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'''''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 [[J.R.R. Tolkien|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 Baggins|Bilbo]] finds a magic ring, which would later be revealed as the [[One Ring]] and become the center of [[J.R.R. Tolkien|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 Baggins|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.

[[J.R.R. Tolkien|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 [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s wider legendarium.

[[Category:Lord of the Rings]]
[[Category:Books]]