the ring is in the story) and uses it (mostly its ability to make the wearer invisible) successfully to tilt the adventure game in his favour. That all technology is dangerous only occurred to Tolkien later. In this way Tolkien departs radically from the narrative conventions that partly inspired him and instead presents the worldview of the common soldier of the 20th century who may be participating in a gigantic struggle but is more or less powerless to do much about it. Bilbo does not distinguish himself in battle in this story because the 20th century anti-hero does not need to do that. Indeed, Tolkien confounds his readers’ expectations by making Bilbo’s encounter with the dragon a duel of wits, whereas the dragon is instead killed by a completely new character with no back story (Tolkien invented that later). Tolkien uses this to great effect: the chilling guile of Smaug when he seeks information from Bilbo, juxtaposed with Bilbo’s shameless flattery, intended to lure the dragon into revealing a weakness, is far more unusual and in my mind also more effective than any battle with a mindless monster might have been.

Lord of the rings medieval