Editing The Hobbit (section)

== Narrative ==

=== Characters ===
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{{Main|List of The Hobbit characters|l1=List of ''The Hobbit'' characters}}

[[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.<ref>''The Hobbit'', ch. 1 "An Unexpected Party". "his woolly toes (neatly brushed)"</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in Bed: Modernism's Fairy Tales |first=Ann |last=Martin |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8020-9086-7 |quote=... —prefigure the bourgeois preoccupations of J. R. R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins in ''The Hobbit''. |page=38}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction Analysis |volume=8 volume set |year=1996 |publisher=Beacham Publishers |isbn=978-0-933833-42-5 |editor-first=Kirk H. |editor-last=Beetz |page=1924 |quote=At the beginning of ''The Hobbit'' ... Bilbo Baggins seems little more than a conservative but good-natured innocent. |url=https://archive.org/details/beachamsencyclop00beet |url-access=limited }}</ref> [[Gandalf]], an itinerant [[Wizard (Middle-earth)|wizard]],<ref>{{cite book |title=The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power |first1=Lee G. |last1=Bolman |first2=Terrence E. |last2=Deal |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-0-7879-7413-8 |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wizardwarriorlea00bolm/page/88 88] |quote=But their chief role was to offer sage advice: Merlin as a tutor and counselor to King Arthur; Gandalf through stories and wisdom in his itinerant travels throughout the countryside. |url=https://archive.org/details/wizardwarriorlea00bolm/page/88 }}</ref> introduces Bilbo to a company of [[List of The Hobbit characters#Thorin's company|thirteen dwarves]]. [[Thorin Oakenshield]] is the proud, pompous<ref>{{cite book |title=Tolkien and the Silmarils |first=Randel |last=Helms |author-link=Randel Helms |location=Boston |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |edition=1st |isbn=978-0-395-29469-7 |year=1981 |page=86 |quote=As apt a description of Thorin Oakenshield as of the dwarf-lord of Nogrod; but yet when we see Thorin in person, ... there is a notable addition, a comic pomposity altogether suitable to what Tolkien intends in ''The Hobbit''... }}</ref><ref name=Pienciak>{{cite book |last=Pienciak |first=Anne |title=J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings |publisher=[[Barron's Educational Series]] |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-8120-3523-0 |chapter=The Characters |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienshobbi0000pien/page/14 14–30] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienshobbi0000pien/page/14 }}</ref> head of the company of dwarves and heir to the destroyed dwarvish kingdom under the [[Lonely Mountain]]. [[Smaug]] is a [[Dragon (Middle-earth)|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 [[Characters in The Hobbit#Thorin's Company|twelve other dwarves of the company]]; two types of [[Elf (Middle-earth)|elves]]: both [[Puck (mythology)|puckish]] and more serious [[Aos Sí|warrior types]];<ref name="Anderson 2003 page=120">{{harvnb|Tolkien|2003|page=120}}</ref> [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]]; man-eating [[Troll (Middle-earth)|trolls]]; boulder-throwing giants; evil cave-dwelling [[Orc (Middle-earth)|goblins]]; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic [[Eagle (Middle-earth)|eagles]] who also speak; evil wolves, or [[Warg (Middle-earth)|Wargs]], who are allied with the goblins; [[Elrond]] the sage; [[Gollum]], a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; [[Beorn]], a man who can assume bear form; and [[Bard the Bowman]], a grim but honourable archer of [[Esgaroth|Lake-town]].<ref name=Pienciak/><ref>{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Stevens |first2=Carol |last2=Stevens |chapter=The Hobbit |year=2008 |title=J. R. R. Tolkien |editor-first=Harold |editor-last=Bloom |editor-link=Harold Bloom |publisher=[[Chelsea House]] |pages=17–26 |isbn=978-1-60413-146-8 }}</ref>

=== Plot ===

[[Gandalf]] tricks [[Bilbo Baggins]] into hosting a party for [[Thorin Oakenshield]] and his band of twelve [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|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 the dragon [[Smaug]]. Gandalf unveils Thror's map showing a [[Secret passage|secret door]] into the Mountain and proposes that dumbfounded Bilbo should 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 [[Troll (Middle-earth)|trolls]] and leads them to [[Rivendell]], where [[Elrond]] reveals more secrets from the map. When they attempt to cross the [[Misty Mountains]], they are caught by [[Orc (Middle-earth)|goblins]] and driven [[Goblin Town|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 [[One Ring|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 the way out of the tunnels, but if he fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers [[invisibility]] when worn, 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.

[[File:Elvenking, Erebor, Esgaroth.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Sketch map of [[Mirkwood]], [[Erebor]] (the Lonely Mountain), and [[Esgaroth]] (Lake-Town) ]]

The company enters the dark forest of [[Mirkwood]] without Gandalf, who has other responsibilities. In Mirkwood, Bilbo first saves 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 [[Esgaroth|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 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 a Lake-town resident named Bard. Smaug wreaks havoc on the town, until Bard shoots an arrow into the [[Chink in one's armor|chink in Smaug's armour]], killing the dragon.

When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds 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 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|Dain]], 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 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 [[Bag End|home]] a very wealthy hobbit roughly a year and a month after he first left. Years later, he [[Tolkien's frame stories|writes the story of his adventures]].