2 Synopsis

Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, is smoking on his verandah one day when Gandalf the Wizard visits him. Bilbo dismisses Gandalf, who scratches a "Burglar-for-hire" rune mark on Bilbo's front door. Thirteen Dwarves ( Thorin Oakenshield, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Kili, Fili, Bofur, Dori, Bombur, Nori, and Ori) show up and begin excitedly discussing their planned treasure hunt while the hapless Bilbo provides the obligatory hospitality. After cleaning up their mess, the map is produced and Gandalf arranges for Bilbo to get the burglary job -- as well as to break the unlucky number 13. The company's quest: kill Smaug, the dragon who seized the Lonely Mountain (Erebor) from the Dwarves' forefathers, and recapture the Mountain, dividing the riches within its halls.

The next morning, after oversleeping and nearly missing the start of the journey, Bilbo goes off with the Dwarves. They are nearly eaten by three trolls, but Gandalf tricks the trolls into staying up all night whereupon they are turned into stone by the first light of dawn. (The stone trolls appear later in The Lord of the Rings.) In the troll's cave they find some swords. Bilbo acquires Sting, which glows blue in the presence of goblins (another name for Orcs).

The party travels to Rivendell where they enjoy the hospitality of the Elves, then proceed eastwards towards the Misty Mountains. There they are ambushed by goblins (Orcs), and carried under the mountain. They run away, and during the escape Bilbo loses the Dwarves. Alone in the dark after running away from the goblins, Bilbo finds a ring on the floor of a cave passage and puts it into his pocket.

Continuing down, he finds himself at the shore of an underground lake. Gollum quietly paddles up in his boat, and the two enact the Riddle Game, under the condition that if Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out, but if he loses, Gollum will eat Bilbo! After several riddles, which each manages to answer, Bilbo, unable to think of any more riddles, asks, "What have I got in my pocket?" Gollum demands three guesses, but has to give up. Bilbo demands his reward, but Gollum refuses and sneaks off. Bilbo returns the way he came, and Gollum chases him. Bilbo trips, but Gollum runs right over him. Bilbo realizes the ring makes him invisible. He manages to escape past Gollum, who had gone to guard the only exit, and finds his way to the surface where he rejoins the Dwarves.

Descending from the Misty Mountains, they survive an encounter with Wargs (wild wolf creatures) by climbing trees. Eagles rescue them. Then they meet Beorn, a man who can transform into a bear. They depart, having rested for several days. Gandalf leaves soon on an errand. The party traverses the great forest, eventually running out of supplies. Gandalf had warned them not to leave the path, but they saw fire and heard singing, so, hopeless, they leave the path to beg food from Wood-elves, only to get lost. They are captured by giant spiders, but Bilbo rescues the Dwarves by becoming invisible and killing many spiders with Sting. Elves then capture the Dwarves and imprison them, but Bilbo manages to sneak into the Elvenking's palace unnoticed using the ring; he then helps the Dwarves escape in barrels floated down the river.

After staying for a short period of time at Laketown, the party of treasure-seekers proceeds to the Lonely Mountain, and with the help of starlight are able to find the door. Bilbo is sent down to encounter Smaug. The dragon, realizing the Company received help from the people of Laketown, sets out to destroy it. He is shot down by a lucky arrow during his attack, allowing the party of Dwarves to take possession of the treasure.

The citizens of Laketown arrive to make historical claims and demand compensation for the help they had rendered, as well as reparations for damage Smaug inflicted during his attack. They're joined by the Elves, who also demand a share based on historical claims. The Dwarves refuse all negotiations and in turn summon kin from the north to strengthen their position. Seeing no other way to avert a war, Bilbo uses the invisibility ring to steal the prized Arkenstone from the Dwarves, which he uses to broker peace.

Just as a grudging truce is agreed to, the three armies at the Lonely Mountain (Elves, Men and Dwarves) are attacked by Goblins and Wargs from the Misty Mountains. A bitter battle ensues (named the Battle of Five Armies). Though suffering heavy losses, Elves, Men and Dwarves prevail. The treasure is apportioned. Bilbo refuses most of the riches, realising he has no way to bring them back home; he nevertheless takes enough with him to make himself a wealthy hobbit and live happily thereafter, unaware of the dangerous nature of his ring.

3 Preview of Sequel

Bilbo's retirement lasts another half dozen decades, until his eleventy-first birthday, when he leaves Hobbiton for good. After being urged on by Gandalf the Grey, he bequeaths the magic ring to his heir Frodo -- who turns thirty-three the same day. The complete tale is contained in The Lord of the Rings.

4 Alternative Version

In the first edition, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle game. During the writing of The Lord of the Rings Tolkien saw the need to revise this passage, in order to reflect the concept of the One Ring and its powerful hold on Gollum. Tolkien tried many different passages in the chapter that would become chapter 2 of the Lord of the Rings, "The Shadow of the Past". Eventually Tolkien decided a rewrite of The Hobbit was in order, and he sent a sample chapter of this rewrite ("Riddles in the Dark") to his publishers. Initially he heard nothing further, but when he was sent galley proof s of a new edition he learned to his surprise the new chapter had been incorporated as the result of a misunderstanding.

Tolkien explained the two different versions in the introduction of The Lord of the Rings, as well as inside "The Shadow of the Past", as a "lie" that Bilbo made up, probably because of the One Ring's influence on him, and which he originally wrote down in his book. Inside The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo finally confesses the real story at the Council of Elrond, although Gandalf had deduced the truth earlier. As Tolkien presented himself as the translator of the supposedly historic Red Book of Westmarch, where Bilbo and Frodo's stories were recorded, he further explained the two differing stories in The Hobbit by stating he had originally used Bilbo's original story, but later retranslated the work with the "true story" recorded by Frodo.

