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113-607: The Wizards or Istari in J. R. R. Tolkien 's fiction were powerful angelic beings, Maiar , who took the form of Men to intervene in the affairs of Middle-earth in the Third Age , after catastrophically violent direct interventions by the Valar , and indeed by the one god Eru Ilúvatar , in the earlier ages. Two Wizards, Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White, largely represent

226-405: A Bildungsroman rather than a traditional quest. The Jungian concept of individuation is also reflected through this theme of growing maturity and capability, with the author contrasting Bilbo's personal growth against the arrested development of the dwarves. Thus, while Gandalf exerts a parental influence over Bilbo early on, it is Bilbo who gradually takes over leadership of the party, a fact

339-459: A 1955 letter to W. H. Auden , Tolkien recollects that he began The Hobbit one day early in the 1930s. While he was marking School Certificate papers, he found a blank page. Suddenly inspired, he wrote the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." By late 1932 he had finished the story and then lent the manuscript to several friends, including C. S. Lewis and a student of Tolkien's named Elaine Griffiths. In 1936, when Griffiths

452-481: 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 " ( Thráin and Thrór) 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

565-519: A boy by Samuel Rutherford Crockett 's historical novel The Black Douglas and of basing the Necromancer— Sauron —on its villain, Gilles de Retz . Incidents in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are similar in narrative and style to the novel, and its overall style and imagery have been suggested as having had an influence on Tolkien. The Tolkien scholar Mark T. Hooker has catalogued

678-535: A company of thirteen dwarves . Thorin Oakenshield is the proud, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to the destroyed dwarvish kingdom under the Lonely Mountain . Smaug is a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarvish kingdom of Thorin's grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure. The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of

791-421: A cup from the dragon's hoard, rousing him to wrath—an incident directly mirroring Beowulf and an action entirely determined by traditional narrative patterns. As Tolkien wrote, "The episode of the theft arose naturally (and almost inevitably) from the circumstances. It is difficult to think of any other way of conducting the story at this point. I fancy the author of Beowulf would say much the same." The name of

904-462: A gap in the ancient dragon's armour. The enraged dragon, deducing that Lake-town has aided the intruders, flies off to destroy the town. A thrush overhears Bilbo's report of Smaug's vulnerability and tells Lake-town resident Bard. Smaug wreaks havoc on the town, until Bard shoots an arrow into the chink in Smaug's armour , killing the dragon. When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds

1017-864: A guide-figure who assists the protagonists, comparable to the Cumaean Sibyl who assisted Aeneas in Virgil 's The Aeneid , or to Virgil himself in Dante 's Inferno ; and as a Christ -figure, a prophet . Saruman the White is leader of the Istari and of the White Council, in The Hobbit and at the outset in The Lord of the Rings . However, he desires Sauron's power for himself and plots to take over Middle-earth by force, remodelling Isengard along

1130-511: A handful of children's books that have been accepted into mainstream literature, alongside Jostein Gaarder 's Sophie's World (1991) and J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series (1997–2007). Tolkien intended The Hobbit as a "fairy-story" and wrote it in a tone suited to addressing children; he said later that the book was not specifically written for children, but had rather been created out of his interest in mythology and legend. Many of

1243-593: A lengthy series of parallels between The Hobbit and Jules Verne 's 1864 Journey to the Center of the Earth . These include, among other things, a hidden runic message and a celestial alignment that direct the adventurers to the goals of their quests. Tolkien's portrayal of goblins in The Hobbit was particularly influenced by George MacDonald 's The Princess and the Goblin . However, MacDonald's influence on Tolkien

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1356-496: A linguistic shifting in level from the inanimate to animate. Tolkien saw the idea of animism as closely linked to the emergence of human language and myth: "...The first men to talk of 'trees and stars' saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings... To them the whole of creation was 'myth-woven and elf-patterned'." As in plot and setting, Tolkien brings his literary theories to bear in forming characters and their interactions. He portrays Bilbo as

1469-453: A man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman , a grim but honourable archer of Lake-town . Gandalf tricks Bilbo Baggins into hosting a party for Thorin Oakenshield and his band of twelve dwarves (Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur), who go over their plans to reclaim their ancient home, Lonely Mountain , and its vast treasure from

1582-499: A medieval hierarchy of orders of being , with Wizards higher than Elves who are higher than Men, Donaldson's Lords are "wholly human" and "function democratically". Three Wizards appear in Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies: Saruman, portrayed by Christopher Lee ; Gandalf, portrayed by Ian McKellen ; and Radagast, portrayed by Sylvester McCoy . The critic Brian D. Walter writes that

