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The Hobbit
In a sense, Gandalf perceives depth to Bilbo's character that other people do not see. It is as much the case that Bilbo's potential has been limited by circumstances and that his adventure with...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo did not have much time to explain his plan to the dwarves. He formed the plan on the spur of the moment, taking advantage of the opportunity that presented itself when the Elvish chief guard...
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The Hobbit
Before he even meets Gollum, Bilbo has already shown himself to be brave, resilient and capable of taking initiative. When Chapter 5 begins, Bilbo wakes up in the dark, disoriented and alone. He...
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The Hobbit
In Chapter One of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins is described as a peace-loving person who enjoys the comforts of life, living in his beautiful hobbit home in the side of a hill. He loves food, his...
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The Hobbit
All three characters you've mentioned are certainly heroes in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Bilbo is a hero for saving the dwarves on multiple occasions, Gandalf is a hero for initially guiding the...
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The Hobbit
This question is a little difficult to answer, as you can write an analysis about many different aspects of a work of literature. However, what I can do is give you some advice on how to approach...
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The Hobbit
What an interesting question! Bard's immediate reward for killing Smaug, the dragon, is the freedom of Dale, his city. However, forthcoming events transpire which allow Bard the ability to restore...
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The Hobbit
During the first half of The Hobbit, Bilbo is just along for the ride. It is not until Gandalf deliberately leaves the party to go through Mirkwood alone, that Bilbo is forced to take leadership....
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The Hobbit
Smaug knows Bilbo is different because he smells him. Smaug is the dragon that lives under the mountain in the Lonely Mountain. He sleeps on a pile of treasure, actually. The dwarves want this...
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The Hobbit
The dwarves' response to Bilbo's request for volunteers provides an interesting and rare insight into the nature of dwarves as a species. When Bilbo asks for volunteers to enter the mountain with...
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The Hobbit
The goblins and wolves make the first proper attack in the Battle of the Five Armies in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. It's worth noting that, in determining who the actual five armies are in this...
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The Hobbit
The dwarfs are complex characters, with both virtues and flaws. They have a clear motivation (to get the treasure), but they do grow throughout the course of the story. Some character traits are...
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The Hobbit
Chapter 12 ("Inside Information") brings us to a conversation between Bilbo and Smaug. Bilbo sneaks into the mountain alone for a second time to scout things out and to try to find Smaug's weak...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo rejects the adventure at first, but changes his mind when the dwarves leave without him. We are told that the Baggins family is well-respected because they are responsible and never go on...
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The Hobbit
Thorin vows to get revenge on anyone who keeps the stone from him. The Arkenstone is very important to Thorin. It is his birthright. To him it is the most valuable jewel of all of the dwarves’...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo gets excited about Gandalf’s previous adventures, and Gandalf interprets that as Bilbo asking to take him on an adventure. Respectable hobbits do not go on adventures. The Shire frowns upon...
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The Hobbit
Chapter 19 of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit concludes one of the most influential fantasy stories of all time. As such, we can expect to find some significant indications that the formerly prudish...
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The Hobbit
In chapter 8, "Flies and Spiders," Bilbo and the dwarves are in Mirkwood, the great forest once known as Greenwood the Great, east of the River Anduin.
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The Hobbit
Balin brings news that Lake-town and Dale have been rebuilt. After his adventures, Bilbo returns home and begins to write about his journey. One day an old friend appears at his hobbit-hole....
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The Hobbit
This is an interesting ethical dilemma in what has been, up until this point, basically a fairy tale. While Tolkien's The Hobbit is certainly more of a fairy tale for adults than for children, it...
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The Hobbit
In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Thorin grudgingly promises to give Bard a "one fourteenth share of the hoard in silver and gold" (262)—Bilbo's original allotment of treasure—in exchange for the...
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The Hobbit
In literature, context refers to all factors that influenced an author in the writing of his story. There's the historical context, the socio-political context, and even the literary context....
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The Hobbit
The travelers use a rope to catch a boat from the other side of the river. The forest of Mirkwood is a dangerous place. You can lose your head easily. Beorn warned the company to stay out of the...
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The Hobbit
The Hobbit starts out at Bag End, which is the Hobbit hole at the end of Bagshot Row in Hobbiton, which is located in the center of the Shire, which is in the northwest area of Middle Earth. Bag...
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The Hobbit
In the first chapter of The Hobbit, Thorin explains to Bilbo that his grandfather Thror had been King of the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain. Under his rule the dwarves had mined deep into the...
