The Hobbit facts for kids
Cover of the 1937 first edition, from a drawing by Tolkien
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| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
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| Illustrator | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Cover artist | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Tolkien's legendarium |
| Genre |
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| Set in | Middle-earth |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin (UK) |
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Publication date
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21 September 1937 |
| Pages | 310 (first edition) |
| OCLC | 1827184 |
| LC Class | PR6039.O32 H63 |
| Followed by | The Lord of the Rings |
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is a book written by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was first published on September 21, 1937. Tolkien wrote it in the 1930s for his children as a bedtime story. The story takes place before The Lord of the Rings.
The plot is about the hobbit (a small race of people invented by Tolkien) Bilbo Baggins who goes on an adventurous quest with a group of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf, in order to fight the dragon Smaug, which has stolen the treasures and home of the dwarves.
Although Tolkien borrowed (for example names and background) from his own Middle-earth storyline, The Hobbit was at first not intended to be part of it. Only later, when Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, did he integrate the story of both Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings into his Middle-earth world.
Characters
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, who lives a quiet life in the Shire, who goes on an unexpected adventure during the book. He is visited by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, who enlists him to travel with a group of 13 dwarves, as a burglar.
Thorin Oakenshield is the leader of the group of dwarves, and true King under the Mountain of the old Dwarven kingdom of the Lonely Mountain. The dwarves are on an adventure to get their old kingdom back from the dragon Smaug, who conquered the Lonely Mountain and made the dwarves flee years before. The other dwarves are and Thorin's young nephews Fíli and Kíli, Thorin's cousins Balin and Dwalin, Óin and Glóin, Dori, Nori, Ori, and the dwarves Bifur, Bofur and Bombur.
Along their travels they met many people and creatures: Elrond, a wise elf in Rivendell; goblins; Gollum, a creature with a magic ring; speaking Great Eagles; Beorn the bear shapeshifter; the Elvenking of Mirkwood; Bard the Bowman, and many more.
Plot
The hobbit Bilbo Baggins lives a quiet and peaceful life. One day the wizard Gandalf comes to him, and with him thirteen dwarves: Thorin Oakenshield, Fíli and Kíli, Balin, Dwalin, Óin, Glóin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. The dwarves tell their story: A long time ago they lived in the Lonely Mountain. Thorin's father was their king, the King under the Mountain. But one day the dragon Smaug came to the Lonely Mountain and killed all of the dwarves he found. The dragon took their treasure and now lives in the Lonely Mountain. But some of the dwarves could flee. Now the dwarves want to go back the Lonely Mountain, and get back their home and treasures from the dragon. Gandalf wants Bilbo to come with them, and work as a master thief. At first Bilbo does not want to, but later he goes with them.
Gandalf, the dwarves, and Bilbo start to go east on their journey to the Lonely Mountain. After Gandalf saves the group from three trolls, they find the trolls' cave. Among the trolls' things there is some gold and swords. Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo each get a sword. The group continues on to the elven city Rivendell. Its master, Elrond, gives them helpful information.
As the group travels east over the Misty Mountains, they are attacked by Goblins (Orcs). The Goblins take the dwarves and Bilbo into their caves. Gandalf saves them and the group flees. During their flight Bilbo gets lost, and tries to find a way out by himself. In the tunnels Bilbo finds a ring, which he puts in his pocket. By an underground lake, Bilbo meets the creature Gollum. Gollum and Bilbo play a game of riddles. If Bilbo wins the game, Gollum will show him the way out; if Gollum wins, he will eat Bilbo. When Bilbo does not know another riddle to ask Gollum, he finds the ring in his pocket and asks himself: "What have I got in my pocket?" Gollum thinks this is a riddle, but cannot answer it, and so Bilbo wins the game. Gollum is angry and does not want to help Bilbo. Gollum then goes away to get something he owns: a magical ring, which turns the wearer invisible. Gollum cannot find his ring, and realizes that Bilbo has it. Gollum goes back, but Bilbo is afraid and runs away. While running, the ring slips on Bilbo's finger and he becomes invisible. Gollum runs past Bilbo, towards the way out of the caves. Bilbo realizes that the ring makes him invisible. With the help of the ring he can follow Gollum and get out of the caves. Outside, Bilbo again meets Gandalf and the dwarves.
