By Gemma Williams
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is a book that doesn't require a great deal of introduction due to the fact that the majority of people will have read the book or seen the film. Even so, The Hobbit is the prequel to popular epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings, written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937.
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is a book that doesn't require a great deal of introduction due to the fact that the majority of people will have read the book or seen the film. Even so, The Hobbit is the prequel to popular epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings, written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937.
The story follows frumpy Bilbo Baggins as a Wizard does what Wizards do best: manipulate him into doing what he needs. Bilbo is sent away on a quest assigned as the burglar, with a platoon of eccentric dwarves to steal back their lost fortune from the dragon, Smaug. Naturally, the story isn’t that simple and he runs into many issues along the way.
As any Tolkien fan knows, Hobbits are peculiar little people with abnormally hairy feet. They love food and despise anything that goes against the norm, and that includes adventures! So when Gandalf arrives with the offer of such a thing for Bilbo, he is affronted and turns the Wizard away. Yet when a Wizard wants something, you know he’ll sure as hell get it. Sorry Bilbo.
Gandalf travels with the group for a while and introduces them to some Elves who give them some helpful information as to how to complete their quest. Bilbo gets separated from the rest of the group by some Goblins and stumbles across … yep, you guessed it, the One Ring!
As any Tolkien fan knows, Hobbits are peculiar little people with abnormally hairy feet. They love food and despise anything that goes against the norm, and that includes adventures! So when Gandalf arrives with the offer of such a thing for Bilbo, he is affronted and turns the Wizard away. Yet when a Wizard wants something, you know he’ll sure as hell get it. Sorry Bilbo.
Gandalf travels with the group for a while and introduces them to some Elves who give them some helpful information as to how to complete their quest. Bilbo gets separated from the rest of the group by some Goblins and stumbles across … yep, you guessed it, the One Ring!
Of course Gollum was not far behind. Bilbo defeats Gollum at his games of riddles through treachery which angers Gollum but Bilbo has a ring which causes invisibility so that was not a huge problem. He manages to rejoin the dwarves whose opinions of him have improved; they previously thought he was a useless addition to their team.
Gandalf leaves the company and they pass through a small town before carrying on to the Lonely Mountains, also known as Smaug’s Lair.
Bilbo manages to sneak in and deduce a weakness in Smaug’s armour. Smaug believes the intruder came from Lake-town, the town the group cut through on their way to the Mountain. The dragon flies away, leaving Bilbo safe, but starts attacking the town!
Bilbo and the dwarves hide within the mountain and Bilbo finds an old artefact which belonged to Thorin’s family, and hides it away. The wood-elves and inhabitants of Lake-town surround the group and demand compensation for the damage they brought upon the innocents.
Thorin has managed to find Dwarves living in the mountains to fight on their behalf. This leads to the Battle of Five Armies as an army of Wargs and Goblins join in, resulting in the elves, men, dwarves and hobbit alike, as well as some eagles, to band together to defeat the monsters.
Thorin dies in the battle but they are victorious. Bilbo returns home with a share of the gold from Smaug’s lair and is a rich little hobbit for the rest of his days.
That was a brief summary of the story but a lot was missed out so if you haven’t read the book, there are a lot of hidden gems for you to find that have not been mentioned above.
It is brimmed full of what you would expect from a Tolkien book: magic, supernatural creatures and a grand adventure for one small, unlikely hero.
Gandalf leaves the company and they pass through a small town before carrying on to the Lonely Mountains, also known as Smaug’s Lair.
Bilbo manages to sneak in and deduce a weakness in Smaug’s armour. Smaug believes the intruder came from Lake-town, the town the group cut through on their way to the Mountain. The dragon flies away, leaving Bilbo safe, but starts attacking the town!
Bilbo and the dwarves hide within the mountain and Bilbo finds an old artefact which belonged to Thorin’s family, and hides it away. The wood-elves and inhabitants of Lake-town surround the group and demand compensation for the damage they brought upon the innocents.
Thorin has managed to find Dwarves living in the mountains to fight on their behalf. This leads to the Battle of Five Armies as an army of Wargs and Goblins join in, resulting in the elves, men, dwarves and hobbit alike, as well as some eagles, to band together to defeat the monsters.
Thorin dies in the battle but they are victorious. Bilbo returns home with a share of the gold from Smaug’s lair and is a rich little hobbit for the rest of his days.
That was a brief summary of the story but a lot was missed out so if you haven’t read the book, there are a lot of hidden gems for you to find that have not been mentioned above.
It is brimmed full of what you would expect from a Tolkien book: magic, supernatural creatures and a grand adventure for one small, unlikely hero.
The book itself is amusing enough, though not to the same standard as the sequel, and has some underlying themes which are related to Tolkien’s life in World War I which really brings the scenes to life.
This book and the Lord of the Rings series have both survived an immense amount of time and are probably now more popular than ever thanks to the films.
I have never seen The Hobbit films so when I heard they were splitting it into three films, I was distraught. It is a long book and there is not enough in the story for it to be adapted into more than one, maybe two films at a push. They have clearly added to the story which I was not sure about but people seem to love it so I think I will have to give the film a try, especially now that it’s released on DVD.
This book and the Lord of the Rings series have both survived an immense amount of time and are probably now more popular than ever thanks to the films.
I have never seen The Hobbit films so when I heard they were splitting it into three films, I was distraught. It is a long book and there is not enough in the story for it to be adapted into more than one, maybe two films at a push. They have clearly added to the story which I was not sure about but people seem to love it so I think I will have to give the film a try, especially now that it’s released on DVD.
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