Questions tagged [the-hobbit]
For questions about The Hobbit, a 1937 Children's novel by Tolkien. Please always use with the [tolkiens-legendarium] tag. For questions about the film adaptations use in conjunction with the film tags, [an-unexpected-journey], etc.
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Why did Gollum fail to seek out Bilbo?
After Gollum had lost the Ring, he abandoned the dark caves under the mountains with a strong intent to regain it, considering himself bereft and fully blaming Bilbo with theft. Here's Gandalf account,...
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Why would Bilbo agree to arbitration in the Khuzdul language?
In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the Dwarves present Bilbo a contract. It's presumably in Westron, but through the magic of Translation Convention, it appears on-screen in its entirety in English,...
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Is there a legal system in Middle-earth?
I was re-watching the Hobbit films last weekend, and noticed in "An Unexpected Journey", there is a scene in Bag End where the Dwarves present Bilbo with a contract, outlining the many potential ...
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Did Tolkien ever explain why he mentioned Gondolin in The Hobbit?
In The Hobbit, the most obvious reference Tolkien included to his already-extant legendarium was to the story of the fall of Gondolin. The swords Orcrist and Glamdring were identified (by Elrond) as ...
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How much does Beorn know about the Istari?
In this scene, Beorn says that he has never heard of Gandalf the Grey. Yet in this scene, he speaks to Gandalf at length in a way that shows the earlier scene was merely a pretense, and that he ...
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Did Gandalf know Bilbo had the One Ring?
From the movie, you can see that Gandalf knows Bilbo found something special during their adventure, but Bilbo did not tell him the truth in the end, nor did Gandalf pursue it. His final words seem to ...
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Was there a relationship between the idea of Song creating the World and the amount of songs in LOTR?
In-universe, the World was created when Ainur sang the music by Eru.
Did Tolkien ever indicate if that fact deliberately bears some relationship on the amount of songs he presented in Middle Earth ...
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Does Shelob have tusks?
In a recent conversation on Mos Eisley, a debate started as to whether or not Shelob had tusks. Does she have tusks, or fangs; what is her in-book description?
^^ not Shelob, but the picture that ...
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Who was the Queen of Mirkwood?
I hope this has not been asked a lot, but I have been working on a costume, and I wish to try and come as close to what could have been canon since Tolkien and his universe is very dear to me.
So I ...
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How is Gollum dressed in the books? [duplicate]
In Jackson films, Gollum is dressed in loincloth.
What was his manner of dress (in Hobbit/LOTR timeframe) in the books?
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How did Smaug get the treasure into the mountain? [duplicate]
Correct me if I'm wrong- I've seen the movies and read the book but it has been a while.
Smaug not only hoarded the treasure that was already under the mountain but he also collected the treasure of ...
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Is Bolg part of Azog? [duplicate]
In the Hobbit Part 3 Movie, Legolas calls Bolg "the spawn of Azog." My understanding is that Azog is his father (from the wikia), but how exactly does an Orc reproduce? The term spawn is what really ...
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Did Thráin have one of the seven rings?
In the Hobbit film it emphasises Thráin's lust for gold and the insanity this bought on.
Was this caused by only the gold, or did he posses one of the Seven rings given to Dwarfs which could corrupt?
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Is "Dragon Sickness" a figurative or literal curse?
"Dragon Sickness" played a major role in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies as Thorin became obsessed with wealth and gold, and paranoid about keeping it. This kept up even to the point of being ...
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How many Hobbit clans/families have 'feet' in their surnames?
How many hobbit clans or families include feet in their last names?
According to the movies, it seems like every other clan seems to have feet in their last name. Is this typical or is this just in ...
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How did Gerontius Took get to be so old?
Until Bilbo turned 131, Gerontius Took (AKA "The Old Took") was the longest-living hobbit ever, reaching 130 years-old.
Bilbo had The Ring to help extend his life, and even then, his age took a huge ...
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Why does Gandalf show such reverence for Galadriel and Elrond?
Particularly in the Hobbit movies, Elrond mentions that Gandalf answers to Galadriel. Though Gandalf is a Maiar, one of Ainur, shouldn't he be regarded as one of the elders one above the Noldor?
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In JRRT’s writings, did Gandalf ever use his staff as a physical weapon?
The movies certainly portray Gandalf using his staff as a weapon, but is this explicitly described in JRRT’s writings?
For the purposes of this question, using the staff to work magic would not count....
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Does Gandalf need to eat, drink, and sleep?
Gandalf is a Maia, a sort of angel in human shape. Does that mean he needs to eat and drink and sleep like everyone else?
At the start of The Hobbit (book and movie) we see him eating and drinking ...
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Why do the trolls have civilized names?
In The Hobbit, the trolls' names (Tom, William, and Bert) don't seem to fit their "uncivilized" characters. Why did Tolkien give them those names?
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Do the dwarves know what a "hobbit" is?
This seems like a very strange question, I know. It actually has three parts:
Does anyone of Thorins company ever call Bilbo a "hobbit"?
If so, how would they know what a hobbit was unless Gandalf ...
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Was there any (significant) technological development during the Third Age
The Third Age lasted about 3000 years. In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings we see the last years of it and Middle-earth is in something like a "dark age".
The human empires are either ...
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How did Gollum know about the rescue party from Dol Guldur?
...Legolas continued[,]
'In the days of fair weather we led Gollum through the woods; and
there was a high tree standing alone far from the others which he
liked to climb. Often we let him ...
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Will there be another book/movie about The Hobbit / LOTR?
I have been wondering since the last movie of The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies whether there will be a book or a movie to close the gap after the end of The Hobbit where Legolas Greenleaf gets ...
