enemy instead of hating him, were moral tests, the passing of which was necessary to the defeat of evil. Having passed the test, Gollum’s appearance at the crucial moment was the hobbits’ reward for the passing of the test, an unexpected but necessary gift, given to them by the same invisible Hand which had given them the earlier tests. This is not “luck” but providence. In The Hobbit, as in The Lord of the Rings, good “luck” is inextricably connected to good choices and bad “luck” is inextricably