This first edition also mentions " gnomes", an earlier word Tolkien used to refer to the second kindred of the High Elves — the Ñoldor (or "Deep Elves"). Tolkien thought that "gnome", being derived from the Greek gnosis (knowledge), was a good name for the Ñoldor he created to be the wisest of the other Elves. But with its English connontations of a small, secretive, and unattractive creature (see garden gnome) Tolkien removed it from later editions. He made other minor changes in order to conform the narrative to events in The Lord of the Rings and in the ideas he was developing for the Quenta Silmarillion.

However this still doesn't fit perfectly: even revised, The Hobbit is so much different in tone that sometimes seems to belong in another universe from other Middle-earth works. Examples include the following:

• Anachronisms: Bilbo has a clock. Many artists like John Howe prefer to omit it from their paintings. Bilbo also is mentioned to have matches for his pipe. In the world of Lord of the Rings matches are maybe not invented yet and all use flints.
• The Trolls have English first and last names, like fairy-tale characters
• Lighthearted use of "magic": when Bilbo tries to steal a purse from the Trolls, the purse shouts!
• Elves appear either as silly mischiefs (Rivendell) or hostile (Mirkwood).
• Orcs are still called Goblins, and are more like bogeymen than man-eating humanoid warriors.
• Gandalf mentions Radagast as his cousin. (Then again, both Gandalf and Radagast are angelic Maiar spirits, and thus in a sense are "related", both being children of the thought of God.)
• The extensive mentioning (and brief appearance) of Giants. Giants were never developed in Tolkien's other works, but since they should exist and possibly take a grand part in the past and upcoming Wars, they are never mentioned again. Even if Giants are seen as a kind of large Trolls, they are hard to justify, as trolls are described as either incredibly stupid or incredibly evil: quite unlike the Stone Giants of The Hobbit.

Some of the tone differences can be explained by accepting Bilbo as the author of the work: Bilbo wrote the story of his journeys to recount them to the children of Hobbiton and therefore changed the story somewhat. Apparent major differences such as the different perception of the Ring can also be explained by Bilbo's lacking knowledge of these matters.

5 Adaptations and Influences

• BBC radio broadcast an eight-part (4-hour) adaptation of The Hobbit in 1966, starring Anthony Jackson as narrator, Paul Daneman as Bilbo and Heron Carvic as Gandalf.
• The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, performed by Leonard Nimoy, recounted the storyline of The Hobbit in song.
• An animated version of the story debuted on U.S. television in 1977.
• As of March 2004, Peter Jackson, director of highly successful film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, has expressed interest in filming The Hobbit. Ian McKellen has expressed interest in reprising his role as Gandalf.
• "The Hobbit" - a computer game developed in 1982 by Beam Software and published by Melbourne House for most computers available at the time, from the more popular computers such as the ZX Spectrum, and the Commodore 64, through to such esoteric computers as the Dragon 32 and Oric computers. By arrangement with the book publishers, a copy of the book was included with each game sold.

6 Editions

George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London published the first edition of The Hobbit in September 1937. It was illustrated with many black-and-white drawings by Tolkien himself. The original printing numbered a mere 1,500 copies and sold out by December due to enthusiastic reviews. Houghton Mifflin of Boston and New York prepared an American edition to be released early in 1938 in which four of the illustrations would be color plates. Allen & Unwin decided to incorporate the color illustrations into their second printing, released at the end of 1937. Despite the book's popularity, wartime conditions forced the London publisher to print small runs of the remaining two printings of the first edition.

As remarked above, Tolkien substantially revised The Hobbit's text describing Bilbo's dealings with Gollum in order to blend the story better into what The Lord of the Rings had become. This revision became the second edition, published in 1951 in both UK and American editions. Slight corrections to the text have appeared in the third (1966) and fourth editions (1978).

New English-language editions of The Hobbit spring up often, despite the book's age, with at least fifty editions having been published to date. Each comes from a different publisher or bears distinctive cover art, internal art, or substantial changes in format. The text of each generally adheres to the Allen & Unwin edition extant at the time it is published.

The remarkable and enduring popularity of The Hobbit expresses itself in the collectors' market. The first printing of the first English language edition rarely sells for under $10,000 US dollars in any whole condition, and clean copies in original dust jackets signed by the author are routinely advertised for over $100,000. Online auction site eBay tends to define the market value for those who collect The Hobbit.

The Hobbit has been translated into many languages. Some known languages, with the first date of publishing, are:

• Bulgarian (1975)
• Chinese (Traditional characters) (2001)
• Czech (1973)
• Danish (1969)
• Dutch (1960)
• Esperanto (2000)
• Estonian (1977)
• Finnish (1973)
• French (1969)
• German (1957)
• Greek (1978)
• Hebrew (1976)
• Hungarian (1975)
• Icelandic (1978)
• Indonesian (1977)
• Italian (1973)
• Japanese (1965)
• Norwegian (1972)
• Polish (1960)
• Portuguese (1962)
• Romanian (1975)
• Russian (1976)
• Serbo-Croatian (1975)
• Slovak (1973)
• Spanish (1964)
• Swedish (1947)
• Turkish (1996)
• Ukrainian (1985)

7 See also

• The Quest of Erebor

J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium Works published during his lifetime The Hobbit | The Lord of the Rings | The Adventures of Tom Bombadil | The Road Goes Ever On Posthumous publications The Silmarillion | Unfinished Tales | The History of Middle-earth (12 volumes) | Bilbo's Last Song Lists of Wikipedia articles about Middle-earth by category | by name | writings | characters | peoples | rivers | realms | ages

Hobbit Hobbit Twentieth century British novels

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