The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Author:  J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

"One writes such a story not out of the leaves of trees still to be observed, nor by means of botany and soil-science; but it grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mould of mind: out of all that has been seen or thought or read, that has long ago been forgotten..."

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Tohl-keen) was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, in the Orange Free State (now in South Africa).  His family had moved there from England when his father, Arthur, took a senior position working for a bank in the colony.  After his death in 1895, the family moved back to England, where they lived in Sarehole, near Birmingham.  This beautiful, rural area left strong impressions on the young Ronald, later seen in his writings and drawings.  Although it was a financially difficult period for the family, Tolkien's childhood remained a happy time for him and his younger brother, Hilary.   Years later he remembered the countryside and its people with great fondness.  In time, the land and the people of Sarehole would become part of his books, as the Shire and its good-natured hobbits.

  "The Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects the generally small reach of their imagination--not the small reach of their courage or latent power."

From an early age, Tolkien was an avid reader and especially loved fairy tales.  His favorite was the story of Sigurd, the dragon slayer.  However, it wasn't so much the hero who intrigued Tolkien, but the dragon Fafnir, who represented a world that was exciting and dangerous, yet safely removed from his own life.  His fascination with dragons would later appear in the character Smaug in The Hobbit.

"I desired dragons with a profound desire. Of course, I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighbourhood. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fafnir was richer and beautiful at whatever cost of peril." 

When Mrs. Tolkien died in 1904, she left the boys in the care of a Catholic priest, Father Francis Morgan.  Tolkien was enrolled at King Edward's School in Birmingham, where he was taught Classics, Anglo-Saxon and Middle-English and began to read heroic tales such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
He had shown an early aptitude for language, learning Latin and French from his mother, and during this period his love for language grew. 

"I felt a curious thrill, as if something had stirred in me, half wakened from sleep. There was something very remote and strange and beautiful behind those words, if I could grasp it, far beyond ancient English."

After studying old Welsh and Finnish, he began to invent his own "Elvish" languages, with complex histories explaining the evolution of words.  When he was sixteen, he fell in love with Edith Bratt, a girl three years his senior.  Although their relationship was forbidden at the time by Fr. Morgan, the two eventually renewed their romance when Tolkien was in university. 

In 1910, Tolkien won a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied philology (the study of languages).  During his time there, he discovered a book on Finnish grammar.   While captivated by the words themselves, Tolkien's imagination was also sparked by the tales written in the ancient language. Delving into Finnish mythology, he began to wish that such a body of work existed for England.

"I would that we had more of it left - something of the same sort that belonged to the English."
On reading the Finnish 'Kalevala'

Tolkien was in his final year at Exeter when the First World War broke out.  He graduated the following year with a First in English Language and Literature, which assured him a professional academic position.  Before embarking to join the war in France in June 1916, he married his longtime love, Edith.  Tolkien was engaged in active combat at the front and survived the Battle of the Somme, where several of his close friends were killed.  Later that year he was struck with trench fever and sent back to England for recovery.  He suffered a relapse and was never sent back to the war.  As he recovered, Tolkien began writing the great cycle of the myths and legends that would eventually  be published decades later as The Silmarillion.  In 1920, Tolkien collaborated on an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which was published in 1925. 

Tolkien spent the rest of his professional life as Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. During these years, he wrote poems and did scholarly work.  Although he rarely traveled, he loved the beauty of the English countryside.  He and Edith had four children, John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla, whom he entertained with stories of fantasy lands often told in invented languages.  Tolkien also formed a close friendship with writers C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia ) and Charles Williams during his time at Oxford.  The three became known as the Inklings and spent much of their time together, as well as with other writers and faculty, discussing literary issues.

In the early 1930s, Tolkien began to write down the stories he had been telling his children, which later became the book that is now known as The Hobbit, published in 1937 by Allen & Unwin. The Hobbit proved to be quite successful as a children's book, and for the next twelve years Tolkien worked on his epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings.  In 1954, as Tolkien was approaching retirement, the first volume of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, was published.  It became an unexpected international bestseller, and Tolkien achieved world renown as a literary figure. 

After retirement from Oxford in 1956, Tolkien began to revise his great mythological work, The Silmarillion.  While it served primarily as a mythology for Middle-earth, he also viewed it a mythology for England.  In 1968, he and his wife Edith moved to Bournemouth, a middle-class British resort town, but after Edith passed away in 1971, Tolkien returned to Oxford where he died in 1973, leaving The Silmarillion to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher.

