Bilbo wakes up and finds himself alone in a cold, dark cave.

He finds a small ring on the

ground, and puts it in his pocket almost without thinking. Though he doesn’t know it at
the time, this is a turning point in his life. He looks in his pockets for a pipe or tobacco,
but finds nothing, though under his coat he finds the knife he took from the trolls. He
realizes that it’s been made by elves, since it glows when goblins are nearby. Thinking
that it’s a great thing to own an old, beautiful weapon, he resolves to go forward, though
he’s afraid.
Events have caused Bilbo to be alone, forcing him to begin to take
control of his life: he resolves to move forward with his weapon instead
of cowering in the dark. That his weapon has an elven-made history and
he, as holder of the sword, inherits that history, also gives him a sense of
security. The ring he finds, apparently by accident, will indeed be
important to his success—in retrospect, this suggests that successful
adventuring isn’t always due to the individual’s abilities. Sometimes
luck—or fate—is equally, if not more important. Yet the way he finds the
ring mirrors the way he finds the keys to the Troll treasure. Bilbo seems
to be someone who happens to find things. And, of course, it being
treasure, he pockets it: Bilbo is not immune to greed for beautiful things
like rings and beautiful swords.
Active Themes

Bilbo is in a “tight place,” the narrator notes, but he has the advantage of being used to
living underground in holes. Bilbo walks for a long time, until he’s very tired. Eventually,
when his sword is barely glowing at all, he comes to a cold, slimy pool.
Bilbo’s experiences in his home prepare him well for his adventures here
underground (which also functions as a way to connect him to establish
the soon-to-be-introduced Gollum as a kind of double to Bilbo). He
courageously continues to walk into the darkness.
Active Themes
A small, slimy creature called Gollumlives by the pool. Gollum hides from the goblins,
though he eats goblin when he can get it, and also eats fish. He paddles through the
water in a small boat, and notices Bilbo before Bilbo notices him. Gollum thinks that
Bilbo, who’s clearly not a goblin, would make a good meal.
The narrator makes it clear almost immediately that Gollum is a threat to
Bilbo; and Gollum is clearly a very bad host, who is not at all generous
with his “guest,” Bilbo. Tolkien also more firmly establishes the doubling
between Bilbo and Gollum by pointing out some similarities between
them: both are obsessed with eating. It’s as if Bilbo is confronting a
darker version of himself.
Active Themes

Bilbo becomes aware of Gollum and, frightened, points his sword at him. Gollum, who
always talks to himself, asks what Bilbo is; Bilbo replies that he’s a hobbit. Gollum shifts
his plan when he realizes that Bilbo is armed. Rather than attack, he asks Bilbo to stay
a while and tell riddles, as he remembers doing years ago, when he lived in the sun and
had friends. Gollum tells Bilbo an easy riddle, and when Bilbo answers it, Gollum
suggests that they have a competition: if Gollum can stump Bilbo, he eats Bilbo; if Bilbo
can stump Gollum, Gollum will show Bilbo the way out of the cave. Bilbo is too afraid to
disagree with these terms.
Gollum lives in utter solitude— he lives on the exaggerated edge of the
spectrum of someone who is so homebound that he never interacts with
the world he never leaves his home, exemplified in the fact that he talks
only to himself.. Bilbo, in contrast, has left his home and interacted with
the world. Note Bilbo’s improved use of language as he engages in a
high-stakes game of riddling. Once again, the immediate danger of the
situation forces him to grow into something of a different person (or
hobbit) than he was before.
Active Themes

