The Hobbit - Reviewing Appendix N
We are finally back to continue our series on reading books that have inspired Dungeons & Dragons - with that very handy list in the back of the Dungeon Master’s Guide (1979). Sadly we missed last month due to time constraints, but we are back with The Hobbit (1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien.
This is probably the most well-known of the books that inspired Dungeons & Dragons and the most beloved of the books. Maybe Conan or H.P. Lovecraft’s work might still be recognizable by most people, but I would assume that The Hobbit is more widely known than they are. Though, it is for good reason. The novel has definitely stood the test of time and is as readable today as it was 86 years ago when it was released. It is a classic, and well-loved one at that, and is an enjoyable story for readers of all ages.
Before we jump into the review, I’ll should mention what will be our next collection to read. The Long Tomorrow (1955) by Leigh Brackett is up next. I have not heard of the author (she did the original screenplay for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back) nor of the book, but she is thought of as the “Queen of the Space Opera” so I think this will be a fun departure from the normal fantasy books we have been reading in this series, plus maybe now my constant gripe about women representation will finally be put to an end (since it won’t for The Hobbit).
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Before reading The Hobbit this time, I already had a pretty firm understanding of Middle Earth as I had recently rewatched the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, have rewatched multiple times Dan Olson’s An Exhaustive History of Ralph Baskhi’s Lord of the Rings, have read The Hobbit a few times before (but more than 8 years ago since my last read), and have even listened to the audiobook series for Lord of the Ring (probably a dozen or more years ago). I think I even made it halfway through The Children of Húrin (2007) before giving up on it and deciding that the lore of Middle Earth was too dry for me in high school or college.
The Hobbit is a wonderful first book to get yourself excited about Middle Earth, and Tolkien is a wonderful narrator within the book. It is an unusual style where the author breaks the fourth wall to clue you in on future events in the story, but I find it charming and rather wholesome. It’s like sitting down to hear a story told to you by a grandfatherly figure who is getting you excited about what happens next in their story. Though, it can cut the tension a little early, that is to be expected in something marketed as a “children’s book” that wants to reassure the reader that the story has a happy ending.
Review
Below is my score, after that, I’ll talk a bit more about the story, the pros and the cons, and then some things I think are worth taking into your tabletop games.
4.75/5
It’s a great book. I’m not going to be the crazy person on the internet that tries to claim the book is a horrifically bland read filled with plotholes, inconsistencies, and more. Though, there are people who will happily do so.
For some people, they may not like Tolkien’s prose but I quite enjoyed it. Yes, it falls into the trappings of its genre, but that’s more to do with the fact that the novel created those genre trappings. You can’t blame a book that inspired so much fantasy and storytelling as being ‘generic’ when everyone copies or steals elements from its pages.
For what it was attempting to do, it accomplishes. It created a wonderful story about a brave hobbit going on big adventures in a dangerous land, along with thirteen dwarves, and a mysterious wizard.
The Hobbit
This story begins with Gandalf, a mysterious wizard, tricking Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, into hosting a party for thirteen dwarves who arrive over an hour so that Bilbo won’t simply throw them all out if they had showed up at once. These thirteen dwarves (Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur) are going on a quest to recover their ancient dwarven home within the Lonely Mountain, though they’ll have to defeat the ancient wyrm Smaug to claim it and the hoard of treasure within. Bilbo is supposed to play the role of ‘burglar’ for the dwarves, something that many of the dwarves are suspicious about, but Gandalf is very firm in his decision.
The group travels into the wilds where they come across trolls, the elven village (inn?) of Rivendell, across the Misty Mountains, through an elven forest, the human settlement of Lake-Town, and eventually at the Lonely Mountain. While attempting to cross the Misty Mountains, they are ambushed by goblins, almost eaten, but are able to escape, though Bilbo gets separated and has to riddle-for-his-life with Gollum, a horrific creature that is obsessed with ‘his precious’, a golden ring that turns the wearer invisible. It seems to have a mind of its own, though that subject isn’t explored much in this book (spoilers for Lord of the Rings).
