The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien
"So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!"
We come to it at last, the last book in the LotR series. Well, if we're speaking chronologically, this is the first book as it tells of the events that happened before Frodo's Middle-Earth adventure. Before Frodo was born, actually. But I wanted to read the books that are sort of the main meat of the story first, and so I left this as a light conclusion to my Tolkien experience.
As I said, this story takes place before 'The Lord of the Rings', sixty years before, to be precise. Bilbo Baggins comes from the well-off Bagginses of Bag End in Hobbiton. He lives in his comfortable hole and is a very respectable, non-adventurous Hobbit. Some of his relations on the Took side are a bit more unexpected and thus less respectable, but Bilbo took after his father. His main concerns are the preparing and eating of food as well as smoking a good pipe when he's relaxing.
One day, the wizard Gandalf comes to Hobbiton, looking for someone to share in an adventure. He's hard pressed to find anyone for Hobbits, as mentioned, are not fond of adventures at all for they disrupt their orderly lives. He invites Bilbo to go with him but is immediately, though politely, refused. Bilbo thinks hat is the end to of the disruption to his life, but the following day, at tea time Dwarves start coming. He is soon introduced to all thirteen of them: Dwalin, Balin (the Dwarf who went to reclaim Moria and was found dead there by the Fellowship), Kili, Fili, Oin, Gloin (Gimli's father), Ori, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur and Thorin. The poor Hobbit is running ragged trying to feed all the unexpected guests while wondering what in the world they are doing in his house. For Bilbo is fond of entertaining but he expects to always know his guests before they cross the threshold of his hole.
Thorin tells the story of the Dwarven kingdom of Erebor and how the Dwarves lived in prosperity and in harmony with the neighboring Men and Elves, until one day Smaug, a dragon from the North, came, killed the Dwarves and took their treasure. Here, poor Bilbo is given the details of their plan to take back the Lonely Mountain. A small snag there - the dragon Smaug is still guarding the mines and the treasure hidden within and Bilbo is to be a part of their adventure as a burglar, recommended by Gandalf himself. After having a small fit at being named a co-conspirator in a robbing mission, Bilbo wants to prove the Dwarves wrong when they observe that he seems like a really bad burglar.
The next day Bilbo wakes up late and finds himself alone at home. Thinking the previous night to be a dream he goes on with his quest life, until Gandalf comes just as he's about to have a second breakfast and asks when exactly he is planning to leave. The Dwarves are waiting for him at The Green Dragon, and Bilbo takes off quickly to get there on time, not taking anything with him. And thus his adventure begins.
Despite being in high spirits at the beginning of their quest, soon everyone is grumpy and miserable as the rain lashes, soaking their clothes. The Company lose all their food and are cold as they stop for the night. They also notice that Gandalf is no longer with them, which only adds to the collective foul mood. Following a light they see in the woods they chance upon three trolls who capture them and are planning on having a feast when Gandalf returns just in time and rescues his companions.
"We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't think what anybody sees in them!"
After their first danger, Gandalf leads them to the Last Homely House in Rivendell, home of Lord Elrond, one of the High Elves. They are received well and spend two weeks in the Elves' company, enjoying their stay. Bilbo is so entranced, he feels as if he could live there forever. Elrond is of much help here as he is able to read their map of the Lonely Mountain, deciphering the secret entrance on its side. And then they are off again. They face goblins and barely escape with their skins on. Bilbo wanders their tunnels and there, in the depths of the Misty Mountains, next to an underground pool, he meets Gollum. He finds a ring on the ground and quickly pockets it, not knowing exactly why. With this he sets many things in motion and changes his and many other lives - it's a turning point in his career.
After having a riddle-off with Gollum, Bilbo makes a narrow escape, aided mainly by an extraordinary amount of luck and the help of the ring which makes him invisible. The Company are reunited and go on, but their troubles are not over as the Wargs, the wolves of the Mountain who are in league with the goblins, surround them. When all seems lost the Eagles come and carry them away. From they are transported close to Mirkwood, where they go on foot to Beorn's house. Beorn is a skin-changer who is grumpy and not really excited about their visit, but who still feeds them and helps them get to the entrance of Mirkwood.
