Tolkien was a dude who took experiences from his childhood along with his love of mythology and language and created this entire world with a tiny creature called a Hobbit. He fought in World War I. He wrote this book after the war. He wrote the Hobbit as a book for kids. Then he wrote some sequels but they weren’t meant for kids. This whole "Hobbit world" had deep symbolism and wasn’t really meant for kids. He died before the sequels (Lord of the Rings) were finished....his son finished them.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Bilbo Baggins: He is the main dude of the story. He is a Hobbit which means he’s a tiny creature. Bilbo is supposed to represent a common man. In the beginning he’s not much of a hero, but by the end he’s a big hero.
Gandalf: This dude is a wizard. He is your typical wizard (old man in long robes). He can do lots of cool magic.
Thorin Oakenshield: He is the leader of the dwarves. Sometimes he’s cool and heroic, other times he’s an arrogant jerk.
Bard: He is the dude in town that kills Smaug the dragon. Then he wants the treasure.
Smaug: Just like every other fairytale-like story, Smaug is a dragon who is guarding treasure.
Master: This dude is a slimy greedy guy who is the leader of the town. He wants to take all the treasure for himself and only cares about saving himself.
PLOT
Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit in this place called Middle-Earth. He is a tiny little fuzzy dude who lives in a tunnel. One day this wizard named Gandalf and these 13 dwarves visit him. The dwarves wanna Go to Lonely Mountain and get their treasure back from the evil dragon Smaug. Gandalf the Wizard picks Bilbo to get it back. The dwarves thing Bilbo is a wimp, but Gandalf thinks he’s can do some damage.
On their way, Bilbo finds some ring that makes him invisible. He rescues the dwarves from some trouble and they have faith in him as the hero. They all go to the mountain and Bilbo steals back SOME of the treasure. Smaug the dragon gets pissed off and goes to the town to kick some ass.
This dude in town named Bard kills the dragon. then he takes his army to the mountain to get the treasure cause he thinks the dwarves are dead. They get there and find the dwarves are still alive. Then they fight over the treasure. Bilbo takes the most expensive piece of the treasure and gives it to Bard to try and help negotiate. Now the dwarves are pissed at Bilbo. The dwarves get a group together and are ready to rumble.
Then some wolves and goblins attack (I hate when that happens). The dwarves and men join forces and kill all the wolves and goblins. Then Bilbo goes home and people think he’s dead. He finally settles back into his life and has all these new friends. This story is like a bad acid trip.
CHAPTER BY CHAPTER
CHAPTER 1-3
Bilbo is this Hobbit who lives in a hole(kinda like the keebler elves, but in the ground)
Gandalf the wizard and 13 dwarves show up uninvited.
Bilbo invites them in for tea and stuff.
Thorin (dwarf leader) tells Bilbo that Smaug the dragon came to Lonely Mountain (where to dwarves lived) and killed lots of them, stole their treasure and kicked them out. They wanna go back and get the treasure back.
Gandalf tells Bilbo he’s gonna be the thief to steal it. The dwarves don’t think Bilbo has the balls to do it.
They all leave on their adventure. Then one day on the trip, Bilbo sees that Gandalf is no longer there. He sees a fire and goes it see what it is.
He sees 3 trolls. He tries to pick their pockets and he and the dwarves get captured.
Gandalf comes and saves them. He does a little ventriloquist stuff and pretends he’s a troll. He keeps them arguing till the sun rises and then they turn to stone (trolls do that in the sunlight).
They stop in Rivendell this place where some elves live.
CHAPTER 4-6
They continue traveling. Then everyone except Gandalf gets kidnapped by goblins.
The goblins take them to a mountain and make them slaves. Then Gandalf saves the day AGAIN.
Gandalf kills the head goblin and they all escape. Then Bilbo bumps his head.
He wakes up and the dark and finds some ring. Then he runs down the tunnel and runs into this creature named Gollum.
Gollum is kinda rude. The ring Bilbo found is Gollum’s. Gollum sees that Bilbo has the ring and runs at him. Bilbo runs away and slips the ring on his finger.
Then Bilbo turns invisible, and Gollum can’t see him.