Bilbo soon reunites with the dwarves, who are able to escape from goblins and wargs thanks to some handy eagles nearby who then bring them to a shape-shifter’s house (Boern) where they are re-supplied. From there they attempt to travel through the elven forest (Gandalf departs on pressing business), but it is a supernatural forest and they run off the trail (which one should never do) before they are kidnapped by giant spiders. After the giant spiders, they are kidnapped by elves. Luckily, Bilbo has his magical ring and can save them from both events, though his escape plan from the elves ends with the dwarves being secreted away in wooden barrels, kegs, and crates that are then whisked away by a river, to be carried down to Lake-Town.
Once in Lake-Town, the party can re-supply and head off for the Lonely Mountain where they locate a secret entrance inside. Bilbo, as the resident burglar in the group, heads into the Lonely Mountain, now the lair of Smaug, and steals a golden goblet. This infuriates Smaug and the dragon waits in ambush for Bilbo to return. When Bilbo does, the two talk, Bilbo sees that Smaug has a hidden weak spot, and then is able to escape being burned by dragonfire.
Smaug discerns that Lake-Town has aided Bilbo and goes to destroy the town (after attempting to destroy the party who escape into Smaug’s lair), but a small intelligent thrust overhears Bilbo telling the dwarves of Smaug’s vulnerability and informs a Lake-Town resident, Bard, whose bloodline links him back to the ancient kings of the land. Bard, with knowledge of the weakness, killing Smaug by shooting an ancient black arrow into Smaug, killing the dragon and destroying a good section of Lake-Town as well.
While Smaug is dead, the dwarves and Bilbo take over the mountain, with Thorin reclaiming his title of King under the Mountain, and Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, an ancient heirloom of Thorin’s family. The elves from the forest and the survivors of Lake-Town head off to the Mountain, assuming the dwarves are dead, and wishing to claim Smaug’s hoard for themselves. They find all of the dwarves alive and demand that a portion of the treasure is returned to them. Thorin refuses and calls up his kinfolk in the nearby Iron Hills who send 500 dwarves to help defend the mountain from the elf and human besiegers.
Before the dwarves can arrive as back-up, Bilbo slips out of the mountain and hands the Arkenstone he had hidden from Thorin to the besiegers, hoping that they exchange the gem for the treasure they are owed to avoid any needless bloodshed. When Thorin finds out, he banishes Bilbo from the mountain and Bilbo returns to the camp of elves and humans just as the dwarven army arrives. Before the dwarves, human, and elf armies can fight, an army of goblins and wargs arrive, forcing the three forces to ally together (along with Gandalf, Bilbo, the Eagles who reappear, and Boern in his massive bear form).
Scraping out a victory, Thorin (and two other dwarves) are killed in the conflict, though Thorin reconciles with Bilbo before he succumbs to his wounds. The forces put their differences aside, the dwarves allowing to trade the Arkenstone for treasure within their mountain, and the Lonely Mountain and surrounding areas begin returning to prosperity. Bilbo accepts a small portion of his treasure and returns to his home in the hills far away.
The Good
There is a lot of good that can be said about The Hobbit and it is kind of hard to pin down which things should be mentioned. It is a well-written tale, utilizing well-known fairy tales, myths, and more. It has influenced so many of our ideas about fantasy and story-telling, and presents them into an easily-digestible story about overcoming your fears and trusting in your friends (and always packing a bit more food than you might think you need).
There is nothing dark within the tale (well, except maybe Gollum), but there is still tension and worry that pulls you into the story and makes you care about the safety of Bilbo and his dwarves (at least the few of them that get any type of role in the book - a cast of fourteen is hard to ensure that everyone gets some page-time). I particularly enjoy Tolkien’s takes on dwarves and elves, even though it is considered ‘classical’ to our more modern standards. Just reading his words about dwarves made me reconsider dwarves in my own setting and how I wish them to be presented and understood for their lust for gold and their penchant for mining rocks.