1695-441: A modern anachronism exploring an essentially antique world. Bilbo is able to negotiate and interact within this antique world because language and tradition make connections between the two worlds. For example, Gollum 's riddles are taken from old historical sources, while those of Bilbo come from modern nursery books. It is the form of the riddle game, familiar to both, which allows Gollum and Bilbo to engage each other, rather than

1808-668: A sense of humour. Tolkien achieves balance of humour and danger through other means as well, as seen in the foolishness and Cockney dialect of the trolls and in the drunkenness of the elven captors. The general form—that of a journey into strange lands, told in a light-hearted mood and interspersed with songs—may be following the model of The Icelandic Journals by William Morris , an important literary influence on Tolkien. Tolkien's works show many influences from Norse mythology , reflecting his lifelong passion for those stories and his academic interest in Germanic philology . The Hobbit

1921-513: A suitable presence as "a powerfully haunted and vindictive figure, if less self-deluding than Tolkien's", even if the film version of the verbal confrontation with Gandalf fails to rise to the same level. Kristin Thompson notes that the Wizards' staffs are more elaborate in the films; their tips are "more convoluted" and can hold a crystal, which can be used to produce light. Rosebury considers

2034-695: A veteran may well be summed up by Bilbo's comment: "Victory after all, I suppose! Well, it seems a very gloomy business." On its publication in October 1937, The Hobbit was met with almost unanimously favourable reviews from publications both in the UK and the US, including The Times , Catholic World and New York Post . C. S. Lewis , friend of Tolkien (and later author of The Chronicles of Narnia between 1949 and 1954), writing in The Times reports: The truth

2147-624: A weapon. As one of the Maiar he is an immortal spirit, but being in a physical body on Middle-earth, he can be killed in battle, as he is by the Balrog from Moria . He is sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission, now as Gandalf the White and leader of the Istari. Tolkien once described Gandalf as an angel incarnate; later, both he and other scholars likened Gandalf to the Norse god Odin in his "Wanderer" guise. Others have described Gandalf as

2260-432: Is "ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men" in an unnamed fantasy world . The world is shown on the endpaper map as "Western Lands" westward and " Wilderland " as the east. Originally this world was self-contained, but as Tolkien began work on The Lord of the Rings , he decided these stories could fit into the legendarium he had been working on privately for decades. The Hobbit and The Lord of

2373-458: Is Slavic, the name of a god . Tolkien stated that the main temptation facing the Wizards, and the one that brought down Saruman, was impatience. It led to a desire to force others to do good, and from there to a simple desire for power. The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns writes that while Saruman is an "imitative and lesser" double of Sauron, reinforcing the Dark Lord's character type, he

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2486-477: Is a motif explicitly borrowed from Morris. The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns writes that Bilbo's character and adventures match many details of Morris's expedition in Iceland. She comments, for instance, that the humorous drawings of Morris riding through the wilds of Iceland by his friend the artist Edward Burne-Jones can serve well as models for Bilbo on his adventures. Tolkien wrote of being impressed as

2599-490: Is also a contrasting double of Gandalf, who becomes Saruman as he "should have been", after Saruman fails in his original purpose. Charles Nelson writes that although evil is personified in Sauron and his creatures such as Balrogs , along with Shelob and other "nameless things" deep below the mountains, evil threatens the characters from within, and the moral failures of those such as Saruman, Boromir , and Denethor endanger

2712-576: 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. The Hobbit takes cues from narrative models of children's literature , as shown by its omniscient narrator and characters that young children can relate to, such as

2825-581: Is no exception to this; the work shows influences from northern European literature, myths and languages, especially from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda . Examples include the names of the dwarves, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Dwalin, Balin , Dain, Nain, and Thorin Oakenshield, along with Gandalf which was a dwarf-name in the Norse. But while their names are Norse,

2938-516: Is one of the best-selling books of all time , with over 100 million copies sold. The Hobbit is set in Middle-earth and follows home-loving Bilbo Baggins , the hobbit of the title, who joins the wizard Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves of Thorin's Company , on a quest to reclaim the dwarves' home and treasure from the dragon Smaug . Bilbo's journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story

3051-402: Is that in this book a number of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar's with the poet's grasp of mythology... The professor has the air of inventing nothing. He has studied trolls and dragons at first hand and describes them with that fidelity that is worth oceans of glib "originality." Lewis compares

3164-469: Is told in the form of a picaresque or episodic quest ; several chapters introduce a new type of monster or threat as Bilbo progresses through the landscape. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence, and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey, and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and common sense. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of

