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{{work}}
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{{quote|''[[Where It All Began|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, nor 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.''
The precursor to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. '''''The Hobbit''''', or '''''There and Back Again''''', is also the story of Bilbo Baggins, a simple, respectable [[Hobbits|little person]] who is content with his sleepy life in [[Ghibli Hills|Hobbiton]] until a crafty old wizard named Gandalf and thirteen dwarves hijack him for a grand adventure to slay a dragon and win back a lost treasure, forcing him to grow out of his comfortable little world. Along the way he encounters merry elves, ferocious trolls, wicked goblins, giant spiders, and other fantastic characters and creatures before coming face to face with the terrible dragon himself.
[[J. R. R.
A sequel was requested by his publishers, and as work on ''The Lord of the Rings'' progressed, Tolkien made accommodations for it in Chapter 5 of ''The Hobbit''. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed, correcting minor errors and reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled (removing references to policemen, for example).
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* A 1968 [[The BBC|BBC Radio 4]] Dramatisation in 8 half-hour episodes. The master tapes for this were wiped in the '70s (a routine event for the BBC in this period) but [[Keep Circulating the Tapes|a domestic recording]] was later recovered and used to re-issue the series.
* [[The Hobbit (animation)|A 1977 animated TV special]] by [[Rankin/Bass Productions|Rankin-Bass]]; your mileage may vary in regard to how successful it is. At least they used top-flight voice talent, and much of the music was based directly on songs in the book. It was also one of the first major Japanese crossover animations, and many of the artists went on to found [[Studio Ghibli]].
* A [[The Hobbit (film)|2012/2013/2014 live-action movie]] in
* Several video-game versions: there's an [[Interactive Fiction]] game of ''The Hobbit'', which is considered to be one of the defining entries in the genre, and a video game made in 2003.
* A highly regarded [[Graphic Novel]] version approved by the Tolkien estate, illustrated by David Wenzel in 1991.
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* A ''very'' low budget live-action version made in 1984 in Soviet Russia, as seen [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/the-hobbit-russian-soviet-version_n_1163699.html here]. The same article also links to the Soviet version of the novel, with its uniquely styled illustrations.
{{tropenamer}}
* [["There and Back" Story]]
{{tropelist}}
* [[All There in the Manual]]: ''The Quest for Erebor'' in ''[[Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
** It was
* [[
* [[Anti-Hero]]
** Bilbo starts off as a Type I, often left a bystander while events happen around him. However after choosing to spare Gollum, and especially in Mirkwood, he manages to become more of a straight hero.
** Thorin is probably a type III, as he is mostly noble and charismatic, but allows his greed to almost push him into starting a war, though he ultimately repents these deeds.
** Thranduil fits a type II quite well. While greedy and racist toward the Dwarves, he shows kindness to the survivors of Dale and is more reluctant to begin a war for gold than any of his peers.
* [[Appropriated Appellation]]: Bilbo's (and later Frodo's) sword,<ref>technically dagger, but big enough for hobbits to be a short sword</ref>
* [[The Archer]]: Bard
* [[Attack Its Weak Point]]: Smaug has exactly one vulnerable spot on his whole body.
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* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Beorn, at least [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|once you've gotten through his defenses.]]
* [[Book Ends]]
* [[Boring Return Journey]]: While Bilbo does have (unspecified) troubles on his return journey, "he was never in great danger"
* [[Break the Haughty]]: Thorin is something of a narcissist, probably [[The White Prince|due to his royal blood]]. He's still a likable person, though, until
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Bombur. He always manages to come last in everything, and if one of the dwarves slips and falls into a river, gets caught by an enchantment or has something unpleasant or humiliating happen to him, it'll be Bombur.
* [[Call to Adventure]]: One of the classics.
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* [[Canon Welding]]: When he began writing the sequel, Tolkien moved it and ''The Hobbit'' into his Middle-Earth legendarium setting, which had already been around for over twenty years, although nothing of it had been published so far. The move brought with it some [[Retcon]] and [[Rewrite]] concerning the events of ''The Hobbit'', which was partly explained as Bilbo being an [[Unreliable Narrator]]. (Or rather, a Reliable Narrator whose lying about the recovery of the Ring was extremely portentous and whose knowledge of the Elder Days wasn't quite up to snuff.)
* [[The Caper]]: Stealing the treasure.
