Chapter 1 opens as the wizard Gandalf
visits the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and invites him to join in an
adventure. Bilbo declines, reluctant to leave the safety and comfort of
his hobbit-hole. The next day, he is visited by dwarves who believe
Bilbo can be of use to them in their journey to the Lonely Mountain to
reclaim their ancestral treasure, now in the possession of Smaug the
dragon. Bilbo realizes that Gandalf had represented him to the dwarves
as a burglar. He reluctantly agrees to go, but he changes his mind the
next morning. Gandalf urges him to join them, however, and they depart —
a band of fourteen.
Chapters 2 through 10 depict Bilbo, Gandalf, and
the dwarves traveling out of the hobbit-lands toward the Lonely Mountain
far to the east. As the landscape becomes less hospitable and the group
faces hunger, bad weather, and attacks from hostile creatures, Bilbo
often thinks fondly of home and questions his decision to come on this
journey. In the Lone-lands, the travelers encounter trolls who capture
the dwarves and tie them up in sacks, planning to roast and eat them
later. They are rescued by Gandalf and Bilbo, who produces a key he
found nearby. The key unlocks the trolls' secret cave, where the
travelers find gold and weapons, to which they help themselves. They
travel on to the valley of Rivendell at the edge of the Wild, and stay
at the home of Elrond, a hospitable elf leader. Elrond translates the
runes on the swords that Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield, king of the
dwarves, took from the trolls' cave; they are ancient swords called
Orcrist and Glamdring that come from dragon plunder or the Goblin-wars.
Elrond also translates Thorin's map, which clarifies the importance of
Durin's Day, the first day of the dwarves' New Year.. After two weeks,
Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves resume their journey. Approaching the
Misty Mountains, they take shelter from a storm in a cave that turns out
to be the Great Goblin's cavern. The Goblins capture Bilbo and his
companions and take their ponies. Using Glamdring, Gandalf kills the
Great Goblin and frees Bilbo and the dwarves. The travelers try to find
their way out of the cave as the Goblins retreat, but Bilbo falls on his
way out and loses consciousness.
When Bilbo regains consciousness and tries to
make his way out of the cave, he finds a ring that he absentmindedly
pockets. This incident, in Chapter 5, marks a dramatic moment in his
adventures, for the ring confers powers of invisibility on whomever
wears it. Bilbo encounters old Gollum, a slimy, murderous creature who
kills and eats Goblins and others who stray into the cave. They exchange
riddles, and Gollum discovers that Bilbo has the ring, which is
Gollum's favorite possession. At the same time, Bilbo puts on the ring
and discovers its magical power. Pursuing the invisible Bilbo, Gollum
inadvertently shows him the way out of the cave. Bilbo has the
opportunity to kill Gollum, but decides his invisibility is an unfair
advantage and, instead, leaps over his head through the mouth of the
cave.
After he is outside, Bilbo plans to go back and
rescue his friends but finds they have escaped, too. He tells his tale
and gains their respect. Then they all run away from the Mountains,
fearful of the Goblins. They are chased up into trees by Wargs, menacing
wild wolves. Gandalf chases the Wargs away, but the Wargs soon return
with Goblins and try to smoke Bilbo and the dwarves out of the trees by
setting fire to the forest. Bilbo and the dwarves are rescued by eagles,
who fly them to their nest. After spending the night in safety, they
resume their travels east and Gandalf takes them to the house of Beorn,
the skin-changer, who outfits them for the next leg of their journey,
through the forest of Mirkwood. At the end of Chapter 7, Gandalf leaves
them at the edge of Mirkwood, warning them not to stray from the path.
Gandalf does not reappear until the Battle of Five Armies near the end
of the book.
Bilbo and the dwarves travel through the forest
and use a boat to cross an enchanted lake. They rescue Bombur, one of
the thirteen dwarves, from a fall into the lake. Hungry, they approach a
party of feasting elves, but to no avail. Bilbo is captured by a
spider, but fights his way free with the sword he took from the trolls;
he names it Sting. Wearing the ring of invisibility, he frees the
dwarves who have been bound in spiders' webs and reveals to them the
secret of the ring. At the end of Chapter 8, Bilbo and the dwarves find
that Thorin has been captured by elves, and in Chapter 9, all the
dwarves are captured and thrown into the dungeon under the palace of the
Elvenking. Bilbo escapes this fate because he is wearing the ring that
makes him invisible, and he wanders around the Elvenking's palace until
he has developed a plan to free the dwarves. He hides them in empty wine
barrels that are dropped through the floor of the palace and float down
the river to Esgaroth or Lake-town. Bilbo and the dwarves spend some
time in Lake-town, a town of men, but then move on and disembark near
the Lonely Mountain.
Chapter 11 depicts the encounter with Smaug the
dragon, the object of the journey. The travelers can see the door to
Smaug's lair in the side of the Lonely Mountain, but they can't open it
until Bilbo suddenly understands the clues in Thorin's map. On Durin's
Day, using the key from Thorin's grandfather, Bilbo enters the Lonely
Mountain. He sees Smaug the dragon sitting on the treasure hoard and,
despite great fear, engages him in conversation and emerges with a cup
he has stolen from the hoard. At this point, Bilbo becomes, in effect,
the leader of the group. He re-enters Smaug's lair and steals the
Arkenstone, the precious gem of the hoard. In a vengeful rage, Smaug
comes out of his lair and destroys the town of Esgaroth. Bard, a
Lake-town archer, kills Smaug.
At this point, in Chapter 14, various groups
begin to converge on the Lonely Mountain, because the treasure Smaug had
guarded is now up for grabs. Thorin refuses to ally with Bard or the
elves, and Bilbo gives Bard the Arkenstone to use in bargaining with
Thorin. Gandalf reappears. The Battle of Five Armies ensues — dwarves,
men, and elves fighting against Goblins and Wargs. After the battle,
Bilbo is taken to see Thorin, who is dying. He is buried with Orcrist
and the Arkenstone; his inheritance, the hoard, is divided. Bilbo leaves
with Gandalf, Elvenking, and Beorn to go back to the hobbit-lands. They
stay with Beorn over Yule-tide and return to Elrond in the spring. When
Bilbo arrives home, he finds that his house and its contents are being
auctioned, because he is presumed dead. He recovers most of his
possessions and leads an eccentric life, sometimes visited by his travel
companions.
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