The Hobbit

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is a classic high fantasy adventure novel first published in 1937. Tolkien (1892-1973) was an English writer, philologist, and professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, as well as a close friend of fellow writer C. S. Lewis. The Hobbit is the first published work recounting tales from Middle Earth, Tolkien’s fantasy world with fictional races of hobbits, elves, dwarves, and more. After fighting in World War I, Tolkien worked at the Oxford English Dictionary and, while at Pembroke College, penned The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings.

Told from the perspective of an omniscient, third-person narrator who sometimes addresses the reader directly, The Hobbit recounts the tale of Bilbo Baggins, an ordinary hobbit gentleman who is beguiled by a wizard into joining a party of dwarves on their quest to kill a dragon and take back their ancestral home. Encountering numerous dangers and obstacles along the way, Bilbo discovers his bravery and resourcefulness, proving himself countless times before eventually returning to his home under the hill.

This study guide references the 2011 HarperCollins 75th Anniversary Kindle Edition.

Plot Summary

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit (a small, humanlike being) who lives in a house under a hill in the bucolic Shire, a region of Middle-earth. One day, he is cajoled into joining up with a party of 13 dwarves who are venturing to the far north to take back their ancestral home and kingdom under the Lonely Mountain. Their kinsmen were slain many years ago by the fearsome dragon Smaug, who also laid waste to the surrounding areas and sequestered the vast store of treasure under the mountain. The leader of the dwarves is Thorin, who intends to return to the mountain as the rightful king; he will use a map, composed by his grandfather, that the wizard Gandalf passed on to him.

Setting out from Bilbo’s house, the travelers—including Gandalf, the instigator of the whole affair—are almost immediately beset by obstacles and enemies. First encountering a trio of trolls who wish to make supper of them, they narrowly escape and proceed to make their way to Rivendell, the home of Elrond and the elves, who happily give aid and rest to the travelers before the latter embark on the greater part of their journey.

Leaving Rivendell, the company is attempting to scale the Misty Mountains when they are kidnapped by goblins and brought underground to the creatures' tunnels, where Bilbo discovers a powerful magic ring that grants him the power of invisibility. Escaping the creature Gollum, to whom the ring belonged, Bilbo finds his way out of the tunnels and reunites with the dwarves, who have themselves only just escaped.

Almost immediately, the group is beset by a pack of Wargs, wild wolves of terrific size, which drive them up into the trees. However, the party is fortunately rescued by the giant, wild Eagles, who carry them to their eyrie. From there, Gandalf leads the company to the house of Beorn, who can take the shape of either a man or a mythically large bear.

Beorn provides the travelers with provisions for their journey through Mirkwood forest, but Gandalf leaves them to traverse the woods alone as he ventures off on a different errand. Once in Mirkwood, the company defeats a clan of giant spiders, escapes from the dungeons of the wood elves, and rides a collection of barrels down the river to Lake-town (also known as Esgaroth).

Here, they are greeted as champions and sent on their way to the Lonely Mountain, where they use Thorin’s map to find a secret door into the mountain. Bilbo uses the magic ring to sneak into Smaug’s lair, stealing a golden cup and taking note of the fact that there is a weak spot in Smaug’s armor on his chest, which he reports to the dwarves outside. Smaug soon realizes that he was burgled and leaves the mountain in a rage to attack Lake-town, where a man, Bard, slays him with a special black arrow.

Once the townspeople realize that Smaug no longer guards the mountain treasure, they and the elves of Mirkwood venture to the mountain gates to demand a portion of the treasure. Thorin refuses, and the various groups prepare to go to war. Bilbo attempts to defuse the situation by offering a precious gem (known as the Arkenstone) to Bard and the Elvenking, hoping the latter two can use the stone as a bargaining chip with Thorin. However, goblin hordes descend upon the mountain before anything can be done, and the armies of the men, elves, and dwarves do battle with the goblins and the wild wolves.

Ultimately, the goblin hordes are killed and subdued, but many die in battle, including Thorin. After the battle, Thorin’s cousin Dain is enthroned in the Lonely Mountain, Bard rebuilds the town by the lake, and Gandalf and Bilbo return home via Rivendell, arriving home more than a year after setting out on their journey. Bilbo is a changed person, rich in gold and in friendship, though the other hobbits consider Bilbo a strange chap. Bilbo spends the next few years recording his memoirs, which he entitles “There and Back Again,” providing the in-world source for the tale of The Hobbit.