3277-564: The Ancrene Wisse (which Tolkien had written on in 1929), and a Christian understanding of Beowulf . Shippey comments that Bilbo is nothing like a king, and that Chance's talk of "types" just muddies the waters, though he agrees with her that there are "self-images of Tolkien" throughout his fiction; and she is right, too, in seeing Middle-earth as a balance between creativity and scholarship, "Germanic past and Christian present". The overcoming of greed and selfishness has been seen as

3390-628: The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , calls the Maiar semidivine spirits, and notes that each one is linked with one of the Valar. He states that they have "perpetual importance in the cosmic order", noting the statement in The Silmarillion that their joy "is as an air that they breathe in all their days, whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps." Evans notes, too, that Arien and Tilion are central in Tolkien's myth of

3503-482: The Misty Mountains , they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground . Although Gandalf kills the goblin king and rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others as they flee the goblins. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and then encounters Gollum , who engages him in a game, each posing a riddle until one of them cannot solve it. If Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him

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3616-762: The Second World War , despite Tolkien's claims to the contrary. The scholar of humanities Patrick Curry rebuts the "common criticism" of Tolkien, levelled by literary critics such as the scholar of English literature Catherine Stimpson, that his characters are naively either good or evil. Curry writes that far from being "seemingly incorruptible" as Stimpson alleges, evil emerges among the Wizards. William Senior contrasts Tolkien's Wizards as angelic emissaries with those in Stephen R. Donaldson 's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (published 1977–2013), who are simply human. In Senior's view, where Tolkien used myth and

3729-573: The Third Age to counter the Dark Lord Sauron , a fallen Maia of great power. The first three of these five Wizards were named in The Lord of the Rings as Saruman "man of skill" ( supposedly translated from Rohirric , in reality Old English ), Gandalf "elf of the staff" (supposedly in the tongue of northern Men, in reality Old Norse ), and Radagast "tender of beasts" (possibly Westron ). Tolkien never provided non-Elvish names for

3842-568: The Völuspá ; its meaning in that language is "staff-elf". Originally called Olórin, he was the wisest of the Maiar and lived in Lórien until the Third Age, when Manwë tasked him to join the Istari and go to Middle-earth to protect its free peoples. He did not want to go as he feared Sauron, but Manwë persuaded him, telling him that his fear of Sauron was why he was a good fit for it. As a Wizard and

3955-437: The nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle . His creative endeavours at this time also included letters from Father Christmas to his children—illustrated manuscripts that featured warring gnomes and goblins , and a helpful polar bear —alongside the creation of elven languages and an attendant mythology, including The Book of Lost Tales , which he had been creating since 1917. These works all saw posthumous publication. In

4068-471: The " Doctor Dolittle Theme" in The History of The Hobbit , and cites the multitude of talking animals as indicative of this theme. These sapient beings include ravens, a thrush, spiders and the dragon Smaug, alongside the anthropomorphic goblins and elves. Patrick Curry notes that animism is also found in Tolkien's other works, and mentions the "roots of mountains" and "feet of trees" in The Hobbit as

4181-579: The Arkenstone to the besiegers, hoping to head off a war. When they offer the jewel to Thorin in exchange for treasure, Bilbo reveals how they obtained it. Thorin, furious at what he sees as betrayal, banishes Bilbo, and battle seems inevitable when Dáin Ironfoot , Thorin's second cousin, arrives with an army of dwarf warriors. Gandalf reappears to warn all of an approaching army of goblins and Wargs. The dwarves, men and elves band together, but only with

4294-465: The Arkenstone, the most-treasured heirloom of Thorin's family, and hides it away. The Wood-elves and Lake-men request compensation for Lake-town's destruction and settlement of old claims on the treasure. When Thorin refuses to give them anything, they besiege the mountain. However, Thorin manages to send a message to his kinfolk in the Iron Hills and reinforces his position. Bilbo slips out and gives

4407-560: The Brown is mentioned in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings . His role is so slight that it has been described as a plot device. He played a more significant part in Peter Jackson 's The Hobbit film series . Some aspects of his characterisation were invented for the films, but the core elements of his character, namely communing with animals, skill with herbs, and shamanistic ability to change his shape and colours, are as described by Tolkien. Unusually among Middle-earth names, Radagast

4520-819: The Chiefs of the Maiar, Eönwë the Herald of Manwë , King of the Valar, and Ilmarë the Handmaiden of Varda , Lady of the Stars; Ossë and Uinen, spirits who rule the seas and act under the Lord of Waters Ulmo ; Arien, guide of the sun and a spirit of fire uncorrupted by Melkor; Olórin, the wisest Maia, and Tilion, guide of the moon and the servant of the Huntsman of the Valar, Oromë . Melkor (known in Sindarin as Morgoth),

4633-626: 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

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4746-469: 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