I especially like what happens when you give your party a magical item with some extraordinary powers, and what they can accomplish in the face of sure defeat and incalculable odds. There are clever plans and plots, and the main characters are forced to rely on their guile and cleverness, instead of just hacking through bodies and murdering hundreds to get to the conclusion of the story (like many, more modern fantasy books seem to do).
The Bad
I’m sure you are all waiting for it… Do women exist in this universe? What do they do? Do they live among the men-folk of the world? I am very curious about where all the women are and what they are doing. I don’t know how we can have such a long adventure across Middle Earth and not have a single female character (nor even the name of one) show up in the book. Perhaps I missed them somewhere in the pages, but I’d really rather like to know what women even do in Middle Earth since it seems like only men are there.
Beyond that, there aren’t that many negatives I can say about The Hobbit, but I do have a few nitpicks. First, time makes very little sense in the book. Apparently, the dwarves and Bilbo spent two whole days lost in a drunk stupor staring at the dragon hoard before they even think about defending themselves from Smaug if, and when, he would return. Or they go running and fighting through the interior of the Misty Mountains in goblin tunnels over several days with no sleeping or eating? Time isn’t taken very seriously in this book and it might be several weeks in prison, but only a few days to travel a huge distance on foot (or maybe only take a day depending on the needs of the story).
The other nitpick is that (and this is blasphemous I’m sure), I just don’t care for the songs. I skip them every time I get to them. I tried to read them and enjoy them, but I just don’t. I don’t enjoy the added songs, but I have to assume a lot of people do since no one else mentions it.
The very last thing is the most minor of nitpicks, but it must be said so I can bring justice to the world. The final battle at the end of the book is called The Battle of Five Armies. You have the elves, the dwarves, the men of Lake-Town on one side (that’s three) and then you have goblins and wargs on the other side (that’s two). BUT, then Boern and the Eagles show up. I’d argue that the Eagles make up their own army and should be counted properly! It should be the Battle of Six Armies to take into account that it is Boern and the Eagles save the day, ensuring that everyone survives. Or keep it at Five Armies but relegate the goblins and wargs into a single army. No one likes them anyway, they don’t need two spots in there.
Takeaways
There are a lot of things to take from this novel, but I’m going to list some highlights. At the very beginning of the story, Gandalf leaves a mark on Bilbo’s door. This mark means that there is a burglar who lives there, and it is such a wonderful example of how you can incorporate thieves’ cant into your games. It can be a simple addition to give your rogue insight about the city, like where to go for a burglar, who to shop with for illicit goods, and more.
Soon after that, while the party is at Rivendell, they unfold their map and the elf, Elrond, points out that their map has moon-letters that can only be spotted while the moon is shining through them. I’m pretty sure I just found out how all my druids communicate with each other in the written word, plus utilizing other such natural phenomena for their druidic language. Maybe they have writing that can only be seen during solar-eclipses, planar rifts that only open during the Summer Solstice, and more. It certainly helps me understand how druids might like to communicate with each other.
Goblins are an interesting topic in The Hobbit and what I want to talk about last in regards to this book. In the book they are described with some of the same tendencies we ascribe to dwarves, that I don’t hear elsewhere. They are described as mining and tunneling, as well as creating strange inventions to reduce their workload and make things easier for them. While this is definitely a dig at mechanization, it is also interesting to think of goblins as the opposites of dwarves. Yes, they both dig great tunnels and large homes within the mountains, but dwarves create magnificent halls and cover it in decorations, while the goblins prefer to be lazy about it and make narrow tunnels just barely big enough and don’t spend any time cleaning up after themselves. While the dwarves make intricate and fine work that no one has seen before, the goblins have productivity on their side… even if a bit crude. They can churn out weapons and finished items at a greater scale, the items just won’t be very durable and not have any care in their creation.
Other Media
If you liked this book and want to read more like it, below are a few suggestions!
The Face in the Frost (1969) by John Bellairs
The Thief Lord (2000) by Cornelia Funke
The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien
Eragon (2002) by Christopher Paolini
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