Should Hobbit have been more rewritten?

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Should JRRT have done more in reconciling the worlds of The Hobbit and LOTR? It's well-known that he adjusted the Riddle Game and took out some asides to the reader but, as has been noted in several places on The Entmoot, there are still some inconsistencies. Given Tolkien's "niggling" over aspects of his Middle-earth tree (including phases of the moon) two related questions arise: Should more adjustments have been made, and if so, what and how?
Three examples are the cockney accents of the trolls, the stone giants (literally) hurling giant rocks around, and Roac the Raven speaking to Thorin. I don't think there is any suggestion that Roac is akin to the Great Eagles (maia?) so he shouldn't speak, perhaps just carry messages to Thorin's relatives. But this would take away both the wise advice he gives, and Thorin ignores, and make it less of a "fairy tale children's book."

Opinions? Was it better to essentially leave The Hobbit alone or should it have been aligned more to Middle-earth in general?

[Dúnedain]

Well Roac was the son of Carc who was a friend of the Dwarves in Erebor before Smaug came. Carc lived near the Dwarves and the Ravens of Ravenhill could speak the common tongue. I'm not sure why it is a big deal that they speak. The Fox in Fellowship spoke as well...

[Nurvingiel]

I think the two books are continuous, except maybe one or two things (like the moon phases).

The accents of the Trolls sound Cockney to us, but in Middle-earth it would be something else. That's how I've always thought of that one anyway.

I also thought of goblins as a sort of orc subspecies, nothing discontinuous about that.

Interesting questions though.

What was the moon phase difference?

[Beor]

I actually kindof like the little inconsistincies, and the little things that dont seem to fit together, because it makes the book seem more like it was told to a kid.

Kids dont care about geology, and how rocks get to certain places (such as when Gandalf says something about "I need to tell the Stone Giants to block this entrance), kids want to hear about Giants.

The goblins I always considered as a synomym for orcs, I really dont see a problem with that either. Kids know what goblins are, but maybe not what orcs are.

All in all, I say it is excellent how it is, I wouldnt want to change it, because I wouldnt want to take the childness away from it to appease older fans. Thats how I look at it anyway.

[sun-star]

I don't think it was necessary to do much rewriting of the Hobbit. People who have read LOTR can generally just overlook the discrepancies, and it would have been difficult for Tolkien to go back and substantially change something that already been published, IMO.

The Cockney accents do get on my nerves though. Firstly because they're not very Middle-Earthy, and secondly because it's such an easy stereotype. Tolkien was capable of better.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

I tend to agree with the comments above, that the Hobbit was generally allright left alone, excepting that Tolkien did decide to link the two worlds, especially with the Ring connection, and he did make some comment in "Letters" that he wished he had made a few more editing changes in The Hobbit.
The cockney accents do seem to remind you more of the way C.S. Lewis's Narnia literally leapt between England and Narnia, some other accent variation might have been the one change I'd like to have had him made. Perhaps something like Michael Caine's early used accents (say, in Alfie or in Zulu)? They don't seem to be quite as extreme and stereotypical as the over the top troll's accents.

P.S. Despite the comments above, I rather like the orc accents in PJ's movies. Especially, "Look's like meats back on the menu, boys!":D Although, of course, the orcsies meal was interrupted by nassty riders:eek:
P.P.S. Another example of JRRT's better scenario then PJ's rewrite. The Rohirrim had a cool, logical, cost efficient method of handling orcs. They didn't just rashly charge into them. Of course, PJ presumably had to do it for film length reasons.
P.P.P.S. Seems to be getting off topic.
P.P.P.P.S. I originally got the idea of more then one P.S. from LOTR. (Gandalf's letter to Frodo).

[Draken]

I think you have to bear in mind that The Hobbit is definitely written for children. It has much more of a comic undertone that LOTR, and which the cockney trolls fit in with.

Goblins and orcs seem more or less interchangeable to me, though I've always had the impression that goblins were maybe a smaller variety? Or did I get that from playing D&D at an impressionable age?

As to the phase of the moon thing, my edition's cover art is a JRRT sketch of the death of Smaug, onto which he has added a few comments, one of which is that the phase of the moon he has drawn is wrong.

[Glorfindel_of_Gondolin]

Also, of course, The Hobbit was written first. Tolkien had only glimmering ideas about the full world of ME when he wrote it, as one can see from the letters.

The Hobbit established the world for children, which was all it was intended to do. Building on it with continuity would have hampered the depth and drama or later works..

I suppose that’s the question posed in this thread, would the original have served the latter works better if it had been re-written?

I think that the latter is served better by the formers short comings.

And from a purely literary standpoint, it is vital that The Hobbit remain as it is (or was), for it helps us to see Tolkien's mind unfold as he pens the tale. Matters like the Riddle Game are altered to provide some link between old and new, and the rest can be dismissed as children’s tales.