Milo Blackburn

The Hobbit
Character Assignment
Pg.’s 153-154

"If it had been difficult collecting themselves before, it was far worse this time. And they simply could not find the hobbit. Every time they counted themselves it only made thirteen. They shouted and called: “Bilbo Baggins! Hobbit! You dratted hobbit! Hi! Hobbit!, confusticate you, where are you?” and other things of that sort, but there was no answer.
They were just giving up hope, when Dori stumbled across him by sheer luck. In the dark he fell over what he thought was a log, and he found it was the hobbit curled up fast asleep. It took a deal of shaking to wake him, and when he was awake he was not pleased at all.
“I was having such a lovely dream,” he grumbled, “all about having a most gorgeous dinner.”
“Good heavens! He has gone like Bombur,” they said. “Don’t tell us about dreams. Dream-dinners aren’t any good, and we can’t share them.”
“They are the best I am likely to get in this beastly place,” he muttered, as he lay down beside the dwarves and tried to go back to sleep and find his dream again."

But before Bilbo could fall asleep again, he heard a noise off in the woods of someone walking and stumbling. He looked up from where he was lying to see who or what was making the noise in the dark.
Something or someone was coming towards the dwarves camping ground. As the creature drew nearer, Bilbo saw that it was an elf because the elf’s eyes glowed blue in the dark and it was far too tall to be any other creature of the woods.
Suddenly the elf stopped in its tracks. It could detect that someone was watching him. The elf looked at Bilbo and whispered in Bilbo’s mind: “Who and what are you?”
“I am Bilbo Baggins of the Shire. I am a Hobbit and a burglar.” said Bilbo, although he did not know why he answered for he knew he did not want to give away his identity to some stranger who might try to hinder their journey. Bilbo then found himself asking the elf the same question: “Who, might I ask, are you?” and then he added, “And what are you doing here stumbling away from the other elves in the middle of the night?”
“I am Milo Blackburn of the woodland elves, and my business is of my own knowing,” said the elf. The elf had spoken his answer in Bilbo’s head again.
Milo was in fact wandering through the woods so late at night because of many reasons. Earlier that evening, after the first bombardment of the dwarves, Milo had suggested that the elves should be friendly to the dwarves and let them come and join the elf feast. Milo had always been the odd ball when he was growing up with the other elf children. The other elves disagreed with him greatly, and decided to cast Milo away and put him under a spell until he had learned his lesson. Milo had read their thoughts, which is a gift that only he and the lady Galadriel of Lothlorien possess, and he was able to create a counter curse so that he would be able to avoid his punishment. The only problem was that the other elves knew of his special power and could change the spell they planned to put upon him at the last second so that he could not have planned the correct counter spell. So Milo was put into the same enchanted sleep as Bilbo and Bomber had been in. But Milo was able to wake up a lot sooner than Bilbo and Bomber because he as an elf was slightly immune to the other elf magic. Now, even though he had lived in the woods all his life, Milo still found himself to be lost in the woods, because he had such a bad memory from being able to read other beings minds. So he clumsily stumbled about trying to find his way back to the feast, or at least back to the elvin king’s caves where most all the elves normally dwelled.
As Milo was stumbling about, he came across Bilbo and the Dwarf’s camp and he saw Bilbo staring at him and noticed that Bilbo was not a dwarf. Milo became curious to find out what exactly Bilbo was so he asked his first question of “who and what are you?” and Bilbo replied.
After both beings established who they were, Bilbo questioned in his mind how Milo was able to speak inside his head.
Surprisingly enough, Milo answered and told Bilbo, in his mind again; “I can speak inside your head because of the magic the woodland elves possess. I can also read your thoughts, so be wary of what you think when you are around me.”
Bilbo sat stock still trying not to think of anything. He was worried he might give away his quest and his friends to an enemy without even saying a word. But just by thinking this, the elf became curious and asked Mr. Baggins: “What is your quest and who are your friends?”
Again, Bilbo felt compelled to tell him: “Our quest is to find the Lonely Mountain and defeat the dragon Smaug within. My friends are the sons and relatives of the dwarves who used to live in the Lonely Mountain before Smaug drove them away. They seek revenge on the dragon and wish to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.”
Bilbo felt horrified that he had just told this to Mr. Blackburn, and told him to leave at once, but the elf would not budge. Instead Mr. Blackburn sat down on the ground opposite him, only a few feet away from Bilbo. Bilbo felt quite frightened by this and just to keep the elf from asking any more prying questions than anything else, Bilbo thought to himself to ask the elf what he looked like, for Bilbo could not see properly in the intense dark of the night.
Milo answered him in his thoughts by describing himself to Bilbo. Milo’s voice sounded stern and harsh, yet soothing at the same time.
“I am 5’9” in height, a little short for an elf, I have golden hair like the sun, blue eyes like the winter night sky, pale skin like snow from being in a dark forest for such a long time, pointy ears like all other elves, a thin pointed nose, and thin pale lips. I am a little broader in the shoulders than other elves and a little heavier and that is why I am so much more clumsy than other elves. That is why you could hear me stumbling through the forest. The only question is, am I lying to you or telling you the truth? I am quite truthful, yet the truth can be bent as easily as a small twig can be broken. Sadly enough, I am not as clever or quick as the other elves are, although, truth be told, your companions still cannot see me or hear me even now.”
Bilbo looked around at the dwarves and found this to be true, they were all sound asleep, except for Kili who was on guard duty at the moment, but he was too busy looking in the other direction for other creatures of the night to even notice Milo and Bilbo sitting there. Bilbo was not very surprised; he knew he had the sharpest hearing and sight out of the rest of his company. Milo could read this in Bilbo’s thought and immediately became a little more wary of him and decided not to tell Bilbo much more about himself.
The next time, Milo was the one to ask Bilbo a question. He asked Bilbo why his company had been intruding upon the elvin feast. Bilbo replied: “We were very hungry and cold, and we saw your fires and decided to investigate. Once we found that there was a feast going on, we thought that we might try to approach your people and beg for food and warmth by the fire. But as we approached, your people vanished in an instant and we were not able to even ask. That is why we approached your feast.” As Bilbo told this to Milo in his thoughts, he became less and less intimidated by Milo and elves alike and he found that he spoke very freely, if not too freely with Milo.
The elf stood up and said: “Do not believe everything you hear and see Mr. Bilbo Baggins. Even the truth can be deceiving. Also beware the creatures that dwell in this forest, especially the ones who can dwell in trees as well as on the ground. I bid you farewell and good luck on your journey. I cannot give you any help or advice besides what I have already given you. I must continue on my own journey. Farewell.”
Bilbo thought: “Goodbye Milo Blackburn of the woodland elves.” And with a wave of his hand, Milo disappeared into the trees and into the dark night of the forest.
As Milo left Mr. Baggins behind, he decided to go on a quest of his own to explore the forest he had lived in for so long. So he set off into the dead of night not knowing what lay in store for him ahead and also not knowing he had left his elf feast so close behind. Though, the dwarves found the feast yet again.
Just as Bilbo was beginning to lay his head down to rest again, Kili shouted with delight and came to wake everybody up again, for he had spotted the fires off in the distance.

"“There’s a regular blaze of light begun not far away—hundreds of torches and many fires must have been lit suddenly and by magic. And hark to the singing and the harps!”"