The Hobbit Essay, Research Paper

THE HOBBIT

CHARACTER INTRODUCTION

BILBO BAGGINS: The Hobbit who led the Dwarves to the Lonely

Mountain to recla im their treasure from the dragon Smaug. He found

the One Ring in Gollum’s cave

GANDALF: The Wizard that accompanies Bilbo and the dwarves on

their quest. He is well versed in magic spells and often calls upon

them to save his comrades.

THORIN OAKENSHIELD: Son of the King of Dwarves who were driven

from the Lonel y Mountain by Smaug. With the aid of Gandalf and Bilbo

he seeks regain his trea sure and the throne. When Smaug died he truly

became King under the Mountain, t hough he was killed in combat in the

battle of five Armies.

SMAUG: The dragon of the Lonely Mountain who hordes the treasure

he stole from the dwarves of Dale.

GOLLUM: He is perfect example of the evil powers of the One Ring.

He was born a Hobbit but had the ring too long. It made him into a

slimey little creature who only lives to possess the ring.

BARD: The archer who killed Smaug. He shot the dragon in the one

spot it had no protection. The towns people later considered him a

hero. What the people didn’t know it was Bilbo who discovered the weak

spot in the dragon’s iron scales.

BEORN: An enemy of orcs, he becomes friends with Bilbo and

Gandalf. He has th e ability to change forms from human to bear. It

is he who determines the outco me of the battle of five Armies.

STORY SUMMARY

The book begins with Bilbo Baggins enjoying a pipe after

breakfast. Th is is one of his favorite pleasures and he feels quite

content in doing so. He is middle-aged, and resides in a clean warm

burrow in the ground.

One morning Gandalf, a wizard stops by to chat with Bilbo. He

informs Bilbo that he is looking for someone to go on an adventure with

him. Although Bilbo is tempted he declines, but not before inviting

Gandalf for tea the next morning.

The next day Bilbo hears his doorbell and he recalls inviting

Gandalf for tea, but instead of the wizard at the door, there is a

group of dwarves… thirteen in all.

Thorin son of the dwarf king starts to outline a plan on how to

regain the tr easure stolen by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo is shocked to

realize these plans involve him! He then realizes that Gandalf has

tricked him by inscribing on his doo r that he was a burglar seeking a

job with lots of excitement. With all this talk of quests and glory

Bilbo decides to join the party after all.

Gandalf reveals a key and a map of their journey which ends at the

Lon ely Mountain. It is there that the treasure of Thorin’s ancestors

are kept-guar ded by Smaug.

The quest begins and the party meets at the Green Dragon Inn. From

there they venture into the Lone-lands. As heavy rains begin to fall,

Bilbo notice s that Gandalf is missing. When it starts to pour they

stop to investigate a light. There Bilbo finds three trolls grumbling

about food.

Bilbo decides to live up to title of burglar and attempts to pick

one of the trolls pocket. However they quickly capture him. The dwarfs

see what’s going on and try to save poor Bilbo… yet all of them

except Thorin is caught. Thorin formulates a plan of freeing them but

fails.

Gandalf returns and occupies the trolls till dawn, then the turn

into stone. They group take the two swords and a knife the trolls were

carrying.

The travelers come across the Secret Valley. There they stop at

Elrond ’s Last Homely House. Elrond tells them the only way to use the

key that Thorin possesses is to wait where the thrush knocks and the

setting sun will shine up on the keyhole.

The next morning the group heads toward the Misty Mountains. A

storm has caused them to seek shelter in a cave. The cave however

turns out to be an entrance to the goblin kingdom. Once again the

group is captured. Only Gandalf is free, and he slays the Goblin King,

and once again free the party from impend ing doom.

During the escape Bilbo is knocked unconscious and is left behind.

He awakes to find himself power which makes it’s wearer invisible – the

ring which Bilbo found.

Bilbo slips the ring upon his finger and disappears. He follows

Gollum stealthily toward the entrance to the outside world. He then

bounds over Gollu m’s head to freedom. Outside he is reunited with his

dwarf friends. Later they encounter Wargs (large savage wolves).

The Wargs chase the party into the trees. High in the branches

Gandalf uses a spell to turn the pine cones a fire, in order to drive

the wolves away. However the plan backfires and the very trees they

took refuge in are now ablaze!

Luckily for them the king of the eagles spotted them. He and his

eagles swooped out of the sky and whisked our adventures to safety.

The eagles dropped them off near Mirkwood Forest. This is where they

come across Beorn, a bear like man who can indeed change into a bear.

He puts them up for the night and outfits them with supplies for th eir

trip into Mirkwood. He also warns them not to stray from the path in

the fo rest.

When they are ready to enter the forest, Gandalf announces he will

not be accompanying them in this part of the journey. The group feels

lost without him but yet they press on.

They come across a black river. It is here that Bombur, one of

the Dwarves falls in and is thrust into a sleep from which he cannot

awake. Food is scarce now and the hungry travelers are lured off the

path by visions of elves feasting in the forest. To their surprize

every time they announce their presence to the elves…they elves

vanish!

Once again Bilbo finds himself seperated from the group. He stops

for a short nap and awakes to find himself tied down by a giant spider.

He uses his sword to cut himself free. He then attacks the spider and

kills it. Feeling proud of his deed, he decides to name his sword

“Sting”.

Bilbo finds his friends deep within the forest. They too were

captured by spiders, but did not have the good fortune of escaping.

Bilbo puts on his m agic ring and implements a plan to rescue his

companions. It is a success and t he party (once again) gets out of an

awful predicament.

The celebration of escaping the spiders is short lived since the

dwarf s are yet again captured…this time by the Wood Elves. Bilbo

however dons his ring and escapes capture. He followed the elves to

there home in the forest.

There he formulated a plan to free his friends. He opens their

cells and seal them in barrels. He then floated the barrel up the

river to Lake-town and free dom.

In Lake-town they get more supplies and venture to the Lonely

Mountain. On the mountain they heard a thrush drop a snail to the

rocks. Recalling what Beorn told them about the thrush and sunlight,

they quickly found the hidden b ack entrance to Smaug’s lair.

/ Bilbo puts on his ring and goes to confront the dragon. It is there

he notices that in Smaug’s underbelly there is a place that is not covered

by his iron like scales. After conversing with the dragon Bilbo returns to

the party. Smaug however is thoroughly angry about his little invisible

visitor and heads to destroy Lake-town.

When the dragon attacks, a thrush told Bard (the captain of the

archers) that Smaug has a weak spot in his breast. Bard used his black

arrow to slay the beast. Then the towns people made him king of Lake-

town. With smaug dead the men and elves go to claim his horded

treasure. Dwarf troops under Thorin’s kinsman Dain also appear. There

bickering was soon changed to alliance when the Wargs and Goblins

approached… and so began The Battle of the Five Armies. During the

battle Thorin is hurt and Bilbo gets knocked unconscious by falling

rocks. The eagles as well as Beorn, in bear form join the fray. The

Wargs and goblins were vanquished. Bilbo later returned to his burrow

under the hill with a chest of trea sure, a ring of power, and heart

full of adventure.

BOOK REVIEW

I liked this book alot. The author uses characters that appear

only in fairy tales, yet gives them a personality that shows maturity.

I especialy liked the way Bilbo changed from a tea drinking home maker

to a swash buckling adv enturer.

I would highly recommend this book for children of all ages as

well as adults. It has a certain appeal that makes the reader want to

continue reading the book all day.