The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I want to say this is about my third time reading The Hobbit, so obviously it is a book I enjoy. The first time I read it was in high school, and then again before the first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, came out, just for a refresher. I read it this time because my goal this year is to read more of the classics, and I wanted to start on an adventure, and what is a better adventure than to travel through Middle Earth?

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Five Sentence Summary

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit and lives a quiet life, until one day when Gandalf arrives on his doorstep and involves Bilbo in a quest to reclaim the Kingdom Under the Mountain for Thorin Oakensheild, a dwarf. They are joined with twelve other dwarves who wish to see Thorin returned to his rightful position as King Under the Mountain. However, they must travel across the treacherous terrain of Middle Earth where they encounter trolls, goblins, wood elves, and at the end of their journey battle the dragon Smaug who ran the dwarves out ages ago and kept their fortune. However, the death of Smaug is not the last battle the dwarves and Bilbo will face as enemies of the dwarves are appearing to claim their fortune. Will Bilbo, a simple hobbit from Hobbiton, be able to earn the trust of the dwarves and survive multiple life and death situations and return to his quaint hobbit hole in one piece?

My most favorite part of The Hobbit is the beginning of it. I feel that the opening lines of the book are the best opening lines in all the history of written works.

"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, not 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." (p. 11)

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I do not know how, but that simple line always draws me in and tells me I am in for something good. Tolkien has a way of writing that draws in the reader by painting a vivid picture without bogging them down with too much detail. Every time he introduces a new character, you can see them clearly in your minds eye; and every new location is so perfectly described that you can visualize the characters there; and each adventure is so beautifully detailed that you feel that you are experiencing them with the characters. I feel that very few authors can do what Tolkien can do with words.

Another amazing feat of J.R.R. Tolkien is the creation of Middle Earth, a universe that he has so perfectly detailed in all of its intricacies that you can mistake it for a real place to visit. Middle Earth is the location of many Tolkien's books, including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Silmarillion, The Book of Lost Tales Parts One and Two, and countless more. So obviously he had a lot of time to develop the world. Whenever an author so thoroughly dedicates themselves to a new world, you almost always get something beautiful. Look at C.S. Lewis and the world of Narnia, or J.K. Rowling and the wizarding world. Maybe it has something to do with using initials instead of your actual name. More than likely, it is that they are extremely talented individuals. Since my first read of The Hobbit in high school, I have always wanted to travel to Hobbiton and Rivendell. While Tolkien originally said that Middle Earth was a location on Earth, just a time some 6,000 years before him, he later went on to say that it is not a physical destination, but rather at a different state of imagination. I am partial to believing this as it is a world that I can easily be lost in and picture vividly.

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Out of all of the adventures Bilbo has during The Hobbit, I think my two most favorites are his first encounter with the trolls, and his first encounter with Smaug. When Bilbo encounters the trolls, this is first job as the dwarves burglar, and it does not go so well, and it would have ended quite poorly had Gandalf not returned. Still, I find the conversation of the trolls hilarious and ridiculous as they try to decide the best way to cook dwarves. Bilbo's encounter with Smaug is towards the end of the book, and while not his last adventure during this trip, it is one of the more important ones and really shows Bilbo's growth as a burglar and as a character.

"Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, almost dead and dark, with scarcely a snore more than a whiff of unseen steam, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on the floor when he caught a sudden thin and piercing ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance! Hurriedly Bilbo stepped back and blessed the luck of his ring. Then Smaug spoke.

'Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty to spare!'

But Bilbo was not quite so unlearned in dragon-lore as all that, and if Smaug hoped to get him to come nearer so easily he was disappointed. 'No thank you, O Smaug the Tremendous!' he replied. 'I did not come for presents. I only wished to have a look at you and see if you were truly as great as tales say. I did not believe them....'

'I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air. I am he that walks unseen....'

'I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number....'

'I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. i cam from the end of a bag, but no bag when over me....'

'I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,' went on Bilbo beginning to be pleased with his riddling.

This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don't want to reveal your proper name (which is wise), and don't want to infuriate them by a flat refusal (which is also very wise). No dragon can resit the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it. There was a lot here which Smaug did not understand at all (though I expect you do, since you know all about Bilbo's adventures to which he was referring), but he thought he understood enough, and he chuckled in his wicked inside." (pp.190-191)

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Bilbo is able to confuse Smaug, and although he does eventually anger Smaug, Bilbo's rambling riddle helps to shake the dragons confidence. 

 Now, it is rare that I say this about a book become movie, but I do approve of Peter Jackson bringing Galadriel into the movie. In the book is very man-heavy, where the only females mentioned are the females of Dales when the women, children, and elderly are directed out of the city. Galadriel is a bit of a badass in the movie, and I appreciated having her there, even if she also fills in a romantic plot point that is well overplayed as well.

I am glad that my first book of the year was an adventure and I cannot wait to carry on the Lord of the Rings trilogy next, especially since I have only read The Fellowship of the Ring in that set. 

Rating: 8/10

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Series: Middle-Earth Universe (26 Primary Works)

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Classics

Dates Read: January 1-3, 2019