The Book:  Its Creation and Impact

" In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

These words were first written almost by chance.  Tolkien was grading exams one summer and, finding a blank page in one of the exam booklets, scribbled the words almost without thinking.  A few years later they would become the opening words of a story that combined his intellectual interests of language and mythology with his love for the stories he had been creating for his children. 

Although the world Tolkien created was one of fantasy, it always kept a firm connection to his own life and experiences.  Many of the places and characters in his stories were inspired by the rural English landscape that surrounded him.  He felt closely related to the characters in his books:  

"I am in fact a hobbit in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food..."

 

In time, Tolkien developed his stories into a full-length tale, which he shared with friends and colleagues in his discussion group, among which was C.S. Lewis (who later wrote The Chronicles of Narnia).  Tolkien described his writing more as a process of revealing than one of inventing: 

"They arose in my mind as 'given' things, and as they came, separately, so too the links grew. An absorbing, though continually interrupted labour ... yet always I had the sense of recording what was already 'there', somewhere: not of 'inventing'."

Former students from Oxford encouraged him to complete the work with his own illustrations and in 1937 The Hobbit, Tolkien's first book,was published by Allen & Unwin.  It was a financial success and, encouraged by his publisher, Tolkien began the much longer work, The Lord of the Rings, which hefinished in 1949 and was published in 1954-55.

Fantasy had few readers in the first half of the twentieth century, but after the The Hobbit was published the genre grew rapidly.  Without Tolkien's work, such a development might never have occured.  When The Lord of the Rings was published in the United States in the 60's, it quickly became a phenomenon, popular enough to inspire fan clubs.  In recent years, the trilogy was voted the 'Book of the Century' in a British survey conducted not once, but three times.

The Story:  Brief Synopsis

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo Baggins, a happy, contented hobbit who is living a safe and comfortable life in the pleasant countryside known as the Shire.  There are no dangers, risks, or unexpected surprises in his life until the wizard Gandalf appears on his doorstep.

Gandalf asks Bilbo to join him and a group of dwarves on a grand and dangerous adventure.  Bilbo's role would be to help the dwarves reclaim their lost fortune from under a distant mountain, where it is guarded by the fierce dragon, Smaug.  Bilbo, who like most hobbits enjoys the safety and comforts of home, is at first reluctant to join their adventure, but is eventually swayed by their heroic song and his own curiosity. 

As the journey progresses, they struggle across difficult terrain and encounter menacing foes on their way to their destination.  Leaving the peaceful hobbit-lands behind, the danger steadily mounts as their route becomes filled with unpredictable hazards.  They cross the Misty Mountains and enter the Wilderland, where they must traverse the dark and forbidding forest of Mirkwood before arriving at their ultimate destination, the desired, yet much-dreaded, Lonely Mountain.

During the adventure, Bilbo proves himself to be an invaluable traveling companion.  About half way through the story he finds a magic ring that renders its wearer invisible - a turning point in the journey.  With the ring, Bilbo is bolder and more daring.  He slowly transforms into the resourceful hero Gandalf was certain he would become, and plays a vital role in the completion of the quest. 

Setting

"Every writer making a secondary world wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it."

The Hobbit takes place in Middle-earth, a world of fantasy populated by hobbits, dwarves, elves, giants, goblins and dragons.  The land is natural and wild, not too different from our own in times past.  In fact, Tolkien thought of it as a mythical pre-history of our own world:

"Middle-earth is our world. I have (of course) placed the action in a purely imaginary (though not wholly impossible) period of antiquity, in which the shape of the continental masses was different."

Although some critics dismiss works set in fantastical worlds, claiming they have no relevance to our own existence and experiences, many authors have used imaginary worlds to make points about the real world.  Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and Animal Farm by George Orwell are well-known examples.  Although wizards, dragons and elves may not exist, the underlying principles that rule Middle-earth still apply to our own world.

The setting of The Hobbit is a very important element of the story.  Places like the Shire and Rivendell represent what Tolkien believed to be ideal societies, where people live in harmony with nature.  Barren, desolate or dreary places are often associated with evil beings, such as the goblins or the dragon Smaug.  Dangerous encounters usually occur in places like treacherous mountains or dark forests.  Some have interpreted these passages into underground places or eerie forests as descents into a character's subconscious, symbolic of internal struggles, but Tolkien disliked such interpretations and insisted that his books be taken at face value:

"I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of the reader. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."

