Individual Characters
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Bilbo Baggins
The
hero of the story. Bilbo is a hobbit, “a short, human-like person.”
Commonsensical and fastidious, Bilbo leads a quiet life in his comfortable
hole at Bag End and, like most hobbits, is content to stay at home. But
Bilbo possesses a great deal of untapped inner strength, and when
the wizard Gandalf persuades Bilbo to join a group of dwarves on
a quest to reclaim their gold from a marauding dragon, Bilbo ends
up playing a crucial role as the company’s burglar. Bilbo’s adventures
awaken his courage and initiative and prove his relentless ability
to do what needs to be done.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Bilbo Baggins.
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Gandalf
A
wise old wizard who always seems to know more than he reveals. Gandalf
has a vast command of magic and tends to show up at just the moment
he is needed most. Though he helps the dwarves in their quest (not least
by making Bilbo go along with them), he does not seem to have any
interest in their gold. He always has another purpose or plan in
mind, but he rarely reveals his private thoughts.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Gandalf.
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Thorin Oakenshield
A dwarf who leads his fellow dwarves on a trip to
the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their treasure from Smaug. Smaug’s
bounty is Thorin’s inheritance, as it belonged to Thror, Thorin’s
grandfather, the great King under the Mountain. Thorin is a proud, purposeful,
and sturdy warrior, if a bit stubborn at times. As the novel progresses,
his inability to formulate successful plans, his greed, and his
reliance on Bilbo to save him at every turn make Thorin a somewhat
unappealing figure, but he is partly redeemed by the remorse he
shows before he dies.
Read an
in-depth analysis of Thorin Oakenshield.
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Gollum
A
strange, small, slimy creature who lives deep in the caves of Moria
beneath the Misty Mountains. There, Gollum broods over his “precious,”
a magic ring, until he accidentally loses it and Bilbo finds it.
We never learn exactly what kind of creature he is. Apparently, his
true shape has been too deformed by years of living in darkness
to be recognizable.
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Smaug
The
great dragon who lives in the Lonely Mountain. Years ago, Smaug
heard of the treasure that the dwarves had amassed in the mountain
under Thror’s reign, and he drove them away to claim the gold for himself.
His flaming breath can scorch a city, his huge wings can carry him
great distances, and his armorlike hide is almost impenetrable.
Smaug can speak and possesses a dark, sardonic sense of humor.
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Bard
The
grim human who is the honorable captain of the guard in Lake Town,
a human city built on Long Lake just south of the Lonely Mountain.
With the help of information discovered by Bilbo and related by
a thrush, Bard finds Smaug’s weak spot and kills him.
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Beorn
A
man who can turn into a bear, Beorn helps Bilbo and the dwarves
after their escape from the goblins.
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Elrond
The
great leader of the elves at Rivendell. Elrond gives Bilbo’s group
aid and helpful advice when they pass through Rivendell early in
the novel. He is described in Chapter 3 as
being “as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable
as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.”
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Dark Lord Sauron
An evil sorcerer and creator of the magic ring. Also
called the Necromancer, Sauron is only mentioned in The
Hobbit; he never actually appears.
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Thror
Thorin’s
grandfather. Thror mined Moria, a series of caves under the Mountain,
and discovered a wealth of gold and jewels. He became King under
the Mountain, but before long, the dragon Smaug came and killed
or scattered all of Thror’s people. The dragon has been guarding
the treasure ever since, and Thorin wants to get back what is rightfully
his.
Races
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Dwarves
Thorin’s
group, composed of Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Gloin, Ori, Dori,
Nori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur, none of whom is really developed
as an individual character in the novel. The narrator describes
dwarves unfavorably in Chapter 12, noting
their greed and trickery. Some, however, are “decent enough people like
Thorin and Company, if you don’t expect too much.”
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Elves
The
first creatures in Middle-Earth. Immortal unless killed in battle,
they are fair-faced, with beautiful voices, and have a close communion
with nature, which makes them wonderful craftsmen. There are actually
two different varieties of elves: the wood elves and the high elves.
The wood elves reside in Mirkwood and, as a result, have more suspicious
and less wise tendencies than their high relatives.
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Humans
Humans
appear in the settlement of Lake Town near the Lonely Mountain.
Tolkien emphasizes their mortality, their lack of wisdom, their
discordance with nature, and their rampant feuding, but he does
not describe humans as inherently evil in the same way that he characterizes
goblins and Wargs.
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Trolls
Short-tempered
and dull-witted creatures who will eat just about anything, the
trolls are based on mythological creatures taken from Old English
and Anglo-Saxon poems and on figures from popular fairy tales and
folklore. Tolkien has them speak with a cockney accent, the dialect
of lower-class Londoners, which injects a modern joke into the fantasy
epic.
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Goblins
Evil
creatures encountered by Bilbo and company in Chapter 4.
Goblins are infamous for their ability to make cruel weapons and
torture devices.
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Wargs
Evil
wolves that join forces with the Goblins at the Battle of the Five
Armies in Chapters 17 and 18.
The Wargs haunt and pursue Bilbo and the dwarves soon after Bilbo
acquires the ring.
