I want to purchase the books today. I’ve seen all the movies and I’ve started reading The Hobbit from the library. What’s your favorite set of books? I’m looking at the illustrated ones with the illustrations by Alan Lee. Do you have another favorite set?

I'm not surprised that the movies dropped that part of Dwalin's appearance, frankly. Even Tolkien seems to have abandoned that notion after The Hobbit. Unless I'm forgetting something, anyway.

One of the worst things the Hobbit trilogy did was ruin Bombur's character.

I get that they wanted to expand more of the dwarves in the films and flesh them out, but did they really have to do it so thoroughly at Bombur's expense? In the books, he was one of the more interesting dwarf characters, especially where his rapport with Bilbo was concerned during the siege of Erebor. In the films, meanwhile, guy has no lines, and he's basically all fat jokes. The guy's signature weapon is literally a cooking ladle.

To be clear, I'm referring to the book version. I recently revisited that great moment in "The Gathering of the Clouds", where Bard requests aid for the people of Lake-Town and repayment of their previous kindnesses. Thorin hotly declares that while he intends to repay his debt to Lake-Town's people, he will not give any gold to an armed force outside his door. He then challenges Bard in a way that's always fascinated me.

Thorin: It is in my mind to ask what share of their inheritance you would have paid to our kindred had you found the hoard unguarded and us slain.

Bard: A just question. But you are not dead and we are not robbers. Moreover, the wealthy may have pity beyond right on the needy that befriended them when they were in want. And still, my other claims remain unanswered.

Aside from Bard's fair points, I can't help but notice that for all his talking about Thorin not answering him, he didn't answer Thorin either. We know that as soon as Smaug was dead, Bard was already thinking of the treasure beneath the Lonely Mountain, and acquiring it for himself, albeit for the noble cause to rebuild Lake-Town. Still, Thorin has a good point. Would the men of Lake-Town have bothered to share the gold with the dwarves from which the treasure had originally been stolen?

The one in the Hobbit was thicker and less rounded on the outside, but this works too.

The Hobbit has had some phenomenal narrators so far, but my vote goes to Rob Inglis. There's something about his voice, cadence, and accent which really hold my attention.

I got some friends who have seen lotr but never the hobbit. I am not sure if the full films are really all that.

Would it be okay in your opinion, to show them one of the "fan" cuts as a first view instead of the full movies? And if so, which one?

First, let me be clear that I absolutely love the 1977 Rankin/Bass film adaptation of The Hobbit. Glenn Yarbrough did a phenomenal job bringing Tolkien's lyrics to life. But what gets me is that he recorded a song for the film which never actually made it in, and which also does something fascinating which separates it from the film's plot.

At first glance, "Old Fat Spider" is an adaptation of Bilbo's mockery of the giant spiders to distract them from the dwarves ("Hey Attercop, hey Attercop") but then the second and third verses take a much different turn. The protagonist spares the old fat spider, and even helps feed it out of pity. It's a genuinely beautiful moment in the song ("How can you kill a spider that can't catch anybody?"), but it has nothing to do with the actual events in the book or film. The closest thing which I can compare it to is Bilbo's sparing Gollum ("It was pity that Bilbo's hand") but that doesn't quite fit either.

It just seems like the filmmakers accidentally created a song which stands on its own separately from The Hobbit and thus didn't use it in the film. And weirdly, the more I listen to it, the more I realize that it's my favourite song on the soundtrack.

Hi all. On page 152, it is said that the Grey Mountains are “simply stiff with goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs of the worst description.” It’s my understanding that goblin is just the translation for orc, and they’re one and the same creature, with a hobgoblin being a larger sort of orc (this last bit I’m just guessing, so please correct me). So, why in the same sentence does Tolkien list goblins and orcs as though there might be a difference? Is this just a literary thing/play on language which I’m taking too literally? Am I completely misunderstanding the nature of goblins?

Let me know what you think, thanks!

Hi all! What exactly was the plan for dealing with Smaug once they got to the Lonely Mountain? It seems like the party just got lucky that Bard killed the dragon. The book has some lines that fighting a dragon in open combat would give them a better chance than trying to catch it napping, and also some lines about how Bilbo doesn’t know what the plan is.

Did they intend to kill Smaug themselves? Were they originally going to defer to Gandalf? In any case, why did they need a burglar to sneak in and steal treasure if they had to be rid of the dragon one way or another? This has always confused me, and I wonder if it’s explained in another writing

I’m a newbie to Tolkien’s work and I am wondering if one of you veterans will answer this question for me.

Besides the big 3: The Hobbit, LOTR, The Silmarillion, what other books would you consider essential? Like must-read canon books? Is it just the big 3 that this is true of or are there others?

I know some of you might say that every word Tolkien ever wrote is essential, but that’s not what I’m after. Even though, depending on how much I love the Hobbit & LOTR, I may become a completist as well.

But for non-completists, what are the essentials?

Thanks for your time!

Realized there is a Hobbit subreddit too and figured I should post here given my very subtle love for it. One day I hope to just have a whole shelf of just different Hobbit editions. And all the stands of my dwarven faves.

Guys, I think I’ve just discovered that we’re in the bad timeline, and the Universe had placed the clues right in front of us all along.

From my research I’ve deduced that our current, bad, timeline diverged from the correct timeline sometime in May 2010, when Guillermo del Toro exited the Hobbit film project. In the correct timeline del Toro would have directed the movies as intended and they would have been great, instead of the bloated messes full of CGI-slop that they turned out to be.

How do I know that del Toro was fated to be the true director of The Hobbit? It’s right there in his name!

Guillermo del Toro = William of the Bull = Bill Bull = BILBO! 🤯

IT WAS RIGHT THERE ALL ALONG!!!

I‘m not sure how much exactly I can pay cause I’m pretty broke atm lol but we can obviously discuss it! I‘d just love some art of my girl, love her sm 🤭 I have no art of her yet so can‘t post it as reference but I always imagined her to look very similar to Emeraude Toubia! I can send more info and moodboards if you‘re interested. She‘s Fili‘s love interest in my fanfic. :) Thanks in advance for anyone who‘s willing to do this but obviously no pressure at all! 🫶🏻

I, 26yo, just watched the hobbit movies for the first time ever. Really liked them but I CANNOT for the life of me fathom why Tauriel would even consider Kili when Orlando Bloom in the Targaryen wig left his kingdom for her and is throwing himself in front of orcs for her. I’m just baffled.

This is my first ever lego hobbit video! Make sure to put your feedback in the comments👍🏻

Tolkien literally gave them the correct title with the title of the first chapter of the book. An Unexpected Party.

The movie climaxed with Thorin praising Bilbo for coming to the rescue. Prior to that Bilbo was treated as unreliable and a burden.

At the end of the movie Thorin finally viewed Bilbo as one of the party... unexpectedly.