The Hobbit (novel)

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is a fantasy novel by the English author J.R.R. Tolkien, first published in 1937. It is set in the world of Middle-earth and tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, a comfortable and unadventurous hobbit who is swept up into a quest to help a company of Dwarves reclaim their homeland and treasure from the dragon Smaug. Written originally as a tale for children, it introduces many of the places, peoples, and themes that Tolkien would later develop on a grander scale in The Lord of the Rings.

The novel is most significant for the moment, almost incidental in the original telling, when Bilbo finds a magic ring, which would later be revealed as the One Ring and become the center of Tolkien's greater work.

Overview

Bilbo Baggins is recruited, much against his initial wishes, by the wizard Gandalf to join thirteen Dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield on a journey to the Lonely Mountain. There the dragon Smaug guards the vast hoard and ancestral home that once belonged to Thorin's people. Along the way the company encounters trolls, goblins in the Misty Mountains, the Elves of Rivendell and of Mirkwood, giant spiders, and other perils.

In the dark tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains, Bilbo becomes separated from the company and encounters the creature Gollum. Through a contest of riddles and a lucky find, he comes away with a golden ring that renders its wearer invisible, an acquisition that proves crucial to the rest of the quest and far more important than anyone yet knows. The journey culminates in the death of Smaug and the Battle of the Five Armies at the Lonely Mountain.

Place in the legendarium

The Hobbit precedes The Lord of the Rings both in publication and in the internal chronology of Middle-earth, set during the Third Age. Its central characters include Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, Thorin Oakenshield and his company of Dwarves, and Gollum. The discovery of the ring links the lighter adventure of The Hobbit directly to the darker and more epic story that follows.

Tolkien later revised parts of the book, particularly the chapter concerning Gollum and the ring, to bring it into harmony with the more sinister nature of the One Ring as conceived in The Lord of the Rings.

Publication

The Hobbit was first published in 1937 by George Allen and Unwin. It was an immediate critical and popular success and has remained continuously in print, becoming a beloved classic of children's and fantasy literature and the gateway to Tolkien's wider legendarium.