There And Back Again - A Hobbit Tale
After the epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings was made into a movie, the J.R.R Tolkien's opera became more famous and attracted more fans. They began to be interested in all of his writings and also in the alphabet he developed to describe the language used by the inhabitants of "the middle Earth". The fans of The Lord of the Rings know that the story did not begin in this trilogy, but in the volume written before: The Hobbit.
J.R.R. Tolkien was an illustrious philologist teacher at Oxford and he was officially attracted by Celtic mythology in particular and to mythology in general. In his writings he was also influenced by his fellow writer C.S. Lewis, best known to the large public because of "The Chronicles of Narnia". Tolkien began to write "The Hobbit" knowing it will be only the first book of a series. He intended it for to children, but by its developing he realized it will be a piece of work which will attract the large public, regardless of their age.
The central theme of the fantasy is not the ring, as many would suspect, though the ring plays an important role, but a lost treasure hidden in the Lonely Mountain. Just like "The Lord of The Rings", the adventure begins when Gandalf, the gray wizard appears in The Shire to visit his friend, Bilbo Baggins. The heroes who form the fellowship of the ring are not presented in this book, but only a few of their relatives of their kin. Bilbo Baggins is Frodo's uncle and he is the main character of the book. He works together with 13 dwarfs, including Gloin, who is the father of Gimli, one of the partners of the fellowship of the ring. The chief of the dwarfs, Thorin Oakenshield,( the son of Thrain - the son of Thror ) with Gandalf are looking for a burglar to accomplish a certain quest. The quest represents their wish to regain the lost treasure hidden in the mountain by the old dragon Smaug. Gandalf appoints Bilbo to be the burglar.
Once they begin their adventures, the hobbit, the wizard and the 13 dwarfs encounter many dangers disguised in trolls, goblins, wolves, spiders and an enchanted wood. They also benefit of much help from Elrond from Rivendell, Beorn from the Carrock, and eventually from the wood-elves and the inhabitants of the old town Esgaroth, situated on the Long Lake. Esgaroth was the last human dwelling place encountered before entering the Desolation of Smaug and getting near to his mountain.
After unlocking the enchanted door which leads to a passage in the mountain, the hobbit begins to act his role: the burglar. He managed to steal a cup from the dragon with the help of the magic ring. He found it in the Misty Mountains and used it to escape from the ring's last master, Gollum, from the goblins and from the wood-elves. Inside the mountain, he used it to hide from the dragons' eye and to be able to have a riddle like dialog with him.
To make the long story short, from the dialog Smaug drew the conclusion that the hobbit and the dwarfs were helped by the inhabitants of Esgaroth, so he decided to go and destroy the town. While doing it, a hero, called Bard, arose from the town and shot the dragon dead with his arrow. Inside the mountain, the dwarfs began already to feel like masters of the treasure. They soon find out that the lake men and the wood-elves were coming to get their part of the fortune. Which was supposed to be a battle between the dwarfs inside the mountain and the dwarfs that came to their help from the north, on one side, and the lake men and the wood-elves on the other side, became the famous "battle of the five armies", because goblins came to take the treasure for themselves.
This event reunited men, dwarfs and elves. The story ends with the death of Thorin, but also with the victory of his alliance. Gandalf and Bilbo travel back home, and Bilbo begins to write down his adventures in the book called "There and back again, a hobbit tale".
In conclusion, "The Hobbit" also became very popular and just like "The Lord of the Rings", it will be tuned into a movie, directed by Peter Jackson and featured by some of the actors who played in LOTR.