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Bilbo and Gollum tell each other a series of riddles. Bilbo’s riddles have answers that
reflect his life in hobbit-town: the sun, flowers, eggs, etc. Gollum tells riddles about the
things he’s most familiar with: the dark, fish, the wind, etc. Though Gollum and Bilbo
have trouble guessing each other’s riddles, they trade correct answers for four rounds
without a winner. Finally, after Bilbo correctly answers Gollum’s fifth question, the only
question Bilbo can come up with is to ask Gollum what he, Bilbo, has in his pocket (the
ring); Gollum asks for three guesses, but can’t come up with the right answer, and thus
loses the game. Bilbo knows that riddle-telling is an ancient, sacred art, and even
Gollum won’t break the rules they’ve agreed upon. Still, he’s nervous around Gollum,
since he won on a question that wasn’t a proper riddle.
Language is a powerful weapon—Gollum is literally using it to try to kill
Bilbo, while Bilbo is using it to save his life. Language is also a reflection
of a speaker’s innermost thoughts and experiences: Bilbo’s and Gollum’s
riddles reflect the kind of person each is and the experiences each has
had. Language is also a sacred art, and both Bilbo and Gollum seem to
abide by the rules of the riddle-telling game. It’s worth bearing in mind,
however, that Bilbo isn’t yet a master of language—he quickly runs out
of riddles to tell, and ends up asking Gollum such a casual question that
it doesn’t follow the sacred code of riddling, and thus puts Bilbo’s life in
danger.
Active Themes

Gollum says that he’ll show Bilbo the way out, but first he must paddle back to his lair
and retrieve some things. Gollum actually intends to retrieve his ring, which makes him
invisible, and use it to turn invisible and then kill Bilbo. The narrator says that no one
knows how Gollum first found the ring, long ago, but that he wears it frequently, and
uses it to catch his prey. But when Gollum goes back to his lair, he discovers that the
ring is missing. He paddles back to Bilbo, and demands to know what Bilbo had in his
pocket. Bilbo refuses to answer the question, and asks Gollum what he has lost, having
heard him wailing earlier. Gollum refuses to answer Bilbo’s question.
Tolkien shows us that Gollum is evil because he breaks a verbal promise
to show Bilbo the way out—though he claims he’ll help Bilbo, he secretly
wants to eat him. In a sense, Gollum is evil because he is a host so bad
he wants to eat his guest. Yet the doubling between Bilbo and Gollum
also intensifies here as it becomes clear to the reader (though not
entirely to Bilbo) that Bilbo has actually inadvertently stolen Gollum’s
ring. Gollum’s demand to know what’s in Bilbo’s pocket and Bilbo’s
refusal to reveal it is a kind of standoff of greed (which mirrors in a way
the much larger standoff based on greed near the end of the book). It is
important to recognize that Bilbo is not portrayed as totally good, here:
he and Gollum share similarities.
Active Themes

Gollum slips away, and Bilbo is afraid that he will attack and eat him. He slips on
the ring without thinking, and then runs as he hears Gollum coming. He trips and falls
while trying to run away from Gollum, but to his surprise, Gollum doesn’t attack him, but
runs past him. Bilbo hears Gollum talking to himself, saying that “the hobbit” must have
Gollum’s ring, and he must not escape with it, or the goblins will capture him, take the
ring, and use it to kill Gollum. Gollum decides to head for the way out, in the event that
Bilbo has gone that way, and ambush Bilbo there. Bilbo follows Gollum, realizing that
the ring he wears must make him invisible.
Bilbo’s survival in this section is almost completely accidental, not the
product of his own ability or heroism. Even when Bilbo finds his way out,
he doesn’t do so because of his excellent sense of direction; he simply
follows Gollum. In a way, Tolkien suggests, heroism is something of a
myth—skill is necessary, but so is good fortune. Note how the ring—and
each’s need and desire for it—has become the center of the conflict
between Bilbo and Gollum.
Active Themes

Gollum continues toward the way out, with Bilbo secretly following behind him. Though
Gollum can’t see Bilbo, he smells him in the dark. Bilbo is tempted to use his sword to
kill Gollum, but he feels pity for him, and thinks to himself that Gollum is lonely, and,
after all, hasn’t actually threatened to kill him. So, instead, he jumps over Gollum, and
rushes into the goblins’ territory. Gollum tries to catch Bilbo, but is too slow, and stays
back, cursing Bilbo’s name.
Bilbo could easily kill Gollum, but he doesn’t. In part, this is because he
doesn’t have all the information about Gollum—he doesn’t know that
Gollum was going to kill him—but just as much he spares Gollum’s life
because he’s kind and sympathizes with the weak and pitiable. Bilbo is
hardly perfect, and in fact, he’s a thief who has stolen the ring, but at
moments like this, it becomes clear that he’s also a moral character. And
this morality and kindness is as much of what establishes Bilbo as a
hero in the story as any of his cunning exploits to come.
Active Themes