* [[Cerebus Retcon]]: Bilbo's "magic ring" is revealed in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' to be the One Ring of the Dark Lord and its existence holds the fate of all Middle-Earth. An actual retcon as well, since in the earlier editions of the book he won it fairly from
* [[The Chooser of the One]]: Gandalf
* [[The Chosen Zero]]: The dwarves react to Bilbo this way. Ironically he doesn't even know he's been hired as an adventurer.
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{{quote|''Gandalf! If you had heard only a quarter of what I have heard about him, and I have only heard very little of all there is to hear, you would be prepared for any sort of remarkable tale. Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion.''}}
* [[Faux Affably Evil]]: Smaug is extremely articulate when Bilbo was sneaking around, and has some enjoyment in conversing and riddling, but he would have killed him immediately if he could see and at the same time makes no attempt to hide that he's a merciless killer.
* [[Foe-Tossing Charge]]: This happens twice in the Battle of Five Armies near the end of The Hobbit. First when Thorin and company (of 12) fight their way as far as Bolg's bodyguard. Second (and more effective) is when Beorn fights his way to Bolg himself.
* [[Fiction 500]]: Smaug sleeps atop a pile of coins and jewelry ([http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelnoer/2011/04/06/how-much-is-smaug-tolkei-dragon-worth/ app. value: $8 billion]) and his hideout has many more riches -- in fact, the interest to loot it leads to...▼
** Double points for Beorn {{spoiler|being a werebear in giant bear form}}.
▲* [[Fiction 500]]: Smaug sleeps atop a pile of coins and jewelry ([http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelnoer/2011/04/06/how-much-is-smaug-tolkei-dragon-worth/ app. value: $8 billion]) and his hideout has many more
* [[Final Battle]]: The Battle of Five Armies.
* [[Food Porn]]: Oh yes. One thing Hobbits love is a good meal -- "especially dinner, which they take twice a day if they can get it."
* [[Gentleman Adventurer]]: Bilbo
* [[Giant Spider
* [[Gold Fever]]: The curse of a dragon's hoard. It nearly leads Thorin to war with Lake Town and the Wood Elves, and leads to the old master of Lake Town stealing most of the treasure and dying in the wilds once it's all over. Bilbo, on the other hand, is (mostly) immune.
* [[Grey and Grey Morality]]: Arguably, similar to ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' in this point: we have conflicts between Dwarves and Elves, and the story almost ends in a war between Dwarves on one side and Elves and Men on the
* [[Grim Up North]]: The Withered Heath.
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Gandalf describes Beorn has having this.
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* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]: The story is "compiled" from Bilbo's memoirs.
* [[The Lost Woods]]: Mirkwood
* [[Luke Nounverber]]: But done as actual earned epithets, such as Thorin Oakenshield and Dáin Ironfoot, who earned their names in the Goblin
* [[MacGuffin Guardian]]: Arguably Smaug, though in this case he isn't serving anyone but himself.
* [[Minion Maracas]]: Thorin picks up Bilbo and "shakes him like a rabbit" when he learns that the latter has stolen the Arkenstone and given it to the Men and Elves besieging the mountain. (At least, Gandalf manages to convince Thorin to not throw Bilbo down the wall.)
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* [[Named Weapons]]: Glamdring, the Foe Hammer; Orcrist, the Goblin Cleaver; and Sting. Orcrist and Glamdring are famous enough that the goblins recognize them, calling them "''Biter''" and "''Beater''".
* [[Nature Hero]]
* [[
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Throughout the journey, the Dwarves just keep stumbling into trouble and making a royal mess of things.
** First, they stumble right into a Goblin lair. The incident results in the Great Goblin's death. Hence, the Goblins and Wargs band together and set out for revenge, gathering an army in the process, which catches up to them near the end.
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* [[One Bullet Left]]: Bard shoots the dragon with the only arrow he has left. Although more justified in this case, as the one left is also a special one inherited through generations, and just before the shot Bard is told the dragon's weak spot.
* [[One Sided Battle]]
* [[Only Smart People May Pass]]: The Riddle Game with Gollum, whose offer is to show Bilbo the way out of the caves (or to make a meal out of Bilbo if Bilbo loses the game). Played straight in the first few riddles (some of which are real stumpers), but subverted by the winning riddle: which is just a stupid question by Bilbo which Gollum mistook for a riddle. Of course, Gollum intended to cheat all along, since he had the Ring (or thought he did).
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: The [[Trope Codifier]], though since there are thirteen of them in the main party, some of them do get one or two individual personality traits. (Thorin is pompous and long-winded, Dori is a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], Bombur is a [[Butt Monkey]], Balin is the nice guy, Fili and Kili are cheerful.)