Themes

1.  Good vs. Evil

Tolkien clearly contrasts good and evil in his work.  Places are either bright and alive or dismal and forlorn.  Creatures are either just, moral and courageous or brutish, wicked and deceitful.  The sunny Shire and blissful Rivendell represent the good in Middle-earth, the Goblin caverns and the Desolation of Smaug portray a corrupted and dark Middle-earth.  The noble eagles and steadfast Beorn can likewise be contrasted with the wargs and the trolls.  While there are clear examples of what is good and what is evil, characters still have a chance for redemption.  Thorin's greed corrupted his honor and reason, bringing about his own ruin, but in the end he saw the error of his ways and asked Bilbo for forgiveness. 

2.  Safety of the Familiar vs. Danger and the Unknown

When Gandalf suggests that Bilbo accompany him on some mad adventure, the hobbit simply does not want to leave his pleasant hobbit-hole.  Then, somewhere deep inside, an urge awakens in Bilbo and his desire for heroic adventure wins over his deeply ingrained sense of what is right and proper.  Throughout the adventure he looks back longingly towards home, before pressing on into the unknown.

"It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterward were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait."

3.  Greed

The corrupting and destructive influence of greed is a major theme in the story. 
Although the dwarves initially present their cause as noble and just, it eventually becomes rather clear that their true motivation for undertaking such a dangerous journey is not as much for revenge as it is to regain the treasure.  Their purpose is first questioned in the story by Elrond, who is aware that they are motivated by greed and frowns upon their mission, believing it to be a dishonorable undertaking. 

When the dwarves are caught by the wood-elves in Mirkwood, Thorin lies about their mission, afraid the elves will either stop them from getting to the gold, or try and get some of it themselves.  The elves, however, doubt Thorin's claims that he and the dwarves are simply going to visit relatives, unable to believe that dwarves would undertake such a dangerous journey unless it was inspired by greed.

Once they actually get their hands on the treasure, their greed begins to control their actions.  They are so captivated by the gold they immediately forget any dangers still present.  Although they are running out of food, and Smaug could return at any moment, their worries are blinded by the fact that they now have the treasure they traveled so far to get.   When they discover that men and elves are approaching, they disregard the wisdom of the raven and their immediate reaction is to find a way to protect the treasure. 

Once the armies arrive, Thorin refuses to negotiate.  Bilbo gives the Arkenstone to Bard and the Elvenking, which he hopes will give them room to negotiate and prevent a conflict.  Thorin, however, is unwilling to make any sort of compromise and starts to choke Bilbo when he finds out that he took the Arkenstone. In the end, Thorin dies as a result of his greed, but as he is dying he becomes aware of it and repents right before his death.

Gollum is another example of greed's destructive influence.  Gollum's greed for the ring has driven him mad, pushing him deep into the ground, a strange mirror to Bilbo's existence in the warm, sunlit Shire.  Gollum's home is what Bilbo's is not: "a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell."  Bilbo's hobbit-hole is high up on The Hill, but Gollum's cave is deep below the Misty Mountains. 

Bilbo, by contrast, resists the temptations of greed. While he certainly has the capacity for commiting terrible acts once the ring is his, he manages to resist the greed such an item could produce, especially once the dwarves' treasure is within his grasp.  Although he steals the Arkenstone, a gem he knows Thorin values more than anything else, he gives it up willingly to prevent a battle.  Once the battle is over he takes only two small chests of the treasure, which eventually he spends mostly on gifts.  Although he went on the journey with the promise of treasure, he spends most of it on relatives and friends. It is not of great importance to him, and he does not miss it later in life.

Smaug is the epitome of greed.  The beast has no real use for treasure other than as a mound to sleep upon, yet destroys and kills for it.  His own greed makes him paranoid of the greed of others.  He tries to confuse Bilbo into doubting the dwarves because he's certain Bilbo's greed will overpower the hobbit. 

Characters and Glossary

Characters

Bilbo Baggins:  A hobbit, who is the small, timid hero of the story.  He is swept away from the comforts of his hobbit-hole and onto the path of adventure by Gandalf the Wizard and Thorin Oakenshield.  Although perhaps an unlikely hero at the start of the story, Bilbo undergoes a transformation during the adventure that brings out qualities, such as bravery and determination, that he may never have realized he possessed.

Gandalf the Wizard:  The wise wizard who arranges the meeting of Bilbo and the dwarves and helps them on their adventure.  He chooses Bilbo to be the "lucky" fourteenth person to join the dwarves' expedition to reclaim their treasure.  He possesses great magical skills, but it is often simply his wisdom and quick thinking that rescues the group from danger.  His numerous friends and allies, such as Elrond, Beorn and the Lord of the Eagles, are invaluable to the group's success.

