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Description
Written for J.R.R. Tolkien's own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when first published more than sixty years ago. Now recognized as a timeless classic with sales of more than 40 million copies worldwide, this introduction to Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Wizard, and the... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Summary
This story starts off at The Hill with Bilbo Baggins. A Baggins never goes on an adventure or does anything unexpected. Except for this Baggins, which gets dragged into an adventure with thirteen dwarves with a little push from Gandalf. Bilbo sets out with these dwarves as their Burglar. ... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Cast of Characters
- Bilbo Baggins: Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit who is perfectly content with his peaceful life, until Gandalf the Wizard comes along and ruins a fine morning with his frightening talk. Before he knows it, Bilbo finds himself labeled as an "expert burglar" and on a quest with thirteen dwarves to take a treasure from a dragon. On the way, deep in the heart of the Misty Mountains while escaping from goblins, he meets Gollum and picks up a magical ring.
- Gandalf: Gandalf the Grey is a wizard known to the Hobbits for his skills with fire. He is bristly on the outside, but inside has a soft heart for Hobbits, particularly Bilbo. For Bilbo's own good, he sends him off on a quest with dwarves.
- Thorin Oakenshield: Thorin is the leader of thirteen dwarves who come to Bilbo's house for tea, and consequently gained him as a partner through the machinations of Gandalf. Thorin is proud, haughty, and greedy for the treasure his ancestors stored in the Lonely Mountain before the dragon Smaug took it over. Wears a sky-blue hood with a long silver tassel.
- Gollum: Gollum is a slimy creature who lives in the roots of the Misty Moutains. Bilbo meets him when he gets lost after escaping from goblins. Gollum enjoys riddles and is always muttering about his birthday present, which turns out to be the very ring that Bilbo picks up.
- Smaug: Smaug is a cunning dragon who took over the Lonely Mountain and the treasure of Thorin's ancestors.
- The Big People: Us.
- Hobbits: They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves. They have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except for the ordinary sort which help them to disappear quietly and quickly when needed. Inclined to be fat in the stomach, and dress in bright colours (mainly green and yellow). They wear no shoes, because their feet grow natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly). They also have long clever brown fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs. Might eat dinner twice a day.
- Belladonna Took: Bilbo Baggins' mother. She was one of the three daughters of Old Took
- Old Took: Belladonna's father. Head of the hobbits who lived across The Water. The Took clan was said to not be very hobbit-like, because every once in a while they would go off and have adventures.
- Bungo Baggins: Bilbo's father.
- Dwalin: A dwarf. Wears a green hood.
- Balin: A dwarf. Wears a red hood.
- Kili and Fili: Two dwarves. Both wear blue hoods. Twins.
- Dori and Nori: Two dwarves. They wear purple hoods.
- Ori: A dwarf. Wears a gray hood.
- Oin: A dwarf. Wears a brown hood.
- Gloin: A dwarf. Wears a white hood.
- Bifur and Bofur: Two dwarves. They wear yellow hoods.
- Bombur: A dwarf. Wears a pale green hood.
- Thror: Thorin's grandfather. Made a map of the Mountain (Mirkwood's to the West and the Withered Heath is to the North).
- Thrain: Thorin's father that discovered the wealth of the Mountain and became King under the Mountain, but lost it all to Smaug. Became prisoner in the dungeons of the Necromancer.
- Azog the Goblin: Killed Thror in the mines of Moria.
- Bert, Tom, and William: Three trolls.
- Elrond: An elf.
- Durin: Father of fathers of the eldest race of Dwarves, the Longbeards.
- The Great Goblin: Is cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted.
- Wargs: The evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild.
- Lord of the Eagles: Ancient race of the northern mountains; are proud, strong and noble-hearted.
- Beorn: Is very strong and a skin-changer.
- Radagast: Gandalf's cousin.
- Wood-elves: They distrust strangers, but are Good People.
- Bard: Descendent of Girion, Lord of Dale. Prophesied floods and poisoned fish. Also very courageous.
- Dain: Son of Nain, is a dwarf.
- Roac: Son of Carc. A raven.
Memorable Quotes
-
“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning weather I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
Gandalf -
“Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies because you helped bring them about? You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You're a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I'm very fond of you, but you're only quite a little fellow in a wide world, after all.”
Gandalf -
“What shall we do, what shall we do!” he cried. “Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves!” he said, and it became a proverb, though we now say “out of the frying-pan into the fire” in the same sort of uncomfortable situations.”
