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- CHARACTER INTRODUCTION
-
- BILBO BAGGINS: The Hobbit who led the Dwarves to the Lonely
- Mountain to recla im their treasure from the dragon Smaug. He found
- the One Ring in Gollum's cave
-
- GANDALF: The Wizard that accompanies Bilbo and the dwarves on
- their quest. He is well versed in magic spells and often calls upon
- them to save his comrades.
-
- THORIN OAKENSHIELD: Son of the King of Dwarves who were driven
- from the Lonel y Mountain by Smaug. With the aid of Gandalf and Bilbo
- he seeks regain his trea sure and the throne. When Smaug died he truly
- became King under the Mountain, t hough he was killed in combat in the
- battle of five Armies.
-
- SMAUG: The dragon of the Lonely Mountain who hordes the treasure
- he stole from the dwarves of Dale.
-
- GOLLUM: He is perfect example of the evil powers of the One Ring.
- He was born a Hobbit but had the ring too long. It made him into a
- slimey little creature who only lives to possess the ring.
-
- BARD: The archer who killed Smaug. He shot the dragon in the one
- spot it had no protection. The towns people later considered him a
- hero. What the people didn't know it was Bilbo who discovered the weak
- spot in the dragon's iron scales.
-
- BEORN: An enemy of orcs, he becomes friends with Bilbo and
- Gandalf. He has th e ability to change forms from human to bear. It
- is he who determines the outco me of the battle of five Armies.
-
- STORY SUMMARY
-
- The book begins with Bilbo Baggins enjoying a pipe after
- breakfast. Th is is one of his favorite pleasures and he feels quite
- content in doing so. He is middle-aged, and resides in a clean warm
- burrow in the ground.
- One morning Gandalf, a wizard stops by to chat with Bilbo. He
- informs Bilbo that he is looking for someone to go on an adventure with
- him. Although Bilbo is tempted he declines, but not before inviting
- Gandalf for tea the next morning.
- The next day Bilbo hears his doorbell and he recalls inviting
- Gandalf for tea, but instead of the wizard at the door, there is a
- group of dwarves... thirteen in all.
- Thorin son of the dwarf king starts to outline a plan on how to
- regain the tr easure stolen by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo is shocked to
- realize these plans involve him! He then realizes that Gandalf has
- tricked him by inscribing on his doo r that he was a burglar seeking a
- job with lots of excitement. With all this talk of quests and glory
- Bilbo decides to join the party after all.
- Gandalf reveals a key and a map of their journey which ends at the
- Lon ely Mountain. It is there that the treasure of Thorin's ancestors
- are kept-guar ded by Smaug.
- The quest begins and the party meets at the Green Dragon Inn. From
- there they venture into the Lone-lands. As heavy rains begin to fall,
- Bilbo notice s that Gandalf is missing. When it starts to pour they
- stop to investigate a light. There Bilbo finds three trolls grumbling
- about food.
- Bilbo decides to live up to title of burglar and attempts to pick
- one of the trolls pocket. However they quickly capture him. The dwarfs
- see what's going on and try to save poor Bilbo... yet all of them
- except Thorin is caught. Thorin formulates a plan of freeing them but
- fails.
- Gandalf returns and occupies the trolls till dawn, then the turn
- into stone. They group take the two swords and a knife the trolls were
- carrying.
- The travelers come across the Secret Valley. There they stop at
- Elrond 's Last Homely House. Elrond tells them the only way to use the
- key that Thorin possesses is to wait where the thrush knocks and the
- setting sun will shine up on the keyhole.
- The next morning the group heads toward the Misty Mountains. A
- storm has caused them to seek shelter in a cave. The cave however
- turns out to be an entrance to the goblin kingdom. Once again the
- group is captured. Only Gandalf is free, and he slays the Goblin King,
- and once again free the party from impend ing doom.
- During the escape Bilbo is knocked unconscious and is left behind.
- He awakes to find himself power which makes it's wearer invisible - the
- ring which Bilbo found.
