The Hobbit

by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Exposition

• The book starts with the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in his house getting surprised by 13 Dwarves and a wizard that come visit him. The wizard’s name is Gandalf
• The Dwarves tell Bilbo of Erebor, the lost city of the Dwarves. The city is built into a mountain called the lonely mountain. It full of gold, but it is possessed by a dragon. Thorin, the dwarf leader, wants to reclaim his right as King Under the Mountain. There is also a precious stone called the Arkenstone that he desires.
• Gandalf chooses Bilbo as his burglar.

The Rising Action

• The rising action occurs through most of the book. There are different little climaxes, but the rising action is from chapters 2-17 (2 and 17 included).
• The rising action begins with Bilbo choosing to accompany the Dwarves. They start traveling west. The group soon arrives at their first obstacle: Three Tolls. The group almost gets eaten, but daylight saves them from the trolls.
• Next, they go to Elrond the Elf. He deciphers a map for the Dwarves that they have to get to the lonely mountain.
• When they leave Elrond, they make their way to The Misty Mountains. At the misty mountains, their greatest obstacle yet awaits them, Orks.
• While resting in a cave, Orks attack the group and take them as prisoners. Bilbo, being small, somehow escapes the Orks and gets lost in their hideout, in the mountain (not the lonely mountain).
• Bilbo finds a ring, a magical ring that has powers. He meets Gollum, who had the ring. It was his “Precious”. Bilbo doesn’t know any of that yet. Bilbo makes an agreement with Gollum. They were going to quiz each other. If Gollum wins, he can eat Bilbo, but if Bilbo wins, Gollum is going to show Bilbo the way out.
• It turns out that Bilbo wins the quizzes. Gollum finds out that Bilbo has his Precious, so he tries to kill Bilbo. Bilbo puts the ring on, which makes him invisible. Gollum accidentally leads Bilbo out of the mountain, and Bilbo gets reunited with his friends, who have escaped with Gandalf.
• After this scary encounter they make their way to Beorn’s house. There they rest for a few days, and then they continue on their way.
• The group goes into Mirkwood Forest. There, Gandalf leaves them for a while. In Mirkwood, the Dwarves and Bilbo get lost, and they encounter giant spiders. Bilbo saves his friends from them, and then they end up at the Wood Elfs’ home. The Wood Elfs take the Dwarves as enemies and they put them in jail. Bilbo, as always, saves his friends again.
• Once they escaped from the Wood Elfs, they go into the city of the humans, Lake Town. This town isn’t far away from The Lonely Mountain.
• There, the king welcomes them, and gives them provisions.
• The Dwarves with Bilbo keep on going to the mountain.
• When they arrive there, Bilbo goes into the mountain through a back door. The Dwarves are waiting for him outside.
• Bilbo meets the dragon. They start talking to each other. Bilbo goes back to his dwarf friends.
• The dragon goes out into the open, trying to find the Dwarves.
• The dragon attacks Lake Town. A man named Bard kills the dragon. Bard also wants to have some of the treasure in the mountain for his people, since the dragon destroyed a big part of their town.
• Thorin becomes sick with the Gold Sickness, also called Dragon Sickness. It is greed for money and the treasure in the mountain.
• Bilbo goes over to Bard with the Arkenstone, where he finds Gandalf. He tells Bard that Thorin would do practically anything for that stone.
• When Bilbo later acknowledges that he gave Bard the stone, Thorin becomes furious.
• However, Orks were planning to attack Erebor, so there wasn’t really time for Thorin to hurt or talk to Bilbo.
• A war erupts. It is called The Battle of the Five Armies. The war was between Orks, Dwarves, Elves, Men, and Eagles. The Elves, Eagles, Dwarves, and Men fight as allies and win.

The Climax

• The climax is after the war is over, and the dwarves reclaim their homeland as Bilbo’s adventure is finished.

The Falling Action

• The falling action is when Thorin dies, but not before reuniting his friendship with Bilbo first. Two other dwarves die too.

• Bilbo tells the remaining dwarves that they are welcome at his home anytime.
• Bilbo and Gandalf go back to The Shire (Bilbo’s homeland).

The Resolution

• The resolution begins with Bilbo writing this book when Gandalf and Balin (a dwarf) come and visit him. Tolkien finishes his story with having the characters about to smoke pipe-weed.

Truly one of the best books ever written. I highly recommend it!

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.-J.R.R. Tolkien

If you enjoyed reading this book, try Lord of the Rings. It picks up the adventure of the ring with Bilbo Baggin’s cousin, Frodo.

Since this book is very long, I would recommend this for ages 10+.