Thorin Oakenshield:  The leader of the group of dwarves that Gandalf brings to Bilbo's home.  Grandson of Thror, King under the Mountain when it was taken by Smaug, he is heir to both the throne and the treasure plundered by the dragon.  Gandalf gives Thorin the map and key to the Lonely Mountain that had been entrusted to him by Thror.  Thorin dies shortly after the Battle of Five Armies.

The Dwarves:  Aside from Thorin, there are twelve other dwarves on the quest:  Balin, Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin.

Elrond:  Leader of the Elves and Master of Rivendell, the Last Homely House at the edge of the Wild.  He is a wise and learned old friend of Gandalf's who gives the group shelter, replenishes their supplies, and helps decipher the runes on their swords and the hidden moon-letters on their map, which indicate the importance of Durin's Day.

Gollum:  a strange, slimy creature that Bilbo encounters in a dreary cave as he is escaping the goblin caverns.  Gollum was once a hobbit (revealed in The Lord of the Rings) who lived aboveground, but when Bilbo meets him he has long since degenerated into the wretched creature he now is.  Bilbo finds and keeps Gollum's sole possession, a magic ring the creature calls his "precious" that renders its wearer invisible, allowing Bilbo to escape Gollum's dreadful intention of eating the poor hobbit. 

The Elvenking: King of the Woodelves in Mirkwood who imprisons the dwarves in his dungeon, from which they are rescued by Bilbo.  The Elvenking later appears at the Battle of Five Armies, leading an army he has brought to claim part of the treasure.

Bard: The archer who kills Smaug the dragon with a single arrow and eventually becomes Master of Lake-town.

Smaug: The dragon who lives under the Lonely Mountain, where he sits on the treasure hoard that rightfully belongs to Thorin and the dwarves.  His conversations with Bilbo reveal him as an arrogant and hateful beast who loves treasure for the sheer sake of having it.

Lord of the Eagles: The chief eagle, who leads the group of giant eagles that rescue Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves from the Wargs, and fly them to safety.  The eagles later join the Battle of the Five Armies.

Beorn:   "A great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard", called a skin-changer because of his ability to transform into a huge black bear.   He is a friend of Gandalf's who gives shelter and provisions to the group when they are near Mirkwood and also lends them ponies to replace the ones lost to the goblins.  He appears again at the Battle of Five Armies and fights the goblins, killing their leader, Bolg. Gandalf and Bilbo spend Yule-tide with him on their return trip to the Shire.

Master of Lake-town: The ruler of Lake-town (Esgaroth) who, when the dragon has destroyed the town, tries to shift the blame onto the dwarves.  He is corrupted by a share in the dwarves’ treasure and in the end replaced as leader by Bard.

Dain: Thorin's cousin, who comes with an army of dwarves to aid Thorin’s band in the Battle of Five Armies.

Glossary

Hobbits:  A small people about half a man's height.  Unlike the dwarves, who are just a bit taller, hobbits don't grow beards.  They tend to be fat in the stomach and don't wear shoes because of the natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair on their feet.  They live in the peaceful hills of the Shire, beyond the borders of which few have ever heard of them.

Middle-earth:  The world in which the story takes place. 

The Shire:  The peaceful lands where hobbits dwell. 

Hobbiton:  The town of hobbits where Bilbo lives.

The Hill:  The great hill where Bag End is.

Bag End:  The name of Bilbo's home, a hobbit-hole dug into the hillside.

Dwarves:  Dwarves are a short, stocky people about 3/4 the height of men. Their features are broader than those of men. They live for hundreds of years, grow long beards and are known for their ability in forging jewelry and weapons, as well as for their mining skills.

The Lonely Mountain: The mountain that was once the palace of the dwarf king Thror, Thorin's grandfather, but is now the lair of Smaug the dragon.  It is the goal of the dwarves' journey to reclaim the mountain and the great treasure hoard that Smaug stole and now sits on.

Trolls:  Giant, brutish, argumentative creatures that Bilbo and the dwarves come upon in the Lone-lands.  Three by the names of  Bert, Tom and William capture the dwarves, planning to roast them and later eat them, but they are confused by Gandalf's magic and argue until the light of dawn comes and turns them to stone. 

Elves:  Lighthearted and long-lived people with fair and slender features.  Two different groups of elves are met by the Bilbo and the dwarves:  the elves of Rivendell, where Elrond is master, and the wood-elves of Mirkwood, where the Elvenking rules.