4859-616: The Girdle of Melian ( List Melian in Sindarin). She had a daughter with Thingol named Lúthien , said to be the fairest and most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar . Some of Melian's notable descendants through Lúthien include Elwing , Elrond , Arwen , Elendil , and Aragorn . In about T.A.  1100, the Valar sent five Maiar to Middle-earth to help contest the evil of Sauron. They had great skills of hand and mind and assumed

4972-464: The Istari were Maiar, each one served a Vala in some way. Saruman was the servant and helper of Aulë , and so learned much in the art of craftsmanship, mechanics, and metal-working, as was seen in the later Third Age. Gandalf was the servant of Manwë or Varda , but was a lover of the Gardens of Lórien , and so knew much of the hopes and dreams of Men and Elves . Radagast, servant of Yavanna , loved

5085-542: The Maiar resemble the Valar in being unable to die, but differ in being able to choose to incarnate fully in forms such as men's bodies. This means that, like Gandalf and the Balrogs, they can be killed. He notes that Sauron's inability ever to take bodily form again after his defeat could be the result of having given his power to the One Ring , but that the fate of slain Maiar remains unclear. Jonathan Evans , writing in

5198-559: The Old Norse words for "raven" and "rook", but their peaceful characters are unlike the typical carrion birds from Old Norse and Old English literature. Tolkien is not simply skimming historical sources for effect: the juxtaposition of old and new styles of expression is seen by the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey as one of the major themes explored in The Hobbit . Maps figure in both saga literature and The Hobbit . Themes from Old English literature , especially from Beowulf , shape

5311-520: The Rings . Sauron continued his association with smithcraft by befriending the Elven-smiths of Eregion during the Second Age, so that he could gain power over the other rings by forging his One Ring . On the other hand, certain Maiar like Olórin and Melian develop associations with multiple Valar Lords and Queens. Being of divine origin and possessing great power, the Maiar can wander

5424-756: The Rings became the end of the " Third Age " of Middle Earth within Arda . Eventually those tales of the earlier periods became published as The Silmarillion and other posthumous works. 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

5537-565: The Rings , while Radagast appears only briefly, more or less as a single plot device. He innocently helps Saruman to deceive Gandalf, who believes Radagast since he is honest, but fortuitously alerts the eagle Gwaihir to rescue Gandalf. The two Blue Wizards do not feature in the narrative of Tolkien's works; they are said to have journeyed far into the east after their arrival in Middle-earth, and serve as agitators or missionaries in enemy occupied lands. Their ultimate fates are unknown. As

5650-649: The Sun and Moon. The Hobbit The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien . It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book is recognized as a classic in children's literature and

5763-487: The Valaquenta, many Maiar associated themselves with a particular Vala; for example, Salmar created for his lord Ulmo great conches who produce the music of the sea known as Ulumúri, while Curumo, who came to be known in Middle-earth as Saruman , was with Aulë the smith . The being once known as Mairon also was with Aulë, before being corrupted by Melkor and becoming Sauron , the main antagonist of The Lord of

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5876-474: The Wizards in Tolkien's novels, but that this is mostly successful in furthering the drama. The Wizards of Middle-earth are Maiar: spirits similar to the godlike Valar , but lesser in power. Outwardly resembling Men but possessing much greater physical and mental power, they are called Istari ( Quenya for "Wise Ones") by the Elves . They were sent by the Valar to assist the free peoples of Middle-earth in

5989-658: The ancient world which Bilbo stepped into. Tolkien, a scholar of Beowulf , counted the epic among his "most valued sources" for The Hobbit . Tolkien was one of the first critics to treat Beowulf as a literary work with value beyond the merely historical, with his 1936 lecture Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics . Tolkien borrowed several elements from Beowulf , including a monstrous, intelligent dragon. Certain descriptions in The Hobbit seem to have been lifted straight out of Beowulf with some minor rewording, such as when

6102-559: The angels sent by God, or as Tolkien wrote "Emissaries (in the terms of this tale from the Far West beyond the Sea)". Pride is the greatest of the Sins, and affects the Wizards who take the shape of Men. Saruman, like Lucifer , is overwhelmed by pride and vainglory, just as Denethor is. Nelson states that Saruman's argument for the need for power "definitely echoes" Hitler 's rationalisations for

6215-528: The bearer of a Ring of Power , Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, possessing great knowledge, and travelling continually, always focused on his mission to counter Sauron . He is associated with fire, his ring being Narya , the Ring of Fire, and he both delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire , and in great need uses fire as

6328-429: The central moral of the story. Whilst greed is a recurring theme in the novel, with many of the episodes stemming from one or more of the characters' simple desire for food (be it trolls eating dwarves or dwarves eating Wood-elf fare) or a desire for beautiful objects, such as gold and jewels, it is only by the Arkenstone's influence upon Thorin that greed, and its attendant vices "coveting" and "malignancy", come fully to

