Guide to The Hobbit

The Hobbit Characters: Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, Gollum and Smaug

One hobbit, one wizard, thirteen dwarves and a dragon on a pile of gold

By Tori BooksUpdated November 20268 min readContains spoilers

J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien started The Hobbit with one line scribbled on an exam paper, about a hobbit living in a hole in the ground. By the end of the book that hobbit had met a whole world: wizards and elves, trolls who argue about cooking, a creature who talks to himself in the dark and a dragon who loves the sound of his own voice.

Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo is a respectable hobbit of about fifty who likes his armchair, his pantry and six meals a day. He has a streak of adventure from his mother's side, the Tooks, and Gandalf spots it before Bilbo does. He starts the journey without even a pocket handkerchief. He ends it as the bravest member of the company, the one who speaks to a dragon, frees the dwarves from prison and tries to stop a war.

His most important moment is quiet. In a tunnel under the Misty Mountains he finds a ring that makes him invisible, the ring that will drive the whole of The Lord of the Rings.

Gandalf

Gandalf the wizard chooses Bilbo, marks his door with a secret sign and turns up at the worst moments with the best timing. He saves the company from trolls and goblins, then leaves them at the edge of Mirkwood on business of his own. In The Hobbit he is lighter and more mischievous than in the later books, a grey-cloaked old man who enjoys fireworks and smoke rings.

Thorin Oakenshield and the twelve dwarves

Thorin is the grandson of the last King under the Mountain, and he wants back the home and treasure Smaug took from his people. He is proud, brave and, once he sees the gold, dangerously stubborn. His twelve companions are Balin and Dwalin, Fíli and Kíli, Dori, Nori and Ori, Óin and Glóin, and Bifur, Bofur and the very round Bombur.

Balin is the kindest to Bilbo, Fíli and Kíli are the youngest and sharpest-eyed, and Glóin is the father of Gimli, who walks with the Fellowship decades later. Thorin, Fíli and Kíli all fall in the Battle of Five Armies, and Thorin makes peace with Bilbo before he dies.

Gollum

Gollum lives on an island in a black underground lake, catching fish and anything else that strays near. He challenges Bilbo to a riddle game: if Bilbo wins, Gollum shows him the way out; if he loses, he is dinner. Bilbo wins with a question that is not really a riddle at all, what have I got in my pocket, and the answer is Gollum's lost ring.

In the first edition of 1937 Gollum was almost a fair player. Tolkien rewrote the chapter for the 1951 edition to make him darker and more desperate, to match the ring's new role in The Lord of the Rings.

Smaug the dragon

Smaug drove the dwarves out of the Lonely Mountain long before Bilbo was born and has slept on their treasure ever since. He is vast, vain and clever, and his conversation with the invisible Bilbo, full of flattery and threats, is one of the best scenes in the book. Bilbo spots a bare patch in his jewelled armour, a thrush carries the news to Bard, and one black arrow ends him over Lake-town.

Bard, Beorn, Elrond and the Elvenking

Bard is a grim, honest archer of Lake-town, descended from the old lords of Dale, who becomes its king after killing the dragon. Beorn is a huge man who can take the shape of a bear, who feeds the travellers and later turns the final battle. Elrond of Rivendell reads the hidden moon-letters on Thorin's map, and the Elvenking of Mirkwood, named Thranduil only in later writings, locks the dwarves in his cellars until Bilbo smuggles them out in barrels.

Who's who in The Hobbit

More about The Hobbit

Books Like The Hobbit

The Two TowersJ. R. R. TolkienThe Fellowship of the RingJ. R. R. TolkienThe Return of the KingJ. R. R. TolkienStardustNeil GaimanInkheartCornelia FunkeThe Horse and His BoyC. S. LewisNettle & BoneT. KingfisherPrince CaspianC. S. Lewis

This guide discusses the whole plot, including the ending.