Why was Bilbo chosen to lead the dwarves? He doesn't really do much

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If you've read the book, you should know that Bilbo was just selected because 13 is a number of bad luck for the dwarves. And because there were only 13 dwarves of the company available for the journey, he needed someone other to join in to reach the "lucky" figure of 14 in the fellowship.

Next to that was Bilbo a descendant from the old Took, which was until after the journey, the most adventurous Hobbit.

So he wasn't selected for his skill, but just for his background and his luck in being the thirteenth man on the fellowship.

As others have pointed out, he was chosen to bring the party to 14, and because he brought something unique to the group, namely, not being a dwarf, but still having some natural skill at being a bit sneaky. Bilbo was certainly never actually chosen to lead the dwarves though, that was Thorin Oakenshield King Under the Mountain. Though he usually listened to Gandalf's advice, Thorin was, from beginning to end, the "leader."

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He wasn't chosen to lead, he was chosen as a burglar to sneak past Smaug and get the Arkenstone.



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Web: www.jmberman.com

Bilbo ends up doing everything for the Dwarves, haha. He saved their lives countless of times, drags their sorry butts through Mirkwood to Laketown (even stuffs them in barrels and floats them down the river after rescuing them from Elf Prison), and is the reason why Smaug is destroyed. It's shown in the 1977 movie and the book. Peter Jackson's dreadful Hobbit trilogy is another story altogether. Bilbo does nothing at all. It should've been called "The Hobbit: Where's Bilbo?" Which is a shame bc Martin Freeman is the perfect actor to play the character.