In the goblins’ lair, the goblins see Bilbo—he has taken off his ring. Bilbo slips it back on
just in time, and hides behind a barrel while the goblins try to find him. He sees an open
door, and moves toward it, dodging goblins. He squeezes through a crack in the door,
but his buttons get stuck. A goblin points out that there’s a shadow near the door, as
they near the door, Bilbo pulls himself through the door and out of the mountains, losing
his buttons in the process—he has escaped.
The difference between Bilbo’s interaction with the goblins here and in
the last chapter is obvious—though Bilbo still doesn’t fight them directly,
he now has a powerful weapon for avoiding them andthe willingness to
take action on his own. Symbolically, Bilbo loses his buttons at the end
of this chapter, in which he’s changed so greatly. It’s as if he’s casting
aside a final remnant of his old life, and turning to his adventure instead.
Themes and Colors

LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hobbit, which you can use to track the
themes throughout the work.

During The Hobbit, Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves confront countless dangers:
spiders, goblins, wood-elves, wolves, a dragon, etc. To defend themselves, they use an
equally vast number of weapons: knives, daggers, spells, fire, rocks, sticks. Yet one of
the most important weapons that they use—and one of the most important skills Bilbo
develops on his travels—is language. In the early chapters of the book, Bilbo exhibits
almost no sophisticated command of language, staying largely silent while the dwarves
and Gandalf discuss their plans to journey to the Lonely Mountain and reclaim their
treasure. When he gets lost under theMisty Mountains, he’s forced to use words to
compete with Gollum, telling increasingly complicated riddles. While this episode is
important in Bilbo’s growth as a manipulator of language, it’s important to recognize that
he’s still a novice—he only defeats Gollum by asking a “cheap” question, “What have I
got in my pocket?”, not by exhibiting any real creativity or skill with words.
When giant spiders capture Bilbo and the dwarves in Mirkwood forest, Bilbo finally
begins to use language with more skill, improvising elaborate songs to confuse the
spiders and lure them away from the dwarves so that Bilbo can free them. After his
exploits, Bilbo uses language to dub his sword Sting, a name that strikes fear into the
hearts of the spiders. Bilbo uses language in a similar fashion when he
confrontsSmaug—instead of introducing himself as Bilbo Baggins, he calls himself a
barrel-rider, a clue-finder, etc. Where before Bilbo renames his sword, here he renames
himself.
In The Hobbit, language is a weapon, capable of intimidating, confusing, and otherwise
disarming one’s enemies. But perhaps even more importantly, language is a tool for
changing and understanding oneself. It’s no coincidence that Bilbo renames himself as
he becomes braver and more confident: with the power of naming, he makes his
experiences a part of his personality—he doesn’t just describe himself,
hechanges himself.

The Power of Language ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of The Power of
Language appears in each chapter of The Hobbit. Click or tap on any chapter to read its
Summary & Analysis.

Summary and Analysis Chapter 5 - Riddles in the Dark

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Summary

Bilbo regains consciousness and, finding himself alone, tries to crawl through the
tunnel. He finds a ring, which he absentmindedly pockets. He wishes he were back in
his comfortable home, eating. As a hobbit, he can orient himself quite well underground,
and he continues to descend the tunnel until he comes to a lake that he cannot cross,
not knowing how to swim.

Bilbo is spotted by old Gollum, who lives alone on an island in the lake, which he
navigates in a small boat. Gollum is a small, slimy, dark creature with pale eyes, named
for the sound he makes as he swallows; he preys upon Goblins and fish. Because he
lives alone, Gollum is in the habit of speaking to himself in a kind of hissing baby-talk,
calling himself "my precious." Trying to assess Bilbo, he engages him in a game of
riddles, at which Bilbo proves his equal.

Gollum decides to get the better of Bilbo by using his birthday present, a ring. When he
wears it, he is invisible and can more easily snag his prey. He goes to the hiding place
where he keeps the ring, but it is gone. Gollum correctly surmises that Bilbo has it and
confronts him, asking what is in his pocket. Bilbo, who does not understand the power
of the ring, slips it on his finger as Gollum runs to attack him. Bilbo becomes invisible,
and Gollum cannot find him to attack.