Rivendell:  Home of Elrond and the elves, sometimes called 'The Last Homely House', just west of the Misty Mountains.  Bilbo stops to rest there twice during the story.

The Misty Mountains:  A great mountain range that runs north-south. It must be passed over in order to approach Mirkwood, a dark forest blocking the way to the Lonely Mountain.

Stone Giants:  The giants that the group sees tossing boulders to each other in the Misty Mountains.   When the group takes refuge in the goblins' cave, they are seeking shelter from the giants as well as a storm.

Goblins:  Ugly, wicked creatures who live in caverns below the Misty Mountains. They capture Bilbo and the dwarves, and take them down into their dark tunnels.  A number of them, including their leader the Great Goblin, are slain by Gandalf and Thorin using the swords taken from the trolls' secret treasure hoard.

The Ring:  The magic ring that Bilbo finds in Gollum's cave.  It turns its wearer invisible - a power that is put to great use by Bilbo during the rest of the adventure.  It is the item of greatest importance in Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.  Gollum refers to it as his "precious."   

Wilderland:  The land east of the Misty Mountains

Wargs:  Wild wolves that chase Bilbo and his companions into trees shortly after they've escaped from the goblins. Gandalf sets the Wargs on fire, causing them to flee, but they soon return, joined by goblins, who set fire to the trees.  Bilbo and the dwarves are rescued by giant eagles.

Eagles:  The giant eagles, led by the Lord of the Eagles, that help Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves escape the goblins and wargs.  They later help fight the goblins at the Battle of Five Armies.

Mirkwood:  The dark and dreary woods full of evil creatures that Bilbo and the dwarves cross once they are east of the Misty Mountains.  It is the darkest part of the their journey, where they are attacked and nearly killed by giant spiders and then later captured and imprisoned by wood-elves.

Spiders:  Monstrous spiders that attack Bilbo and the dwarves in Mirkwood.  They capture the group, but Bilbo escapes and kills several with his sword, Sting, and by throwing stones at them.

Lake-town:  (Esgaroth) The town at the southern end of Long Lake that is destroyed by Smaug after Bilbo steals a cup from the dragon's lair. It is there that the dwarves are fed and outfitted before the last leg of their journey.

Arkenstone:  A huge white gem, treasured by dwarves and among the treasure stolen by Smaug.  Bilbo finds it and keeps it in his pocket while the dwarves search the mountain for it.  He later sneaks out and gives the precious stone to Bard and the Elvenking so they can barter with the stubborn Thorin, who refuses to part with any of the treasure or leave the mountain.

Dale:  The town of men in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain that had once been a  prosperous trading community before Smaug came and destroyed it.  Bard, an heir to the city, rebuilds it after Smaug's death.
Detailed Summary

"...one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green..."

The story begins with the Gandalf the wizard visiting the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and inviting him to join in an adventure.  Bilbo, a very well-to-do hobbit from the respectable Baggins family, declines the offer, unwilling to leave the safety and comfort of his hobbit-hole.

"The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were very rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him."

Without even waiting to learn the details of the offer, Bilbo makes it clear to Gandalf that he is not in the least bit interested:

" '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,' "

Bilbo then tries to ignore the wizard, hoping he would just go away.  When he doesn't, the hobbit tries to politely escape the situation, inviting the wizard to tea the next day while scurrying into the refuge of his hobbit-hole.

"With that the hobbit turned and scuttled inside his round green door, and shut it as quickly as he dared, not to seen rude. Wizards after all are wizards."

The next day, Bilbo is visited by a group of thirteen dwarves who come to have him join their quest to reclaim the treasure stolen from their forebears by Smaug the Dragon.   The dwarves are led by Thorin Oakenshield, grandson of Thror, who was King under the Lonely Mountain when Smaug came and usurped their royal halls.  They want Bilbo to accompany them on this journey to the Lonely Mountain as a Burglar, or "Expert Treasure-hunter".  Bilbo, constrained by his fears of what others might think should he decide to go on an adventure, is reluctant to agree.  His mood is changed by their song:

" 'Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold."

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.
For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.
On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold; where no man dwelves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.
The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, its flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale
And men looked up with faces pale;
Then dragon's ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.
The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall.
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.
Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him.' "

Listening to their song stirs something within Bilbo:

"Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick."

The next morning he is rushed out the door by Gandalf and is so hasty he forgets to take anything with him.  He hurries to meet the dwarves at the Green Dragon Inn and they set out on their journey.