Bilbo Baggins and Narrator -
“I am like a burglar that can't get away, but must go on miserably burgling the same house day after day.”
Bilbo Baggins
First Sentence
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Table of Contents
Foreword
I. An Unexpected Party
II. Roast Mutton
III. A Short Rest
IV. Over Hill and Under Hill
V. Riddles in the Dark
VI. Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire
VII. Queer Lodgings
VIII. Flies and Spiders
IX. Barrels Out of Bond
X. A Warm Welcome
XI. On the Doorstep
XII. Inside Information
XIII. Not at Home
XIV, Fire and Water
XV. The Gathering of the Clouds
XVI. A Thief in the Night
XVII. The Clouds Burst
XVIII. The Return Journey
XIX. The Last Stage
Glossary
- baying: barking.
- braces: suspenders; straps hung over the shoulders to hold up pants.
- bracken: a large, coarse fern.
- cask: a barrel, usually holding wine.
- cleave: to split or pass through by cutting.
- confusticate: flabbergast.
- conies: rabbit furs.
- eddying: moving in a circular current like a whirlpool.
- eyrie: a bird's nest on a cliff or mountaintop.
- flint: material used for producing a spark.
- flummoxed: confused.
- foiled: spoiled a plan, prevented a plan from being successfully enacted.
- fortnight: a period of two weeks.
- furrier: a fur dealer; one who makes, repairs, or cleans fur garments.
- gammers: old women.
- glade: an open space surrounded by woods.
- Goblins: grotesque, malicious creatures.
- graybeards: old men.
- hart: male red deer, usually over five years old.
- helm: a position of control.
- hind: female red deer.
- hoard: a supply stored up or hidden away.
- kine: cow.
- lair: den; refuge or hiding place.
- larch: a deciduous tree of the pine family.
- larder: pantry; a place where food is stored.
- mere: a lake or pool.
- mirth: joy, playfulness.
- muff: a warm tubular covering for the hands.
- necromancer: a magician, especially one who deals with the spirits of the dead.
- pallid: pale and weak.
- parley: an exercise in diplomacy; a talk with the goal of resolving conflict.
- plundered/plunderers: to take by force; to rob or loot; those who take by force, rob, or loot.
- portcullis: an iron grating hung over a gateway and lowered between grooves to prevent passage.
- porter: a person who carries burdens or baggage.
- promontory: a high point of land or rock projecting into water or over lowland.
- quays: docks or landing places on a waterway.
- quoits: a game in which a ring of iron or rope is thrown at an upright pin; similar to the game of pitching horseshoes.
- runes: characters from the alphabets used by the Germanic peoples from the third to the thirteenth centuries.
- sentinels: soldiers charged with guarding.
- shingly: overlapping in rows.
- short commons: minimal rations.
- sleeping-draught: a sleeping potion.
- smote: hit (past tense of smite, to hit).
- staggerment: amazement, confusion.
- thongs: a strip of leather or hide.
- throng: a crowd; a large number of people.
- tinder: a flammable substance that can be used as kindling.
- tippet: a fur shoulder cape, often with hanging ends.
- toss-pot: a drunkard.
- turnkey: the person in charge of the keys to a prison.
- watercourse: any waterway, such as a stream or river.
- Yule-tide: the Christmas holiday season.
Errata
p. 22 - Anyway they grew immensely rich and famous, and my grandfather was King under the Mountain again, and treated with great reverence by the mortal men, who lived to the South, and were gradually spreading up the Running River as far as the valley OVER shadowed by the Mountain.
p. 47 – Also he would have liked to have a few private words with with these people that seemed to know his NAME and all about him, although he had never seen them before.
p. 53 – It was a hard path and a dangerous path, a crooked way and a lonely and a long WAY.
p. 101 – Loud CRIES TO the Lord of the Eagles, to whom Gandalf had now spoken.
Series
This book is in the Lord of the Rings series.
Authors & Contributors
- J. R. R. Tolkien (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Alan Lee (Illustrator)
- Peter S. Beagle (Introduction)
Awards
- New York Herald Tribune (April 1938: Best juvenile (ie. written for children) story of the season)
- Keith Barker Millennium Book Award Winner (2000: Most significant children's book published between 1920 and 1939)
- Carnegie Medal (Finalist)
- Children's Books of the Century poll (Most Important 20th-Century Novel (for Older Readers))
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