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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
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 gain 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.
- 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.
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 the Grey -
“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 the Grey
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.
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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