Gollum is afraid that without the invisibility of the ring, he will be captured by the
Goblins. He panics and runs to escape the cave. Bilbo, who is still invisible, follows him,
thereby discovering the way out. Gollum, who can smell Bilbo, blocks his way. Bilbo
thinks of killing Gollum, but decides it would not be fair, because Bilbo is invisible and
Gollum is unarmed. Bilbo escapes by an extraordinary leap over Gollum's head and
through the passageway, but he runs into the Goblins. As they rush at him, he slips the
ring on, becoming invisible, and narrowly escapes to the outside where it is light and the
Goblins cannot follow.

Analysis

In this chapter, Bilbo finds himself alone when confronting danger; he is without the
company of the dwarves or the direction of Gandalf. He relies effectively on his own
ingenuity and resourcefulness to outwit both Gollum and the Goblins. In this and in
taking the final leap over Gollum and out of the cave, Bilbo demonstrates a bravery that
he did not know he possessed. He also demonstrates a sense of ethics when he
decides not to kill Gollum because of his unfair advantages of invisibility and a weapon.
Thus you see Bilbo developing beyond his hobbit mildness into someone who can
survive danger by using good judgment and taking appropriate risks.

The depiction of Gollum is a masterpiece of symbolic characterization. He lives alone,

on an island, and is so inexperienced in any kind of social interaction that he can speak
only to himself, which he does constantly; additionally, his lack of development is
indicated by the babyish nature of his language. Bilbo encounters Gollum when he is
himself alone, trying to rejoin the dwarves. You thus see Bilbo in a kind of symbolic
confrontation with a self-absorbed, immature individual, who may faintly resemble the
hobbit-like disinclination to venture out into the world. Bilbo's leap over Gollum to
escape the cave emphatically represents a leap he takes in his own personal
development.

It is interesting to note that Tolkien heavily revised this chapter some years after the first
edition of The Hobbit, when he was working on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in order to
provide a history for the ring that is so important to those books.

he second important feature related to the quest theme is in the character development
of the protagonist. In most quest stories, the physical journey serves as a metaphor for
the personal growth of the questing character, for whom the quest is often the fulfillment
of a personal destiny. As the protagonist travels physically farther from home, he
develops psychologically and/or spiritually beyond the self he was when he started out.
The episodes of the plot serve as trials and lessons to him, and when he finds the
object of his quest, he also finds his authentic self. Bilbo, for example, begins his
journey with the dwarves reluctantly, not at all sure that he is suited for it. Throughout
much of the journey, he regrets his decision to join them and daydreams about the
comforts of his own home that seem so attractive in comparison with the dramatic
adventures he undergoes. In early episodes, when he is threatened with death, he must
be rescued by Gandalf. As time goes on, however, Bilbo develops both ingenuity and
courage, partly under the tutelage of Gandalf and partly through a combination of good
luck and the exercise of his own will. It is apparently through luck that he finds the ring
of invisibility in Gollum's cave, but its powers allow him, in the absence of Gandalf, to
use his intelligence and courage to rescue the dwarves from the dungeon of the
Elvenking and later take the Arkenstone to Bard in an attempt to prevent a war over the
dragon's treasure. Bilbo is depicted as making sound ethical judgments and choosing to
do good, as he does when he does not use the advantage of his sword and invisibility to
kill Gollum. Like other quest heroes, Bilbo returns home at the end of his journey. In
keeping with the tone of The Hobbit, however, his life is changed only subtly: He writes
poetry and he lives somewhat eccentrically, more like his mother's family, the
adventurous Tooks, than the Bagginses he so thoroughly resembled before.

Property and Community

Related to the quest theme is the theme of community, and in The Hobbit, you see the
value of community especially in relation to property. The object of the quest hero's
search is usually something that will improve the welfare of his community. In Arthurian
legends like that of Gawain, for example, the kingdom has fallen to ruin and the king
has become powerless. The Grail or sacred cup that Gawain brings back is meant to
restore the power of the king and the welfare of the kingdom. In The Hobbit, there is a
parallel in the disinherited situation of Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, who is no
longer King under the Mountain like his grandfather and who has lost his birthright, the
treasure trove, to Smaug the dragon. The town of Dale, once a thriving dwarf town, is in
ruins; other stretches of landscape on the way to the Lonely Mountain are also
described as desolate places where nothing can grow. Despite his dwarvish love for
beautiful material things, Thorin does not want to reclaim the treasure only for himself;
he wants it for the entire dwarf community so that their world can be restored to what it
was under his ancestors, before the invasion of Smaug.