Bilbo goes back to the goblin mountain to find his friends. He sees them, and the dwarves are bad mouthing Bilbo. Then he takes off the ring and appears...BUSTED!!
Then the group keeps traveling. Then some wolves come and trap them. Then the goblins catch up with them. Before they get killed, some big ass eagles fly them to their home and feed them.
CHAPTERS 7-9
After staying with the eagles, the group go visit some dude named Beorn. This guy gets angry very easily.
Beorn gives them advice and then ponies to ride until they reach the forest.
They get to the forest and Gandalf takes the ponies back to Beorn. He is no longer gonna travel in the group.
In the woods, Bilbo gets attacked by a spider but he kills it with his sword. Then the dwarves gets captured by spiders. Bilbo uses the invisible ring and free his friends.
The dwarves respect Bilbo now because he can kick some ass and isn’t a pussbag anymore.
Thorin is captured by these people called "Wood-Elves". Then the next day, the rest of the dwarves are captured.
Bilbo slips on the invisible ring and goes to the Wood-Elves palace.
Then he has some doubt about whether he is brave enough to rescue them. He decides he is and rescues them. He puts them in barrels and they all float down the stream.
CHAPTERS 10-13
They all arrive in Lake-Town, the place where Lonely Mountain is.
The townspeople welcome them with open arms because the dwarves are on a mission to get the treasure back from the dragon.
They group goes to the mountain to get the dragon.
They find a secret door on the mountain. at first they can’t open it, then they remember a trick with the sun that shows them where the keyhole is.
Bilbo goes into the dragon’s lair and steals a cup. The dragon wakes up and is pissed.
Then Bilbo goes back in and starts talking to the dragon (is he crazy?)
Smaug tries to turn Bilbo against the dwarves. It doesn’t work.
Bilbo finds out where the dragon is weak in his armor.
They go back into the dragon’s lair to get the rest of their treasure. Bilbo finds the Arkenstone (most valuable piece of treasure). He doesn’t tell anyone he has it.
The dwarves are happy.
CHAPTERS 14-17
The dragon attacks Lake Town.
The Master leaves, only caring about himself.
A small army tries to kill the dragon. This dude named Bard finally kills the dragon with his last arrow.
The people get pissed at the Master, but he does some spin doctoring and gets the people mad at the dwarves because they caused the dragon to attack.
They rebuild Lake Town
The Bard thinks since he killed the dragon, he should get the treasure. So the men and the dwarves and the Wood Elves go back up to the mountain to get the treasure.
Bilbo wants to avoid a big war so he gives the Arkenstone to Bard to negotiate with Thorin.
Then Bilbo goes back to the dwarves. They are pissed because they’re like "why did you just give away OUR treasure you prick?". But Bilbo wants to be with the dwarves because they’re his friends.
Thorin gives Bard Bilbo’s share of the treasure in return for the Arkenstone. Then Thorin calls his cousin Dain to come and help him steal back Bilbo’s share of the treasure.
Then some wolves and goblins show up. The dwarves and the men all team up and kick the crap out of the wolves and goblins.
CHAPTERS 18-19
The war is over. Bilbo wake up because he was knocked out cold.
Thorin is hurt. He makes up with Bilbo before he dies.
Bilbo gets some treasure and goes home. He now has all these new dwarf and elf friends.
He meets up with Gandalf and they head home.
Bilbo goes home and the people in his town think he is dead. They are auctioning off his house. But he gets it back.
THINGS TO MAKE YOU LOOK SMART
The Hobbit is part of a long story. The next part is a trilogy called Lord of the Rings.
This book is meant for kids, but has a lot of adult themes. That is why you are reading it in high school or college.
Good vs evil is a big theme. Tolkien (author) seems to think sometimes that when evil is destroyed it just pops up somewhere else. But other times he thinks good prevails over all.
In the beginning Bilbo is a coward. But through his own will, he believed he could be brave and became a hero in the eyes of the skeptical dwarves.
Bilbo is the sympathetic hero. The dwarves are not REALLY nice to him, but Bilbo never deserts them.
Greed is a big theme. Many of the characters get greedy and step on each other to get the loot in Lonely Mountain.