* [[Our Goblins Are
* [[Our Werebeasts Are Different]] : Beorn the "skin-changer" is able to undergo [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] in battle and take the form of a bear. Tolkien took inspiration from the legendary [[The Berserker|berserkir]] of [[Norse Mythology]] (warriors covered of animal pelts and consecrated to Odinn, who allegedly changed into wolf-men or bear-men in the frenzy of battle).
* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: The three trolls don't want to eat Bilbo, simply because he wasn't big enough to go through the trouble of skinning and boning him.
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* [[Ravens and Crows]]: The ravens that live near the Lonely Mountain are friendly to the Dwarves.
* [[Recursive Canon]]
* [[Reality Ensues]]: Many parts of the novel has the protagonist or his friends valiantly escape danger only for grim reality to sink in:
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Thorin}}▼
** Bilbo's makes a thrilling escape from the goblins in chapter 5 and emerges from the cave triumphantly, only to realize, at the next chapter's start, that he has no idea where he is, has no supplies, and has been separated from the dwarves. He realizes they might still be prisoners of the goblins, and even considers going back into the caves to look for them until he hears Balin doing lookout.
** The battle with the spiders in chapter 8 seems thrilling, until they realize they're hopelessly lost in the forest; this gets even worse when someone realizes, "Where's Thorin?"
▲* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Thorin.}}
* [[Retcon]]: Cleverly invoked via [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]. Bilbo intentionally wrote down a less controversial way of how he got the ring (i.e. the original edition of ''The Hobbit'') in his memoirs. Gandalf found this very weird given Bilbo's honest character, which is why in ''The Lord of the Rings'' he suspects the ring of influencing him. Early versions of the altered text (i.e. the 1951 second edition) mention this in an introduction.
* [[Rewrite]]: Chapter 5 was rewritten to better fit with the sequel and its [[Retcon]] of the story into the Legendarium.
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* [[Sacred Hospitality]]
* [[Sequel Hook]]: But only in later editions to fit with the actual [[The Lord of the Rings|sequel]]. Tolkien didn't expect to write a sequel, and it was reader/publisher demand that made him do so.
* [[Shut Up, Kirk]]: As Bilbo grows in standing with the dwarves, he finds himself growing increasingly exasperated at their frequent pettiness and complaining, and basically tells them to grow up several times. And each one is ''awesome.''
* [[Sibling Team]]: In order: Balin and Dwalin; Fili and Kili; Oin and Gloin; and Bofur and Bombur (Bifur is their cousin). And the first nine listed, along with their leader Thorin II Oakenshield, are descended from Durin I, one of the seven Fathers of the Dwarves. (Bifur, Bofur and Bombur are descended from another of the Seven.)
* [[Speaks Fluent Animal]]: Bard; Beorn
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* [[Supporting Leader]]: Bard the bowman and Dain Ironfoot.
* [[Taken for Granite]]
* [[Took a Level
* [[Unfazed Everyman]]: Bilbo. A variation in that he's grown up aware that magical people and things ''exist'', but like most Hobbits in the Shire, he has not had a lot of first-hand experience with it until that one fateful day.
* [[Unholy Holy Sword]]: [[It Was His Sled|The Ring]], although [[The Reveal]] doesn't actually come around until [[The Lord of the Rings|the next book]].
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* [[Verbal Tic Name]]: Gollum owns his name to the noise he makes in his throat.
* [[Villain Song]]: The goblins' song.
* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Beorn.
* [[Wallet of Holding]]: Averted. Out of all the treasure in the Lonely Mountain, all Bilbo takes home with him is his mithril shirt, a chest of gold coins, and a chest of silver coins. That was all he could conveniently transport.
* [[Was Actually Friendly]]: Wood Elves. They distrust the dwarves mutually ([[Poor Communication Kills|so the dwarves refuse to say why they're there, making the elves suspicious]] since they assumed the starving dwarves approaching their banquet to beg for food were attacking). They turn out to be a lot nicer later on, {{spoiler|with Bilbo giving them some treasure in payment for the food he stole while orchestrating the dwarves' breakout on his way back home}}. Arguably the men of the lake as well {{spoiler|since they join the elves in laying siege to the old keep}}.
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{{reflist}}
{{Tolkien's legendarium}}
{{The Big Read}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The Hobbit]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]
[[Category:Children's Literature]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbit (novel), The}}
{{#related:The Lord of the Rings}}
{{#related:The Silmarillion}}
{{#related:The Children of Húrin}}
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