In Chapters II and III, Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves travel east from the idyllic hobbit-lands toward the Misty Mountains.  In a short time, they have gone further from his home than Bilbo has ever ventured.  With this part of the journey comes a dramatic change of landscape:

"Then they came to lands where people spoke strangely, and sang songs Bilbo had never heard before.  Now they had gone far into the Lone-lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. Not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people. Everything seemed gloomy, for the weather that day had taken a nasty turn."

As surroundings become increasingly inhospitable and the group is faced with hunger, bad weather and hostile creatures, Bilbo frequently becomes nostalgic, thinking fondly of home and questioning his decision to join the dwarves on their journey.  But rather than resign himself to being miserable and full of complaints, the hobbit's inner strength begins to grow and he gradually becomes more resourceful, confident and courageous.

In the Lone-lands, the travelers encounter three trolls - Bert, Tom and William - sitting around a fire wishing they had manflesh instead of mutton to eat.  Bilbo tries to pick a pocket and gets caught,

" 'And please don't cook me, kind sirs! I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean.' "

but later escapes when the trolls greedily rush to catch the dwarves, which they manage to do:

A nice pickle they were all in now: all neatly tied up in sacks, with three angry trolls (and two with burns and bashes to remember) sitting by them, arguing whether they should roast them slowly, or mince them fine and boil them, or just sit on them one by one and squash them into jelly: and Bilbo up in a bush, with his clothes and his skin torn, not daring to move for fear they should hear him.

In the end, the giant, savage brutes are undone by their greedy and argumentative natures.  The dwarves are rescued by Gandalf, who cleverly imitates the voices of the trolls and keeps them arguing until the light of day comes and turns them to stone.   Bilbo then reveals a key he found nearby which they later use to unlock the trolls’ secret cave, where gold and weapons are found.

" 'Where did you go to, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along.
    'To look ahead,' said he.
    'And what brought you back in the nick of time?'
    'Looking behind,' said he. "

They travel onwards to the valley of Rivendell at the edge of the Wild, and meet the lighthearted elves, who sing to them:

O! What are you doing,
And where are you going?
Your ponies need shoeing!
The river is flowing!
      O! tra-la-la-lally
      here down in the valley!

O! What are you seeking,
And where are you making?
The faggots are reeking,
The bannocks are baking!
     O! tril-lil-lil-lolly
     the valley is jolly,            ha! ha!

O! Where are you going
With beards all a-wagging?
No knowing, no knowing
What brings Mister Baggins,
And Balin and Dwalin
         down into the valley  in Juneha! ha!

   O! Will you be staying,
               Or will you be flying?
Your ponies are straying!
The daylight is dying!
To fly would be folly,
To stay would be joll
 And listen and hark
 Till the end of the darkto our tune           ha! ha!

They stay at Rivendell, the home of the noble elf leader Elrond, a wise and hospitable friend of Gandalf's.

"His house was perfect whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley".

Elrond helps translate the runes on the swords that Gandalf and Thorin found in the trolls’ cave and tells them that they are ancient swords called Orcrist and Glamdring that come from the Goblin-wars and were most likely plundered from somewhere in the Misty Mountains.  Elrond also finds moon-letters on Thorin’s map and reads them, explaining that the keyhole for which Thorin has a key will only be revealed by the last light of Durin’s Day, the first day of the dwarves’ New Year.  After two weeks, Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves resume their journey.

"Now they could look back over the lands they had left, laid out behind them far below. Far, far away in the West, where things were blue and faint, Bilbo knew there lay his own country of safe and comfortable things, and his little hobbit-hole."

In Chapters IV through VI the travelers face the hazards of the Misty Mountains.  On one occasion they take shelter from a storm in a cave that turns out to be used as a "front porch" by goblins, who are cruel and wicked subterranean creatures.  Just as Bilbo is about to fall asleep, the goblins appear out of a crack in the back of the cave.  Gandalf manages to escape capture, but Bilbo, the dwarves and the ponies are not so lucky.  They are lead down into darkness to the goblins' leader, the Great Goblin. 

"'Smash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them! Take them away to the dark holes full of snakes and never let them see the light again!'"
Chapter IV

Gandalf reappears and, using Glamdring, kills the Great Goblin and frees Bilbo and the dwarves. They try to find their way out of the cave as the goblins retreat, but Bilbo stumbles to the ground on his way out and loses consciousness.