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The Hobbit
After much searching, the dwarves and Bilbo find a narrow shelf on the western side of the Lonely Mountain that leads to a flat smooth surface. They recognize it at once as being the secret...
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The Hobbit
Gandalf is going to Rivendell, the home of the elves. Bilbo and company are on a journey to take back the dwarves treasure from the dragon. When the travelers are done fighting the trolls, they...
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The Hobbit
There are a few things that could be considered symbolic for Thorin: an oak branch, a map and key, and the Arkenstone. The oak branch is a bit obvious, as it is the source of his epithet...
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The Hobbit
The town at the end of the Forest River is called Lake-town. Lake-town, also known as Esgaroth, was created by the men from the city of Dale after it was destroyed by Smaug when he came for the...
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The Hobbit
The point of view in The Hobbit is the third person point of view, meaning that the story is told with words such as "he", "she", "it", and "they" (rather than words such as "I" or "me", which are...
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The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, along with The Lord of the Rings, is the quintessential fantasy story, as it introduced the world to a mythical realm of dwarves, elves, wizards, and dragons. However,...
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The Hobbit
At the beginning of The Hobbit, we find Bilbo in his peaceful life as a Hobbit, completely content to stay in the Shire and ignore everything outside of it. When Gandalf shows up, he is very polite...
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The Hobbit
In The Hobbit, there are moon-letters on the map Thorin received from Gandalf, and those moon-letters are translated by Elrond when the company arrives in Rivendell: "Stand by the grey stone when...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf compatriots are relieved to have finally escaped the dungeons of the Wood Elves in Mirkwood. With each dwarf encased in an empty barrel and Bilbo hanging on as best he...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo is a hero in multiple ways in The Hobbit. He shows his heroism most in Mirkwood and the Lonely Mountain. First, Bilbo rescues his friends from the spiders in the forest. When his friends...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo leaves Thorin and co. to join Bard and the other people of Lake-town because Thorin forced him to do so. After the dragon Smaug destroyed part of their town, Bard and his people went to the...
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The Hobbit
Although luck is a factor, most of Bilbo's success can be attributed to how clever and capable he is. His whole journey is started because Gandalf believes that he is the most qualified person...
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The Hobbit
Epithets are similar to nicknames; they are alternate titles for something or someone which describe some specific quality or characteristic. Bilbo uses epithets to describe himself because he...
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The Hobbit
The climax of The Hobbit is the Battle of Five Armies, which begins as a confrontation between the armies of Elves, Humans and Dwarves arguing over the distribution of the treasure that lies in...
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The Hobbit
In Chapter 9 of The Hobbit Bilbo does show compassion toward the wood-elves in one particular, small way. When he sneaks in to free the dwarves from their cells, he manages to take the keys from...
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The Hobbit
Bilbo never really makes a specific, definite choice to go on the journey; in fact, he spends a good deal of his time throughout the story thinking about how much nicer it would be if he had stayed...
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The Hobbit
Near the end of Chapter 6, Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves have been driven up into a group of pine trees by hundreds of wargs, which are abnormally large and evil wolves, capable of speech and...
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The Hobbit
If Smaug's wealth functions as a symbol in the story, then it is tied directly to the symbolism of Smaug himself. and the two reflect each other. Smaug very clearly and explicitly represents greed;...
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The Hobbit
I think any discussion of free will in The Hobbit should naturally focus on Bilbo. Free will, as a narrative or literary device, is often used to show the strength of an individual's choices...
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The Hobbit
Tired as he was, Bilbo would have liked to stay awhile. Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things. Also he would have liked to have a few...
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The Hobbit
In Chapter 8, Bilbo and the dwarves enter Mirkwood, a forest. Mirkwood is the fastest way for them to get to the Lonely Mountain, and while dangerous, it would take longer and be even more...
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The Hobbit
In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Gandalf plays a prominent role as a wizard. He, like other wizards, has magical powers. Sometimes he uses a wand. He is full of wisdom, and the others can learn a...
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The Hobbit
The origin of the fire lies with Gandalf. After Thorin and company escape the goblins in the mountain, they are continuing on their journey when they hear the Wargs (wild wolves) around them. In...
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The Hobbit
Sauron's arrival greatly changes the Greenwood (also known as Greenwood the Great). This darkening, combined with the arrival of giant spiders, bats, and orcs, gives the forest a new name: the...
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The Hobbit
The question of whether or not Gollum is a sympathetic character is a hard one; after all, he does murder Deagol for the One Ring, not to mention all of the other things he does to Bilbo and Frodo....