Armknecht 1

Brennan Armknecht
Mrs. Dietrich
Honors English 10
12/20/16
The Hobbit Summary
The Hobbit starts with the introduction of our main character, Bilbo Baggins. We learn
about his ancestry and family lineage. We learn that Bilbo comes from a well-respected Hobbit
family. One day, Bilbo is approached by the Wizard Gandalf. Gandalf asks Bilbo to accompany
him on an adventure, and Bilbo refuses. Bilbo insists that Hobbits, who stand no more than three
feet tall, cannot be of any help. The next day, Bilbo hears a knock on the door. However, instead
of it being Gandalf, it is Thorin, a dwarf. Over the span of an hour, 13 dwarfs and Gandalf show
up. They begin to plan out their adventure even though Bilbo did not agree to partake in it.
Gandalf insists that he will be useful to the team and Bilbo hears him out. The quest is to reach
the mountain inhabited by Smaug, a fierce dragon, and slay him. The next morning, Bilbo wakes
up and he is alone, which relieves him. However, he realizes that they are waiting for him and he
is late. Bilbo had no time to prepare, and has to leave with no belongings. The first day, Gandalf
disappears, and the crew needs to find a place to sleep. They see a strange light, and send Bilbo
to investigate. He gets caught by the trolls and almost gets eaten.
The next day, they come across the Misty Muntains. It has been raining for hours. The
crew thinks that they found a good cave to rest in, but it is inhabited by goblins who swoop up
their ponies. At the end of the encounter, Bilbo goes unconsciousness. When he regains
conscience, he finds a ring and picks it up, however, he does not know where the crew has gone.

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As he looks for them, he runs into Gollum, a very odd and hideous creature. Gollum says if
Bilbo solves a riddle, he will be sent in the right direction, but he will be eaten if he does not.
Bilbo wins and Gollum goes to get his precious ring However, this is the ring that Bilbo found.
Gollum accuses Bilbo of being a thief, and Bilbo escapes by using the ring, which makes you
invisible. Once Bilbo reunites with the crew, they encounter wolves. To evade this, they all climb
a tree, but the wolves call the goblins and the goblins burn the trees. However, eagles soar in and
carry them to safety. Gandalf says that they are almost to the Lonely Mountain, but he will leave
them soon. He leads them to Beorns house (a friend of Gandalf) where they get well needed
supplies.
To evade the goblins, they take a path that goes through a dark forest. One man falls into
a creek that Beorn said not to touch and he was put to sleep for days. That night, the group gets
separated and Bilbo is trapped by a spider. Bilbo slays the spider and helps the rest of he crew
get out of their traps too. All is well, but Thorin is missing. After this, the crew moves on, but
encounters wood elves. All but Bilbo are captured. When asked what they were doing, they
didnt respond. They were put in jail. Bilbo uses his invisibility to plot an escape. They all sneak
into barrels and float to Lake Town. Once they exit, the crew sees the Lonely Mountain, their
final destination point. Thorin tells the people that he will kill Smaug and they rejoice him. They
leave the next day.
The crew finally gets to the mountain, but the entrance is too dangerous. They need to
finds the side entrance. They find it, and as the sun sets, they see a keyhole. They immediately
use the key they had. Bilbo is sent as a spy. Bilbo sees massive Smaug and takes a gold cup. This
causes Smaug to fly outside and burn everything. Once Bilbo musters enough strength to go back
in, he realizes Smaug is faking sleep, waiting for him. He only talks to Smaug with riddles, and

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he notices that Smaug has a weak spot under his armor. The dragon goes to Lake Town to seek
vengeance. So, the group seizes the treasure once Smug leaves.
At Lake Town, the town prepares for an attack. They have archers and water. However,
they cannot fight the wrath of Smaug. However, the head archer is told to look for the weak spot
and he finds it. Smaug plunges down and destroys the city. Now the citizens march up to the
mountain to claim possessions, but Thorin refuses, saying he owes them nothing. Bilbo sneaks
out and talks to them that night. At the meeting between Thorin and the archer, he offers a peace
agreement and Thorin refuses. However, he shows Thorin the Arkenstone. Thorin gets mad at
Bilbo for giving it away. At the same time, Gandalf appears and tells Thorin to let Bilbo speak.
Bilbo wakes up the next morning to hear that the war was won by their side. However,
Thorin was mortally wounded. Thorin apologized to Bilbo and the dead are buried. Soo, relations
are restored and the group leaves. Bilbo gets a good sum of treasure as well. Gandalf explains
why he left. He drove the Necromancer out of the forest. Once he pair returns home, Bilbo
realizes he was pronounced dead and his home was being auctioned. He was able to recover it,
but he was never viewed the ae by his peers. This scene concludes The Hobbit.