6441-501: The characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict. Personal growth and forms of heroism are central themes of the story, along with motifs of warfare. These themes have led critics to view Tolkien's own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story. The author's scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences, but more recent fiction including adventure stories and

6554-474: The characters of the dwarves are based on fairy tales such as Snow White and Snow-White and Rose-Red as collected by the Brothers Grimm , while the latter tale may have influenced the character of Beorn. Tolkien's use of descriptive names such as Misty Mountains and Bag End echoes the names used in Old Norse sagas . The names of the dwarf-friendly ravens, such as Roäc, are derived from

6667-404: The company ; two types of elves : both puckish and more serious warrior types ; Men ; man-eating trolls ; boulder-throwing giants; evil cave-dwelling goblins ; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic eagles who also speak; evil wolves, or Wargs , who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum , a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn ,

6780-406: The content of the riddles themselves. This idea of a superficial contrast between characters' individual linguistic style, tone and sphere of interest, leading to an understanding of the deeper unity between the ancient and modern, is a recurring theme in The Hobbit . Smaug is the main antagonist. In many ways the Smaug episode reflects and references the dragon of Beowulf , and Tolkien uses

6893-584: The cup-thief and the dragon's intellect and personality. Named swords of renown, adorned with runes, similarly have Old English connections. In using his elf-sword, Bilbo finally takes his first independent heroic action. By his naming the sword " Sting " we see Bilbo's acceptance of the kinds of cultural and linguistic practices found in Beowulf , signifying his entrance into the ancient world in which he found himself. This progression culminates in Bilbo stealing

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7006-551: The development of Tolkien's legendarium, but do not appear in his narratives. The theologian Ralph C. Wood describes the Valar and Maiar as being what Christians "would call angels ", intermediaries between the creator, named as Eru Ilúvatar in The Silmarillion , and the created cosmos. Like angels, they have free will and can therefore rebel against him. Grant C. Sterling, writing in Mythlore , states that

7119-429: The development of high fantasy, and further credits the 1960s paperback debuts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as essential to the creation of a mass market for fiction of this kind as well as the fantasy genre's current status. Tolkien's prose is unpretentious and straightforward, taking as given the existence of his imaginary world and describing its details in a matter-of-fact way, while often introducing

7232-497: The double of Saruman, as Saruman falls and is destroyed, while Gandalf rises and takes Saruman's place as the White Wizard. Gandalf resembles the Norse god Odin in his guise as Wanderer. He has been described as a figure of Christ . All three named Wizards appear in Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. Commentators have stated that they operate more physically and less spiritually than

7345-481: The dragon Smaug . Gandalf unveils Thrór's map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, indignant, joins despite himself. The group travels into the wild. Gandalf saves the company from trolls and leads them to Rivendell , where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map. When they attempt to cross

7458-547: The dragon stretches its neck out to sniff for intruders. Likewise, Tolkien's descriptions of the lair as accessed through a secret passage mirror those in Beowulf . Other specific plot elements and features in The Hobbit that show similarities to Beowulf include the title of thief , as Bilbo is called by Gollum and later by Smaug, and Smaug's personality, which leads to the destruction of Lake-town. Tolkien refines parts of Beowulf 's plot that he appears to have found less than satisfactorily described, such as details about

7571-452: The dwarves could not bear to acknowledge. The analogue of the " underworld " and the hero returning from it with a boon (such as the ring, or Elvish blades) that benefits his society is seen to fit the mythic archetypes regarding initiation and male coming-of-age as described by Joseph Campbell . Chance compares the development and growth of Bilbo against other characters to the concepts of just kingship versus sinful kingship derived from

7684-434: The dwarves from giant spiders and then from the dungeons of the Wood-elves. Nearing the Lonely Mountain , the travellers are welcomed by the human inhabitants of Lake-town , who hope the dwarves will fulfil prophecies of Smaug's demise. The expedition reaches the mountain and finds the secret door. The dwarves send a reluctant Bilbo inside to scout the dragon's lair. He steals a great cup and, while conversing with Smaug, spots

7797-416: The episode to put into practice some of the ground-breaking literary theories he had developed about the Old English poem in its portrayal of the dragon as having bestial intelligence. Tolkien greatly prefers this motif over the later medieval trend of using the dragon as a symbolic or allegorical figure, such as in the legend of St. George . Smaug the dragon with his golden hoard may be seen as an example of

7910-404: The evil Vala, corrupted many Maiar into his service. Among Morgoth's most dangerous servants, they are called Úmaiar in Quenya: these include Sauron, and Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs , large demonic beings of flame and shadow armed with fiery whips, and are said to be perhaps more powerful than dragons . Morgoth is eventually overthrown when his fortresses are destroyed in the War of Wrath by