When Bilbo wakes up and tries to make his way out of the cave, he finds a ring and without much thought puts it in his pocket.  Although he is unaware of it, this is a turning point in Bilbo's adventures.  He later discovers that the ring renders its wearer invisible.  Bilbo searches for matches to light his pipe, but when he doesn't find them he comes across his sword, which he draws out. This is another important moment, for while smoking a pipe just then would have been foolish and predictably hobbit-like, the decision to draw his sword illustrates Bilbo's growing independence.

"There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the heart of mountains."  

Bilbo then encounters Gollum, a wretched, slimy and murderous creature who kills and eats goblins and others who, like Bilbo, stray into his cave.  Gollum's dreadful intentions are kept in check only by the threat of Bilbo's sword.  They agree to a game of riddles, Bilbo to be led out of the caves if he wins, but to be eaten by Gollum if he loses.  While Bilbo's riddles tend to be of the bright, outdoor world, Gollum's are dark and dreary, reflecting his miserable existence:

Bilbo:
"An eye in a blue face
Saw an eye in a green face.
"'That eye is like to this eye'"
Said the first eye
"'But in low place
Not in high place.'"
SUN ON THE DAISIES

Gollum:
"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes fill.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter."
DARK

Bilbo:
"A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid."
EGGS

Gollum:
"This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays kings, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down."
TIME

When he loses the riddle game, Gollum decides to go back on his word and kill Bilbo with the help of his magic ring.  He paddles back to his dirty small island to retrieve the ring, unaware that it is actually in the hobbit's pocket.  After a frantic search, he is unable to find it, and suddenly becomes suspicious of the hobbit.

"Gollum was in his boat again, paddling wildly back to the dark shore; and such a rage of loss and suspicion was in his heart that no sword had any more terror for him."

As this is happening, Bilbo stumbles back up the dark passage whence he had come.  He puts his hand in his left pocket and the ring somehow slips onto his finger.  In mad pursuit of the thief of his "precious" who he thinks is heading to the exit, Gollum jumps past the invisible Bilbo, and unintentionally shows him the way out of the caverns. Although Bilbo later has the opportunity to kill Gollum, he feels his invisibility is an unfair advantage.  He instead leaps over the creatures head, goes through the mouth of the cave and escapes.

Once he is outside, Bilbo plans to go back and rescue his friends but discovers that they have already escaped as well.  He tells his tale, leaving out any mention of the ring, and gains their respect. They flee the mountains, afraid the goblins will pursue. The group travels further, until they are chased up into trees by Wargs, evil and ferocious giant wolves.  Gandalf uses magic to frighten the Wargs away, but they soon return with goblins who set fire to the forest, trying to smoke the group out of the trees.  Giant eagles come to their rescue, led by the Lord of the Eagles, who was once helped by Gandalf.  They fly the group to their nest for a night before taking them near the dark forest called Mirkwood.

In Chapter VII, Gandalf takes them to the house of Beorn, the skin-changer, who outfits them for the next part of their journey, through the dark forest of Mirkwood.  Gandalf parts with the group at the edge of the forest, warning them not to stray from the path. He does not reappear until the Battle of Five Armies near the end of the story.

In Chapters VIII and IX, Bilbo and the dwarves face the dark and perilous forest of Mirkwood:

"The entrance to the path was like a sort of arch leading into a gloomy tunnel made by two great trees that leant together, too old and strangled with ivy and hung with lichen to bear more than a few blackened leaves. The path itself was narrow and wound in and out among the trunks. Soon the light at the gate was like a little bright hole far behind, and the quiet was so deep that their feet seemed to thump along while all the trees leaned over them and listened."

Bombur, the fat dwarf in the group, falls into an enchanted stream that puts him into a deep slumber and wipes his memory of all that happened since they left Bilbo's house. 

"But they had to go on and on, long after they were sick for the sight of the sun and of the sky, and longed for the feel of wind on their faces. There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still and dark and stuffy. ... the hobbit...felt that he was being slowly suffocated."  
After many days, they are almost out of food and, despite Gandalf's warning, decide to leave the path when they see lights in the distance.  Giant spiders capture them, but Bilbo fights his way free with the sword he took from the trolls and names it "Sting".

"Somehow the killing of a giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of a wizard or the dwarves or anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its sheath."
"  'I will give you a name,' he said to it, 'and I shall call you Sting.' "
Chapter VIII

Wearing the magic ring, he frees the dwarves from the spiders’ webs, and then shares with them his secret about about the ring.
Later, they find that Thorin is missing and discover that he was captured by wood-elves. Soon the rest of the dwarves are also caught and thrown into the dungeon beneath the palace of the Elvenking, but Bilbo manages to avoid capture by using the ring's power of invisibility.  Bilbo stays invisible for weeks, wandering around the Elvenking's palace until he thinks of a plan.  He frees the dwarves and hides them in empty wine barrels that are dropped into a river and float all the way to the town of men called Lake-town, or Esgaroth. There Bilbo and the dwarves are treated like royalty and spend a week before setting off to the Lonely Mountain.