Smaug and Gollum represent the perverted use of property. They are monsters
because isolation and selfishness such as theirs is evil. They do not recognize
community; there are no other creatures like them. Smaug makes his home in the
Lonely Mountain, and Gollum is so self-centered he does not even know the word for
"you." They are vehemently opposed to sharing; indeed, they would rather kill than
share what they possess, whether it be Gollum's ring of invisibility or Smaug's treasure
trove. Smaug makes no use at all of the treasure trove; he only sits on top of it and
sleeps. Ironically, Smaug is killed himself as he wages war in defense of his treasure.
(Gollum, too, dies in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as he finally reclaims his prized
possession, the ring of invisibility.)

But other characters possess lesser versions of Smaug's and Gollum's flaws. The
Master of Lake-town, who is given a share of the treasure trove after the Battle of Five
Armies, becomes corrupted by the wealth. He does not share it to rebuild the town
devastated by Smaug and he is described as falling prey to the dragon sickness. He
loses power; Bard replaces him. At various times, the dwarves are described as being
overly fond of material wealth, and there is a sense in which the pursuit of his personal
ancestral treasure kills Thorin, although it also brings about the necessary death of
Smaug.

Even Bilbo Baggins, that mildest of creatures, must learn to leave the safety of his
home, where he lives alone, and act as part of a group. He is rather social in his own
way, on his own terms, but his journey requires him to push himself beyond the limits of
his own comfort. Whereas he formerly could think of nothing better than the solitary
pleasure of a breakfast of eggs and bacon or a pipe full of tobacco, he eventually wins
the respect of others for acting in their behalf. In agreeing to accompany the dwarves on
their journey, he agrees to cooperate in a communal venture in which he has no
personal investment.

The Uses of Power

One of the major themes of The Hobbit concerns the use of power on several different
levels. Gandalf has magical powers that you see him use almost immediately. As the
story begins, he places a secret mark on Bilbo Baggins' door that causes the dwarves to
congregate at the hobbit-hole. He seems to know much more about Bilbo than can be
explained, and he has a certain gift for prophecy. He uses a magic wand at times, and
he appears and disappears at will. The full extent of his sorcery is demonstrated in The
Lord of the Rings, but even inThe Hobbit, Gandalf clearly has powers that exceed those
of the other travelers. His magical power is reflected in his age and his wisdom.

Although much younger than Gandalf, Bilbo's wisdom increases throughout the story
and as a quest hero, he very much develops a kind of personal power. He grows from a
reluctant, rather cowardly creature who complains when he is hungry or rained upon
into a clever and courageous one who rescues the dwarves from the dungeon of the
Elvenking, defies both Gollum and Smaug, and survives the Battle of Five Armies. He
gains the respect of his companions and develops a personal authority that defines him
as a leader. When Gandalf temporarily leaves the group, Bilbo becomes the leader in
essential ways: He devises plans and he volunteers to go first in risky situations.
Although he is the beneficiary of a great deal of good luck, Bilbo also exercises his will
to take on difficult tasks, like confronting Smaug, and he makes ethical choices, like
when he spares Gollum's life. He declines heroism and chooses instead to live a
relatively quiet life when he returns home, but it is a life enriched by the self-knowledge
he achieves on his journey.