8023-529: 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

8136-539: The fact that they can be sent on missions to work out the divine purpose makes them much like the angels of Christianity . Tolkien stated that "Maia is the name of the Kin of the Valar , but especially of those of lesser power than the 9 great rulers". In the Valaquenta , Tolkien wrote that the Maiar are "spirits whose being also began before the world, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree". According to

8249-456: The figure of the trickster occurs in every age, whether in sacred rites or picaresque stories. Jaume Albero Poveda similarly calls the "comical episodes" like the riddle game between Bilbo and Gollum "typical of the picaresque novel". Tolkien wished to imitate the prose and poetry romances of the 19th-century Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris in style and approach. The Desolation of Smaug, portraying dragons as detrimental to landscape,

8362-575: The films seek to make Gandalf a powerful character without having him take over the Fellowship's strategy and action. As in the novels, Gandalf is "an oddly ambivalent presence, extraordinarily powerful and authoritative ..., but also a stranger, the only one of the Istari who never settles down". On screen, Gandalf is necessarily "less remote, less liminal, more bodily present", less like an angelic spirit than in Tolkien, but in Walter's view this benefits

8475-492: The films' dramatic tension and helps to bring out many other characters. Still, he appears more as a magical than a heroic figure, for example when the Fellowship is attacked by wargs in Hollin , where he uses words and a firebrand rather than drawing his sword Glamdring . Brian Rosebury calls the film Saruman "incipiently Shakespearean ... [with] the potential to rise to a kind of tragic dignity"; he considers that Lee attains

8588-451: 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

8701-548: The fore in the story and provide the moral crux of the tale. Bilbo steals the Arkenstone—a most ancient relic of the dwarves—and attempts to ransom it to Thorin for peace. However, Thorin turns on the Hobbit as a traitor, disregarding all the promises and "at your services" he had previously bestowed. In the end Bilbo gives up the precious stone and most of his share of the treasure to help those in greater need. Tolkien also explores

8814-406: The general tone is kept light-hearted, being interspersed with songs and humour. One example of the use of song to maintain tone is when Thorin and Company are kidnapped by goblins, who, when marching them into the underworld, sing: Clap! Snap! the black crack! Grip, grab! Pinch, nab! And down down to Goblin-town You go, my lad! This onomatopoeic singing undercuts the dangerous scene with

8927-583: The guise of Men, seemingly old but of great vigour. Their mission was to guide elves and men by gaining trust and spreading knowledge, not by ruling them with fear and force. They were known as the Istari or Wizards, and included Gandalf the Grey (Olórin or Mithrandir, later Gandalf the White), Saruman the White (Curumo or Curunír; he later called himself Saruman of Many Colours), Radagast the Brown (Aiwendil), and two "Blue Wizards" (named after their sea-blue robes) who are mentioned in passing within commentary about

9040-424: The hero being plucked from his rural home and thrown into a far-off war where traditional types of heroism are shown to be futile. The tale as such explores the theme of heroism. As Janet Brennan Croft notes, Tolkien's literary reaction to war at this time differed from most post-war writers by eschewing irony as a method for distancing events and instead using mythology to mediate his experiences. Similarities to

9153-750: The hosts of the West led by Eönwë. Most of the Balrogs did not survive Morgoth's defeat, which marked the end of the First Age, although at least one hid deep beneath the Misty Mountains until well into the Third Age. The Maia Melian went to Middle-earth prior to the First Age , where she later fell in love with the Elven -king Elu Thingol , King Greymantle, and with him ruled the kingdom of Doriath . When war with Morgoth came to Doriath, she used her powers to guard and defend her realm with an enchantment called

9266-501: 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

9379-547: The initial reviews refer to the work as a fairy story. However, according to Jack Zipes writing in The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales , Bilbo is an atypical character for a fairy tale. The work is much longer than Tolkien's ideal proposed in his essay On Fairy-Stories . Many fairy tale motifs, such as the repetition of similar events seen in the dwarves' arrival at Bilbo's and Beorn's homes, and folklore themes, such as trolls turning to stone, are to be found in

9492-764: The land of Rhûn. On the show's second season finale , the Stranger is confirmed as a younger version of Gandalf, while the series creators J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay have indicated that the Dark Wizard is one of the other five, but extremely unlikely to be Saruman. Maiar in Middle-earth Commentators have noted that since the Maiar are immortals but can choose to become fully incarnate in men's bodies on Middle-earth , they can be killed; Tolkien did not explain what happened to them then. Others have observed that their semi-divine nature and

