The Hobbit

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1937

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-13

Chapters 14-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Ring

The magic ring is by far the most famous symbol in Tolkien’s oeuvre. While the bulk of its symbolism is developed in The Lord of the Rings (a mythology that Tolkien hadn’t yet conceived when he penned this first novel), its nascent import is detectable in the early narrative. The ring is widely understood, by scholars and casual readers alike, to symbolize the corruptive force of power and wealth. In The Hobbit, this corruption relates most clearly to greed, a heavy thematic concern that finds some of its most pointed expression in the character of Gollum. The small creature under the Misty Mountains often falls back on the enigmatic refrain, “precious.” He utters the word not as a descriptor but as a beloved subject whom he addresses intimately—and, after some puzzling over the dialogue, a reader may realize that “precious” (often, “my precious”) is the name Gollum has given his cherished ring. His whole life centers on this object, not only the object in itself but the possession of the object. However, this possessiveness is ultimately self-defeating; Gollum’s fixation is so consuming that the ring possesses him.

Before Tolkien’s later Middle Earth texts, the ring’s power is only that of invisibility, but this power is of a consequential nature: The power of invisibility is the power to act without repercussion, and the ring thus further symbolizes the precarity of rogue power. Fortunately, Bilbo uses this power for good, but even so, it is unclear whether the ring has any corruptive influence on him in this novel. When he emerges from the treacherous goblin caves with his new (and stolen) belonging, he lies to the dwarves about what happened in the caves, omitting the ring. His lie accomplishes two things: First, it ensures Bilbo can keep the ring for himself; second, it allows Bilbo to appear more impressive, as he ostensibly escaped the goblins without the help of invisibility. The lie secures him power and wealth, and it strokes his ego, but Tolkien leaves it ambiguous as to whether this lie has impure motives or, if it does, whether the ring fosters those motives. In The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo is more susceptible to the ring’s malignant sway.

The Arkenstone

The Arkenstone is not only the greatest of gemstones among Lonely Mountain’s wealth of treasure; it symbolizes both Thorin’s lust for power and the dwarves’ rightful place in the world. Among all the dwarves’ riches, “fairest of all was the great white gem, which the dwarves had found beneath the roots of the Mountain, the Heart of the Mountain, the Arkenstone of Thrain” (190). It is the greatest relic of the dwarves’ reign under the mountain, a sign of their excellence in mining and artisanship, and ultimately what bewitches Thorin in his quest for power.

In Thorin’s endless search for the Arkenstone, his worst qualities surface: pride, vanity, jealousy, lust for power, and cunning. Thorin often speaks of “the Arkenstone of my father” (220), acknowledging that it is both intrinsically beautiful and valuable, and subjectively an artifact of great personal significance to him. The Arkenstone is a lodestar for both Thorin and Bilbo respectively; it is also a blank slate onto which an individual can project whatever they want to see. While Thorin can think of nothing but possessing the stone for his own as an end in itself, Bilbo sees the stone as a means to an end, taking the stone into his own hands and offering it to Bard and the Elvenking for the attainment of peace.

Weapons

Weapons are a motif within the novel’s enduring narrative of good versus evil, and they emphasize the fierce and ancient nature of the battle between those forces. Though there are few individually significant weapons, those that are named are of utmost importance. The company find three important swords in the horde of the trolls: Glamdring, Orcrist, and Sting. While the group explore the cave and find weapons strewn about, two blades stand out for their “beautiful scabbards and jewelled hilts” (40). Bilbo also takes what looks to be a knife; while it’s smaller, it’s a perfect sword for a hobbit.

Later, Elrond tells them the two swords are in fact “very old swords of the High Elves of the West” (47), forged for battle in the goblin wars of old. The sword taken by Thorin is named Orcrist, “the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin” (47), while the blade worn by Gandalf is Glamdring, “Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore” (47). As for Bilbo’s blade, while not examined by Elrond, it receives the name Sting, christened thus by Bilbo himself after vanquishing the giant spiders in the depths of Mirkwood.

The last significant weapon is Bard’s black arrow, a family heirloom that goes back to the forges of the dwarves themselves. As Bard draws his bowstring in one final attempt to undo Smaug, he whispers: “You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!” (206). With names, specific descriptions, and origin stories, the weapons throughout the narrative acquire a symbolic weight, and their purpose is never in doubt: These were not weapons forged for wanton destruction and violence, but tools consecrated to banishing evil from the world.

Meals

Meals have symbolic importance to the theme of friendship and companionship, but they also speak to the loftier ideal of fellowship. Food appears at many of the novel’s major turning points: the unexpected party of dwarves that crash Bilbo’s tea-time, the company’s rest in Rivendell, Beorn’s forest home, and the city hall in Esgaroth. Hobbits in general love multiple meals, dinner “twice a day when they can get it” (6), and Bilbo keeps a larder stocked to the brim, full enough to feed more than a dozen unexpected dwarves at the drop of a hat over the span of two days. In every instance, shared meals symbolize fellowship and a common goal. Feasting, singing, and smoking together the night before their journey, the company forge a fellowship that will stand every test thrown at it.

When they reach the hidden valley of Rivendell, they feast. When they are finally invited into the great hall of Beorn as friends, they feast. When they are welcomed as champions and saviors in the banquet hall of Lake-town, they are seated at the table of the master of the town, and again, they feast. When Balin takes the time to assure Bilbo he will always be welcome if he is ever to return to the mountain, he promises: “If ever you visit us again, when our halls are made fair once more, then the feast shall indeed be splendid!” (240). In the days of peace following Smaug’s and the goblins’ defeat, “men came from far and wide to feast at Beorn’s bidding” (242). Food, meals, the common feast—these are all tangible signs of fellowship’s necessity among all persons, of whatever their race or species.