The group is attacked by Goblins and Wargs, but saved by the Great Eagles. The group comes to the home of Beorn, a big man that can become a bear. After staying at Beorn's house, they continue to the forest Mirkwood. At the border of Mirkwood, Gandalf leaves the group. Bilbo and the dwarves have to go through Mirkwood without him. The dwarves are attacked and captured by giant spiders. With the help of his ring and his sword, Bilbo saves them. Bilbo names his sword Sting. The Wood-Elves capture the dwarves. Bilbo again uses the ring and saves the dwarves. He frees them and puts them into barrels, which he lets swim down a river out of Mirkwood. The group comes to Lake-town, a human city near the Lonely Mountain.
The dwarves and Bilbo travel to the Lonely Mountain. They can find the secret door into the mountain, and open it. Bilbo goes in two times and meets the dragon Smaug. Bilbo steals a golden cup, and finds out that Smaug has a weak place on his left chest. Bilbo tells this to the dwarves, but a thrush (a bird) also hears it. Smaug is angry and goes out to destroy Lake-town. But in Laketown the thrush tells the archer Bard of the dragon's weak point, and Bard shoots the dragon. A big part of Laketown is destroyed, but Smaug is killed.
The dwarves are happy to be back in their old home, and to have their old treasures back. Thorin sends a message to the dwarves of his people, and tells them to come. But soon the people from Laketown and the Mirkwood-Elves arrive. Both peoples want a part of the treasure, but the dwarves do not want to give them anything. The humans and elves start a siege of the Lonely Mountain. After a while the other dwarves of Thorin's people come: Dáin II Ironfoot and an army of dwarves.
The three armies almost start to fight each other, but then the wizard Gandalf appears. Gandalf tells them that an army of Goblins is coming to the Lonely Mountain, and because of that the humans, elves, and dwarves have to fight the Goblins together. The Battle of Five Armies is long and hard, but is finally won with the help of the Great Eagles and Beorn. Thorin's nephews Fíli and Kíli are killed in the battle. Thorin is wounded and dies afterwards. Dáin becomes King under the Mountain. Everyone gets a part of the dwarves' treasure. In the end Bilbo returns home, and lives happily everafter.
Illustration and design
- Further information: J. R. R. Tolkien's artwork
Tolkien's correspondence and publisher's records show that he was involved in the design and illustration of the entire book. All elements were the subject of considerable correspondence and fussing over by Tolkien. Rayner Unwin, in his publishing memoir, comments: "In 1937 alone Tolkien wrote 26 letters to George Allen & Unwin... detailed, fluent, often pungent, but infinitely polite and exasperatingly precise... I doubt any author today, however famous, would get such scrupulous attention."
Even the maps, of which Tolkien originally proposed five, were considered and debated. He wished Thror's Map to be tipped in (that is, glued in after the book has been bound) at first mention in the text, and with the moon letter runes on the reverse so they could be seen when held up to the light. In the end the cost, as well as the shading of the maps, which would be difficult to reproduce, resulted in the final design of two maps as endpapers, Thror's map, and the Map of Wilderland (see Rhovanion), both printed in black and red on the paper's cream background.
Originally Allen & Unwin planned to illustrate the book only with the endpaper maps, but Tolkien's first tendered sketches so charmed the publisher's staff that they opted to include them without raising the book's price despite the extra cost. Thus encouraged, Tolkien supplied a second batch of illustrations. The publisher accepted all of these as well, giving the first edition ten black-and-white illustrations plus the two endpaper maps. The illustrated scenes were: The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the-Water, The Trolls, The Mountain Path, The Misty Mountains looking West from the Eyrie towards Goblin Gate, Beorn's Hall, Mirkwood, The Elvenking's Gate, Lake Town, The Front Gate, and The Hall at Bag-End. All but one of the illustrations were a full page, and one, the Mirkwood illustration, required a separate plate.