- Bilbo slips the ring upon his finger and disappears. He follows
- Gollum stealthily toward the entrance to the outside world. He then
- bounds over Gollu m's head to freedom. Outside he is reunited with his
- dwarf friends. Later they encounter Wargs (large savage wolves).
- The Wargs chase the party into the trees. High in the branches
- Gandalf uses a spell to turn the pine cones a fire, in order to drive
- the wolves away. However the plan backfires and the very trees they
- took refuge in are now ablaze!
- Luckily for them the king of the eagles spotted them. He and his
- eagles swooped out of the sky and whisked our adventures to safety.
- The eagles dropped them off near Mirkwood Forest. This is where they
- come across Beorn, a bear like man who can indeed change into a bear.
- He puts them up for the night and outfits them with supplies for th eir
- trip into Mirkwood. He also warns them not to stray from the path in
- the fo rest.
- When they are ready to enter the forest, Gandalf announces he will
- not be accompanying them in this part of the journey. The group feels
- lost without him but yet they press on.
- They come across a black river. It is here that Bombur, one of
- the Dwarves falls in and is thrust into a sleep from which he cannot
- awake. Food is scarce now and the hungry travelers are lured off the
- path by visions of elves feasting in the forest. To their surprize
- every time they announce their presence to the elves...they elves
- vanish!
- Once again Bilbo finds himself seperated from the group. He stops
- for a short nap and awakes to find himself tied down by a giant spider.
- He uses his sword to cut himself free. He then attacks the spider and
- kills it. Feeling proud of his deed, he decides to name his sword
- "Sting".
- Bilbo finds his friends deep within the forest. They too were
- captured by spiders, but did not have the good fortune of escaping.
- Bilbo puts on his m agic ring and implements a plan to rescue his
- companions. It is a success and t he party (once again) gets out of an
- awful predicament.
- The celebration of escaping the spiders is short lived since the
- dwarf s are yet again captured...this time by the Wood Elves. Bilbo
- however dons his ring and escapes capture. He followed the elves to
- there home in the forest.
- There he formulated a plan to free his friends. He opens their
- cells and seal them in barrels. He then floated the barrel up the
- river to Lake-town and free dom.
- In Lake-town they get more supplies and venture to the Lonely
- Mountain. On the mountain they heard a thrush drop a snail to the
- rocks. Recalling what Beorn told them about the thrush and sunlight,
- they quickly found the hidden b ack entrance to Smaug's lair.
- / Bilbo puts on his ring and goes to confront the dragon. It is there
- he notices that in Smaug's underbelly there is a place that is not covered
- by his iron like scales. After conversing with the dragon Bilbo returns to
- the party. Smaug however is thoroughly angry about his little invisible
- visitor and heads to destroy Lake-town.
- When the dragon attacks, a thrush told Bard (the captain of the
- archers) that Smaug has a weak spot in his breast. Bard used his black
- arrow to slay the beast. Then the towns people made him king of Lake-
- town. With smaug dead the men and elves go to claim his horded
- treasure. Dwarf troops under Thorin's kinsman Dain also appear. There
- bickering was soon changed to alliance when the Wargs and Goblins
- approached... and so began The Battle of the Five Armies. During the
- battle Thorin is hurt and Bilbo gets knocked unconscious by falling
- rocks. The eagles as well as Beorn, in bear form join the fray. The
- Wargs and goblins were vanquished. Bilbo later returned to his burrow
- under the hill with a chest of trea sure, a ring of power, and heart
- full of adventure.
-
- BOOK REVIEW
- I liked this book alot. The author uses characters that appear
- only in fairy tales, yet gives them a personality that shows maturity.
- I especialy liked the way Bilbo changed from a tea drinking home maker
- to a swash buckling adv enturer.
- I would highly recommend this book for children of all ages as
- well as adults. It has a certain appeal that makes the reader want to
- continue reading the book all day.
- I am certainly going to read the other books about the Hobbits by
- J.R.R. Tolkien.