In Chapters XI through XIII, Bilbo and the dwarves struggle with the challenges they encounter at the Lonely Mountain.  Once they arrive, they find the secret entrance but cannot enter until Bilbo suddenly understands the clues in Thorin’s map and discovers the keyhole revealed by the setting sun.  Bilbo is chosen to enter the dragon's lair, and none of the dwarves are brave enough to accompany him.

"There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light."

To prove his skill as a burglar to the dwarves, he decides to steal a golden cup from the vast hoard.  Smaug awakens and, enraged at the theft, flies out from under the mountain and kills their ponies.

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations."

Bilbo returns to the dragon's lair and has a conversation with the immense beast.  Here, Bilbo is at his bravest.  Although hidden by the ring, he is still vulnerable to the dragon's terrible might. 

" 'My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane and my breath death.' "   
                                                                                                    Chapter XII

Smaug tries to make Bilbo suspicious of the dwarves, but it is Bilbo who in the end has the better of Smaug by tricking the dragon into revealing a vulnerability. 

You have nice manners for a thief and a liar," said the dragon. "You seem familiar with my name, but I don't seem to remember smelling you before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?"

He riddles the dragon, telling about himself without ever revealing his name and at the same time discovers that Smaug has a bare patch on his left breast, unshielded by scales.  He taunts the dragon as he scurries back up the tunnel, and barely survives the dragon's fiery response. 

"'Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!' he said to himself, and it became a favourite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb."

Bilbo tells the dwarves of Smaug's weakness and a thrush overhears the conversation.  Smaug later attacks them from outside the secret entrance, but the closed door saves them.  Thinking of one of Bilbo's self-given epithets, "barrel-rider", Smaug flies off to destroy Laketown.  Bilbo and the dwarves venture down the tunnel and Bilbo enters the empty lair, manages to find the Arkenstone, the precious gem of the hoard, and puts it in his pocket.

In Chapter XIV, Smaug destroys Lake-town but is killed by an archer named Bard, who was told of the dragon's weak spot by the thrush from the mountain, a special bird with the ability to communicate with descendents of the Men of Dale.

"Arrow!" said the bowman. "Black arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!"

And with that the dragon is defeated.  The men begin to rebuild the city, but many join the march of an army of elves led by the Elvenking enroute to claiming a share of the treasure. 

In Chapters XV through XVII, several armies converge on the Lonely Mountain.  The dwarves are warned of the approaching armies of men and elves by a raven, and decide to fortify the mountain and send a bird to Thorin's cousin, Dain.  After listening to their claims, Thorin greedily refuses to ally with Bard or the elves. 

"Their mere fleeting glimpses of treasure which they had caught as they went along had rekindled all the fire of their dwarfish hearts; and when the heart of a dwarf, even the most respectable, is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows suddenly bold, and he may become fierce."
                                                                                                    Chapter XIII

Bilbo gives the Arkenstone to Bard so he'll have something to bargain with and possibly avoid any fighting and Gandalf re-appears.  Thorin is enraged that the Arkenstone is in Bard's hands, and when Dain's army arrives the battle is set to begin.  Just as it is about to start, Gandalf intervenes to warn that a great army of goblins is about to arrive. The Battle of Five Armies ensues, with dwarves, men and elves fighting against goblins and Wargs.  The battle seems lost when the giant eagles arrive, but Bilbo is knocked unconscious by a stone hitting his head.  
He regains consciousness, finds the battle has ended  and is taken to see Thorin, who is on his deathbed.  The dwarf understands the wrong choices he made and before he dies asks for Bilbo's forgiveness. 

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
Chapter XVIII

He is buried with Orcrist and the Arkenstone, and his inheritance, the treasure hoard, is divided.

In Chapters XVIII and XIX Bilbo makes his return journey home.  He and Gandalf stay with Beorn over Yule-tide and return to Rivendell the next spring.  When Bilbo returns to Hobbiton, he finds that because he has been presumed dead, his house and its contents are being auctioned off.  He manages to recover most of his belongings and settles back into the comforts of his hobbit-hole, happy to be living a simple life after so long a tale.

"'Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.'"
Chapter XIX