Satisfied with his skills, the publishers asked Tolkien to design a dust jacket. This project, too, became the subject of many iterations and much correspondence, with Tolkien always writing disparagingly of his own ability to draw. The runic inscription around the edges of the illustration are a phonetic transliteration of English, giving the title of the book and details of the author and publisher. The original jacket design contained several shades of various colours, but Tolkien redrew it several times using fewer colours each time. His final design consisted of four colours. The publishers, mindful of the cost, removed the red from the sun to end up with only black, blue, and green ink on white stock.
The publisher's production staff designed a binding, but Tolkien objected to several elements. Through several iterations, the final design ended up as mostly the author's. The spine shows runes: two "þ" (Thrain and Thror) runes and one "d" (door). The front and back covers were mirror images of each other, with an elongated dragon characteristic of Tolkien's style stamped along the lower edge, and with a sketch of the Misty Mountains stamped along the upper edge.
Once illustrations were approved for the book, Tolkien proposed colour plates as well. The publisher would not relent on this, so Tolkien pinned his hopes on the American edition to be published about six months later. Houghton Mifflin rewarded these hopes with the replacement of the frontispiece (The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water) in colour and the addition of new colour plates: Rivendell, Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes, Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves and Conversation with Smaug, which features a dwarvish curse written in Tolkien's invented script Tengwar, and signed with two "þ" ("Th") runes. The additional illustrations proved so appealing that George Allen & Unwin adopted the colour plates as well for their second printing, with exception of Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes.
Different editions have been illustrated in diverse ways. Many follow the original scheme at least loosely, but many others are illustrated by other artists, especially the many translated editions. Some cheaper editions, particularly paperback, are not illustrated except with the maps. "The Children's Book Club" edition of 1942 includes the black-and-white pictures but no maps, an anomaly. Douglas Anderson's The Annotated Hobbit is illustrated with many black-and-white drawings taken from translations of the story into some 25 languages.
Tolkien's use of runes, both as decorative devices and as magical signs within the story, has been cited as a major cause for the popularization of runes within "New Age" and esoteric literature, stemming from Tolkien's popularity with the elements of counter-culture in the 1970s.
Adaptations
The Hobbit has been adapted many times for a variety of media, starting with a March 1953 stage production by St. Margaret's School, Edinburgh. The first motion picture adaptation of The Hobbit was Gene Deitch's 1966 short film of cartoon stills. In 1968, BBC Radio 4 broadcast an 8-part radio drama version by Michael Kilgarriff. In 1974, Nicol Williamson recorded an abridged version of the book on 4 long-playing records for the Argo Records label, voicing all the characters. In 1977, Rankin/Bass made an animated film based on the book. In 1978, Romeo Muller won a Peabody Award for his teleplay, though critics described it as "execrable" and "confusing". A children's opera composed by Dean Burry appeared in 2004 in Toronto. Between 2012 and 2014, Peter Jackson's three-part live-action film version appeared on cinema screens. Several computer and video games have been based on the story, including a 1982 game by Beam Software. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Andy Serkis read the whole of The Hobbit to raise money for charity. He then recorded the work again as an audiobook, with cover art by Alan Lee.
Legacy
The Hobbit's sequel The Lord of the Rings is often claimed to be its greatest legacy.
The style and themes of the book have been seen to help stretch young readers' literacy skills, preparing them to approach the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. Further, it may exercise the reading skills of advanced younger readers better than much modern fiction for teenagers. Educationalists have seen The Hobbit as a means to encourage literacy among 11- to 14-year-old boys in particular.
Related pages
See also
In Spanish: El hobbit para niños