9605-483: The lines of Sauron's Dark Tower, Barad-Dur . Saruman's character illustrates the corruption of power; his desire for knowledge and order leads to his fall, and he rejects the chance of redemption when it is offered. The name Saruman means "man of skill or cunning" in the Mercian dialect of Anglo-Saxon ; he serves as an example of technology and modernity being overthrown by forces more in tune with nature. Radagast

9718-409: 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

9831-582: The medieval image of Jews, whilst their warlike nature stems from accounts in the Hebrew Bible . The Dwarvish calendar invented for The Hobbit reflects the Jewish calendar which begins in late autumn. And although Tolkien denied that he used allegory , the dwarves taking Bilbo out of his complacent existence has been seen as an eloquent metaphor for the "impoverishment of Western society without Jews." The scholar of literature James L. Hodge describes

9944-604: The motif of jewels that inspire intense greed that corrupts those who covet them in the Silmarillion , and there are connections between the words "Arkenstone" and " Silmaril " in Tolkien's invented etymologies. The Hobbit employs themes of animism . An important concept in anthropology and child development , animism is the idea that all things—including inanimate objects and natural events, such as storms or purses, as well as living things like animals and plants—possess human-like intelligence. John D. Rateliff calls this

10057-491: The narrative flow with asides (a device common to both children's and Anglo-Saxon literature), has his own linguistic style separate from those of the main characters. The basic form of the story is that of a quest , told in episodes. For the most part of the book, each chapter introduces a different denizen of the Wilderland, some helpful and friendly towards the protagonists, and others threatening or dangerous. However

10170-557: The narrative voice addressing the reader directly, the narrative voice contributes significantly to the success of the novel. The scholar Lois R. Kuznets comments that the "obtrusive narrator" is part of a standard "rhetoric of childhood"; C. W. Sullivan III adds that Tolkien may have taken the idea of an intrusive narrator from the medieval texts Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Emer O'Sullivan, in her Comparative Children's Literature , notes The Hobbit as one of

10283-450: The new and fantastic in an almost casual manner. This down-to-earth style, also found in later fantasy such as Richard Adams ' Watership Down and Peter Beagle 's The Last Unicorn , accepts readers into the fictional world , rather than cajoling or attempting to convince them of its reality. While The Hobbit is written in a simple, friendly language, each of its characters has a unique voice. The narrator, who occasionally interrupts

10396-489: The order, though a third Wizard, Radagast the Brown, appears briefly. Two Blue Wizards are mentioned in passing. Saruman is installed as the head of the White Council, but falls to the temptation of power. He imitates and is to an extent the double of the Dark Lord Sauron , only to become his unwitting servant. Gandalf ceaselessly assists the Company of the Ring in their quest to destroy the Ring and defeat Sauron. He forms

10509-563: The other two; their names in Valinor are stated as Alatar and Pallando, and in Middle-earth as Morinehtar and Rómestámo. Each Wizard in the series had robes of a characteristic colour: white for Saruman (the chief and the most powerful of the five), grey for Gandalf, brown for Radagast, and sea-blue for the other two, who are known as the Blue Wizards ( Ithryn Luin in Sindarin ). Gandalf and Saruman play important roles in The Lord of

10622-472: The small, food-obsessed, and morally ambiguous Bilbo. The text emphasizes the relationship between time and narrative progress and it openly distinguishes "safe" from "dangerous" in its geography. Both are key elements of works intended for children, as is the "home-away-home" (or there and back again ) plot structure typical of the Bildungsroman . While Tolkien later claimed to dislike the aspect of

10735-680: The staff-battle between Gandalf and Saruman in Orthanc "absurd", breaking the spell of the film in The Fellowship of the Ring , and coming "uncomfortably close" to the light-sabre fights in Star Wars . In Amazon's series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power , Daniel Weyman portrays "the Stranger", a Wizard who falls from the sky in a meteorite. In the show's second season, Ciarán Hinds portrays "the Dark Wizard" in

10848-434: The story as picaresque , a genre of fiction in which a hero relies on his wits to survive a series of risky episodes. Hodge further likens Bilbo's admittedly unheroic business of burglary to the trickster role of some pagan gods and mythical figures: Hermes steals cattle from Apollo , Prometheus and Coyote steal fire, Odin steals the mead of poetry , and so on. Hodge quotes the psychiatrist Carl Jung as saying that

10961-507: The story of his adventures . In the early 1930s Tolkien was pursuing an academic career at Oxford as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon , with a fellowship at Pembroke College . Several of his poems had been published in magazines and small collections, including Goblin Feet and The Cat and the Fiddle: A Nursery Rhyme Undone and its Scandalous Secret Unlocked , a reworking of

