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.
I am certainly going to read the other books about the Hobbits by
J.R.R. Tolkien.