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How are beings distinguished with respect to 'power' in Middle Earth?
Many characters are referred to, both in canon, and by the community, as being 'powerful'.
Gandalf is a powerful wizard; Sauron is very powerful; Morgoth is one of the most powerful beings to have ...
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Why model Smaug after a cat?
In the 1977 animated film version of the Hobbit, the dragon Smaug is drawn similar to a cat- the shape of his head is distinctly feline (complete with whiskers), and his posture when awoken from his ...
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Do all elven blades glow blue in the presence of orcs?
There have been a couple of questions that I believe are related to this one, for example this one that asks why Sting glowed blue in the presence of orcs, and this one about the origins of Sting ...
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Why does the One Ring make the wearer's clothes invisible?
The One Ring turns invisible the person wearing it. Is there an explanation for
how it does this?
It seems that direct contact with the skin activates the Ring's invisibility effects; why would it ...
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What happened to the dwarves' instruments?
The dwarves in The Hobbit brought their instruments to Bilbo's hole. Did they leave their fiddles, viols, drum, harp, flutes and clarinets there or take them on the whole journey?
(I noticed that ...
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Was there only a single mithril-mail shirt made?
Considering mithril is both incredibly light and strong (compared to other materials such as steel) are there any references to there being more than a single mithril mail shirt (Bilbo's) ever being ...
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What would Sméagol have called his own race?
In the book Unfinished Tales, in the chapter The Hunt for the Ring, we find the following passage (which confirms what is said in the answers to this question):
Gollum would not know the term "...
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Is there reference to Sport in Middle Earth?
I'm currently reading The Hobbit and came across this curious excerpt from Thorin:
If we don't get blown off, or drowned, or struck by lightning, we shall be picked up by some giant and kicked sky-...
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Which dragon did hurt Thranduil? [duplicate]
When Thorin and Thranduil discuss in Mirkwood, Thranduil said: ''Do not talk to me about the dragon fire. I know what's rage and ruin!'', and shows Thorin his destroyed face for a moment, then says: ''...
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What examples of Saruman using his personal power do we know of?
I know he used his power to slow down Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli but do we get any other hints of him using his personal power?
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How long did Gollum have the ring for?
The books (and the movies) talk about the origin of Gollum and how he first attained the one ring. It also talks about how the ring warps his mind and body (and prevent Gollum from ageing normally). ...
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Why is Gollum's memory so selective?
In The Hobbit (the book and the movies), we meet our old friend Gollum again. But there is something strange about him. He doesn't remember what his own people (i.e., hobbits) are called, or even ...
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Are the similarities between Tolkien's Dwarves and Jews intentional?
Reading about Khuzdul I found the following information very interesting :
The Dwarvish language sounds much like Hebrew, and indeed Tolkien noted some similarities between Dwarves and Jews: both ...
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How did they determine the music for the songs sung in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" film trilogies?
The novels The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien both contain a number of songs, mostly sung by Hobbits, with fully fleshed out lyrics. A few of these songs even made it into the ...
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Does any of The Hobbit's negative impression of Wood Elves survive in Tolkien's other writing?
In The Lord of the Rings, the only Wood Elf we get to know is Legolas, who is obviously awesome. But in The Hobbit, the image we get of Wood Elves is far less positive. We are told that they "are ...
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Why didn't Tolkien do more with the Stone-Giants?
In The Hobbit, the heroes shelter from a storm in the mountains and see a group of stone-giants throwing boulders at each other.
The Stone-giants were out, and were hurling rocks at one another ...
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How has Galadriel acquired evil mode?
One thing that intrigues me, is the berserk / evil / turbo-charged mode of Galadriel in face of danger (in Dol Guldur, during The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies) or during a possible temptation (in ...
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Was Elrond always supposed to be an Elf?
This passage in The Hobbit puzzled me:
The master of [Rivendell] was an elf-friend... He was as noble and as fair as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king ...
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Why did Bilbo hide the ring?
When Bilbo escapes from the goblin caves in The Hobbit he doesn't tell anyone about the ring on purpose.
They wanted to know all about his adventures after they lost him, and he sat down and told ...
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Is there a difference between "elvish" and "elven"?
Throughout Tolkien's works, we frequently come across the terms "elvish" and "elven". Is there a difference between these terms? For example, does one refer to characteristics of the Elves ...
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What was the point of the were-worms in the movie?
In Battle of the Five Armies there is a scene of the Orcs summoning the "earth eaters" and then a while later the were worms bust out of the Earth. I was kind of excited to see what kind of havoc ...
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When did Gandalf become a Maia?
Obviously in the final legendarium, Gandalf was always a Maia as he is Olórin, one of the Ainur who was present at the singing of the Music.
What I want to know is: did Tolkien always consider ...
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Does the tone of The Hobbit significantly differ from that of Lord of the Rings?
I'm rapidly approaching the conclusion of The Return of the King, and next on my list is The Hobbit. This is my first time reading Tolkien, and I have been putting it off for 24 years. I'm a little ...
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Was Gollum evil?
Some of the questions I've read here recently have discussed Gollum, his behavior, the nature of the Gollum/Smeagol dynamic, and his manner of speech, among other things. But though many of these ...
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How would Sauron have contacted Smaug?
I asked this question a while back and received some very good responses about the status of Sauron in Morgoth's army, and what Smaug might have done in the scenario. If the question was still fairly ...
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Why didn't the White Council destroy Dol Guldur after driving Sauron out?
I mean this would have saved a lot of problems - no garrison or servants of Sauron could return there, meaning no attack on Lorien or Thranduil's realm. We see after the war of the ring that Galadriel ...
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