11074-494: The story. The book is popularly called (and often marketed as) a fantasy novel , but like Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald , both of which influenced Tolkien and contain fantasy elements, it is primarily identified as being children's literature. The two genres are not mutually exclusive, so some definitions of high fantasy include works for children by authors such as L. Frank Baum and Lloyd Alexander alongside

11187-520: The things of nature, both animals and plants. As each of these Istar learned from their Vala, so they acted in Middle-earth. Gandalf the Grey is a protagonist in The Hobbit , where he assists Bilbo Baggins on his quest, and in The Lord of the Rings , where he is the leader of the Company of the Ring . Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" ( Dvergatal ) in

11300-437: The timely arrival of the eagles and Beorn, who fights in his bear form and kills the goblin general, do they win the climactic Battle of Five Armies. Thorin is fatally wounded and reconciles with Bilbo before he dies. Bilbo accepts only a small portion of his share of the treasure, having no want or need for more, but still returns home a very wealthy hobbit roughly a year and a month after he first left. Years later, he writes

11413-420: 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

11526-544: The traditional relationship between evil and metallurgy as collated in the depiction of Pandæmonium with its "Belched fire and rolling smoke" in John Milton 's Paradise Lost . Of all the characters, Smaug's speech is the most modern, using idioms such as "Don't let your imagination run away with you!" Just as Tolkien's literary theories have been seen to influence the tale, so have Tolkien's experiences. The Hobbit may be read as Tolkien's parable of World War I with

11639-546: 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

11752-454: The way out of the tunnels, but if he fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility , Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them. The goblins and Wargs give chase, but the company are saved by eagles. They rest in the house of the skin-changer Beorn. The company enters the dark forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf, who has other responsibilities. In Mirkwood, Bilbo first saves

11865-549: The wizard Radagast is taken from the name of the Slavic deity Radogost . The representation of the dwarves in The Hobbit was influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding the Jewish people and their history . The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their ancient homeland at the Lonely Mountain, and living among other groups whilst retaining their own culture are all derived from

11978-418: The works of Gene Wolfe and Jonathan Swift , which are more often considered adult literature. The Hobbit has been called "the most popular of all twentieth-century fantasies written for children". Jane Chance , however, considers the book to be a children's novel only in the sense that it appeals to the child in an adult reader. Sullivan credits the first publication of The Hobbit as an important step in

12091-480: The works of William Morris also played a part. The publisher was encouraged by the book's critical and financial success and, therefore, requested a sequel. As Tolkien's work progressed on its successor , The Lord of the Rings , he made retrospective accommodations for it in The Hobbit . These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of

12204-477: The works of other writers who faced the Great War are seen in The Hobbit , including portraying warfare as anti- pastoral : in "The Desolation of Smaug", both the area under the influence of Smaug before his demise and the setting for the Battle of Five Armies later are described as barren, damaged landscapes. The Hobbit makes a warning against repeating the tragedies of World War I, and Tolkien's attitude as

12317-536: The world into which Bilbo stumbled. The work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games , and video games. Several of these adaptations have received critical recognition on their own merits. Bilbo Baggins , the protagonist, is a respectable, reserved and well-to-do hobbit —a race resembling short humans with furry, leathery feet who live in underground houses and are mainly farmers and gardeners. Gandalf , an itinerant wizard , introduces Bilbo to

12430-474: The world unseen or shape themselves in fashion of Elves or other creatures; these "veils", called fanar in Quenya , could be destroyed, but their true-being could not. Rarely did the Maiar adopt their visible forms to Elves and Men , and for that reason, very few of the Maiar have names in their tongues, and the elves do not know how many of the Maiar exist. Only a few of the Maiar are named. These include

12543-476: The world. Nelson notes that in a letter, Tolkien stated that "Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real' world." Each race exemplifies one of the Seven Deadly Sins , for instance Dwarves embody greed , Men pride , Elves envy . In this scheme, the Wizards represent

12656-416: Was more profound than the shaping of individual characters and episodes; his works helped Tolkien form his whole thinking on the role of fantasy within his Christian faith . The evolution and maturation of the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is central to the story. This journey of maturation, where Bilbo gains a clear sense of identity and confidence in the outside world, may be seen in psychological terms as

12769-556: Was visited in Oxford by Susan Dagnall, a staff member of the publisher George Allen & Unwin , she is reported to have either lent Dagnall the book or suggested she borrow it from Tolkien. In any event, Dagnall was impressed by it, and showed the book to Stanley Unwin , who then asked his 10-year-old son Rayner to review it. Rayner's favourable comments settled Allen & Unwin's decision to publish Tolkien's book. The setting of The Hobbit , as described on its original dust jacket,

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