There are suggestions in The Hobbit that Tolkien is interested in the problem of a more
worldly power than either Gandalf or Bilbo represents. At the beginning of the story,
Gandalf tells Thorin that their journey requires a hero or a warrior, but he cannot find
one because all the warriors are far away fighting each other. Later, in Chapter 4, the
narrator explains that Goblins are so wicked they are probably responsible for inventing
the machines that have since been used in war to kill many people at once. Such
machines were a distinguishing feature of World War I, in which Tolkien served in
France; formerly, wars had been fought much more as a series of hand-to-hand
combats. As his writing of The Hobbit drew to a close, the events that would result in
World War II were taking shape in Germany. Even his friend C. S. Lewis remarked that
as Tolkien began writing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, political events in Europe were
imitating his "history" to an uncanny degree. There is no evidence that The Hobbit was
intended as an anti-war fable, however; Tolkien was adamant that he was not interested
in writing allegory. Nevertheless, Chapters 14 through XVII certainly depict the flaws
inherent in political power. You see the leaders of various groups committed to war for
personal gain — namely Smaug's treasure — and you see failures of diplomacy, as
when Thorin refuses to parley with Bard because Bard has allied himself with the
Elvenking. The personal failures of characters like Thorin, whose pride prevents him
from negotiating peace, the Master of Lake-town, whose political power ultimately
corrupts him, and Bilbo's failure to buy peace, in effect, with the Arkenstone represent
an attitude toward war that is both critical and resigned. The Prime Minister of England,
Neville Chamberlain, signed the Munich Agreement with Adolph Hitler as Tolkien was
beginning the Rings trilogy; it was not be long before "monster" became the common
description for Hitler.

The Storyteller's Voice

Readers frequently comment on the voice of the narrator of The Hobbit, often attributing
to it the book's success. Some have called it professorial, because it gives a great deal
of information on rather esoteric topics like runes, the lifestyle of hobbits, and the
ancient history of dwarves and elves. It is certainly congenial, however, and one of the
reasons The Hobbit is so enjoyable to read is the pleasure the narrator takes in telling
the story.

The story of The Hobbit is related from a third-person omniscient point of view; that is,
by a narrator who is not a character in the story himself (there is no "I" in The Hobbit)
but who nonetheless knows everything there is to tell. He knows what some of the
characters are thinking, especially more complex characters like Bilbo, Gollum, and
Smaug. He describes Bilbo's daydreams about food and tobacco, for example, and the
alternatives he faces when making choices; he describes Gollum's unique psychology.

This narrator also knows what will happen in the future of the story. The first time Bilbo
thinks longingly of his hobbit-hole and wishes he were back home, the narrator explicitly
tells you that this will not be the last time Bilbo has such regrets. On different occasions,
he reveals that a certain character or place won't be seen again; he hints at the future
death or disappearance of some characters. When Bilbo is rescued by the Lord of the
Eagles, you are told (Chapter 7) that Bilbo won't see the eagles again until the Battle of
Five Armies (Chapter 17). In his prophetic vision, the narrator shares some of Gandalf's
magical power; this is consistent with the power that has traditionally been attributed to
storytellers. He is in control of the plot of the story.

On the most superficial level, the journey of Bilbo and the dwarves conforms to the
maps, drawn by Tolkien himself, that serve as the endpapers for most editions of the
book. More subtly, the narrator draws your attention to the significance of events, as
when Bilbo finds the ring of invisibility, that you might otherwise pass over. When a
character is mistaken, the narrator sometimes shares with you the more accurate
judgment, the better decision that could have been made. Despite the fact that he is
narrating a story of his own invention, he assumes you are in sympathy with him and
even share in his knowledge, as when he identifies the Wood-elves and comments that
"of course" that is what they are.
At one point in the story, Tolkien offers a peek behind the scenes, as it were, to see the
crafted structure of his plot. After Smaug has flown out of the Lonely Mountain in a rage
and destroyed Esgaroth, the narrator begins Chapter 14 by asking you to go back two
days to imagine the terror the people of Esgaroth felt as they saw Smaug descend upon
them.

These narrative intrusions — places where the narrator breaks in upon his own story,
destroying any illusion that it is reality unfolding before you — contribute to your sense
that the plot is being capably managed and that the story is told by someone who really
does know, down to the smallest detail, what happened. You are, in other words, in the
hands of a master storyteller. While there is no "I" in The Hobbit, you find a great many
references to "you," the reader. Tolkien's great attention to you as you read The
Hobbit, his care that you understand every detail along the way, and his welcoming you
into the world in which his story takes place accounts for much that makes the narrative
voice so attractive.

PREVIOUSJ.R.R. Tolkien Biography

Summary: Chapter 5

It’s got to ask uss a question, my preciouss, yes, yess, yess. Jusst one more
question to guess, yes, yess.