From there they are on their own, for even Gandalf leaves for an errand. (From other materials we find out that he's investigating the Necromancer of Dol Guldur - Sauron - and that he and the rest of the White Council are driving him away from Mirkwood.) The Dwarves and Bilbo go through Mirkwood and note how evil the wood looks, as if it's dying. Many dark, queer and savage things dwell there and they are warned by Beorn not to stray from the path. This does not happen.
They see the Wood-elves feasting and this draws them toward the wood and away from the path. Still, every time they draw near, the Elves disappear, and soon they are besieged by enormous spiders. Bilbo uses his cunning and the ring here to free his companions and get away. They notice that Thorin gone and soon are all captured by the Elves. Thorin has been captured first and the Elvenking (not names in this book, but he's Thranduil, Legolas' father) is interrogating him about his mission. Bilbo sneaks away with the help of the ring and this allows him to wander the halls of the Elvenking's palace. He hatches a plan of escape and soon the Dwarves are floating down the River in empty food caskets.
They end up in Lake-town where Thorin introduces himself as the prophesied King Under the Mountain who has come to reclaim the lost Kingdom of Erebor. They are well received. Bilbo is uneasy despite this and he cannot get the ominous look of the Lonely Mountain out of his head. Soon enough, Thorin decides that it's time to go and get to the final part of their mission. They manage to find the secret door but then Bilbo's part comes in - he must become a burglar and steal the Arkenstone, which will help Thorin claim the Kingdom as his, from Smaug...
Bilbo goes down to the main hall where he speaks to the dragon several times but he steals a cup and this angers old Smaug who destroys the secret door and traps them. He then destroys the Lake-town as revenge for the Men helping the intruders, though he meets his end there as a man by the name Bard kills him. Now, the Dwarves have taken up the Mountain, still looking for the Stone, the Elves and Men are both marching there because they want a cut f the treasure as well; and far away goblins and wolves are banding together to attack.
This all results in the Battle of the Five Armies where, despite being enemies at first, Dwarves must unite with Men and Elves to defeat a common enemy. Gandalf returns just in time to save Bilbo from Thorin wrath when he finds out that the Hobbit's found the Arkenstone and then proceeded to give it to Bard as a bargaining chip. He'd noticed that Thorin was falling to madness, as Dwarves are wont to do in the presence of such vast amounts of treasure, when greed clouds their mind. He'd hoped it could be used as a bargaining chip, so that everyone could get their share and a battle could be avoided.
"There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself."
But, the battle is upon them and, though he remembers t fondly later on, Bilbo did not have much influence on it. He'd put on his ring and hidden away, watching from the sidelines. In the end, Thorin dies and the kingdom goes to Dain who distributes the treasure fairly among the victors. Bilbo goes back to his cozy Hobbit-hole, where he finds out he'd been presumed dead and all his belongings are being auctioned off. He reclaims his home and over time buys back his things. He remains an Elf-friend and a friend of the Dwarves, and by the rest of the Hobbits he is from then on considered queer.
This is a rather short book and very quick read. My edition is also printed in a larger font the rest of the books in the series (even though they're a boxed set) so it's even shorter than it appears when compared to the other physical copies. They style is very whimsical and fairytale-like. You can clearly see that this was intended for children and this contributes to its readability. I really flew through this. It was a bit of a shock coming from the trilogy which was dense and written in a much more serious tone and a different style altogether. You can also clearly see that this was the introduction to Middle-Earth as nothing is really fleshed out. There are no details, no paragraph-long descriptions of everything and I can see that it was used as a jumping-off board for Tolkien to then make the world come alive in the trilogy that followed.
I did wonder how they managed to make a trilogy of movies out of this little book and I kind of skimmed them but a lot of material seems to be from Tolkien's supplementary writings and some things are added at the writers' discretion. For Tolkien apparently intended to come back to this and rework the book as he'd worked out more of the story in his later writings, but he didn't have time. It's too bad this didn't happen for I would have loved to see more of Legolas (he was definitely alive at this time and it is fair to assume he lived in his father's kingdom as his, apparently, only child). But it is nice for a children's book, it's quick paced and not bogged down by endless dascriptions, so that helps. I just wished the world was more developed because it was jarring reading this after 'The Lord of the Rings' and it's flowery prose and incredible world-building.
"Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run out without a pocket-handkerchief from Bag-End long ago. He had not had a pocket-handkerchief for ages."
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