(See Important Quotations Explained)

When Bilbo regains consciousness, he can see nothing in the darkness. Feeling
around on the floor, he happens to come across a ring, which he puts in his
pocket. He has no idea where the rest of the company is, or in which direction
the exit lies. Picking the path he feels he had been traveling with the dwarves, he
soon comes across an underground lake. There, he discovers a strange creature
named Gollum. When Gollum sees Bilbo prowling around, obviously lost, he is
interested and a bit hungry, so he approaches the hobbit. Bilbo brandishes his
sword when he hears Gollum’s hissing voice.

Gollum does not wish to contend with the sword, so he proposes a riddle game.
If Gollum’s riddle stumps Bilbo, he will eat Bilbo, but if Bilbo’s stumps Gollum,
Gollum will show Bilbo the way out of the mountain. Bilbo has no choice but to
agree, and they begin asking each other riddles. In the end, Bilbo wins through a
bit of trickery. Referring to the ring he had found, he asks, “What have I got in my
pocket?” and Gollum cannot guess the right answer. Gollum, however, does not
intend to let his meal get away so easily. He goes to his island in the middle of
the lake to get his “precious,” a golden ring that makes its wearer invisible—the
very ring that Bilbo had found.

Unable to find the ring, Gollum suspects the hobbit of stealing it and runs at him
in a rage. Through sheer luck, Bilbo happens to slip on the ring, and Gollum runs
right past him. Realizing the ring’s power, Bilbo follows Gollum, who heads
toward the exit thinking that Bilbo is ahead of him. When Gollum gets near the
exit, he stops because there are goblins crowded around it. Bilbo leaps over him,
runs past the goblins unnoticed thanks to the ring, and just barely manages to
squeeze through the door into freedom and fresh air.

Analysis: Chapters 4–5

The uniform wickedness demonstrated by the goblins in Chapter 4 affirms the

connection between race and moral tendencies in Tolkien’s fantasy world. The
different races of Middle-Earth possess specific moral characteristics, so that
goblins, who are infamous for their ability to make cruel weapons and
instruments of torture, are evil, and elves are good. There are no exceptions. The
races of Middle-Earth also possess qualities that have little direct bearing on their
overall moral standing. Hobbits love food, for instance, and dwarves love gold.
Again, there are no exceptions.

The characteristics of the races result primarily from the mythic theology of
Middle-Earth. Under this theology, the gods create certain creatures for very
specific purposes. Each race also has a particular relationship with nature. Of the
various characters Tolkien depicts, Bilbo seems to be the only one capable of
making complex moral choices that test the boundaries of his race.
Bilbo’s heroism is somewhat dubious, for though he behaves heroically, his acts
seem to be the result of luck, or else destiny, rather than effort on his part. He
seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. In his first
encounter with the goblins, for example, Bilbo proves useful by shouting enough
to awaken Gandalf, who, in turn, ends up saving the whole company. Bilbo is
credited for helping the whole party when his companions were unable to do so,
even though it was only his chance awakening that enabled him to warn
everyone.

Bilbo’s unintentional heroism is most evident in his discovery of the magic ring. In
the history of Middle-Earth, this discovery is the most important event in the
novel. Though neither Bilbo nor Gollum (the ring’s previous holder) are aware of
it, the ring is in fact an object of awesome power. Created by the Dark Lord
Sauron, who appears inThe Hobbit as the Necromancer of Mirkwood, the ring is
central to Sauron’s attempt to conquer and corrupt the world. The ring is pivotal
to the plot of The Lord of the Rings. In The Hobbit, its greater importance is only
hinted at when Tolkien cryptically comments that Bilbo’s discovery of the ring is a
turning point in his career.

Gollum’s whiny, hissing style of speech marks him as one of the novel’s most
unique and memorable characters. Gollum’s riddle game is itself another
example of Tolkien’s interaction with epic literature in The Hobbit. Riddles and
riddle games are familiar features of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian epics, in
which heroes are defined almost as much by their prowess with words as they
are by their prowess with swords. In fact, many of the riddles exchanged by Bilbo
and Gollum come directly from ancient Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon poems.
Bilbo’s victory in the riddle game is an important step in his development, but the
eccentric manner in which he wins is closer to that of modern comedy than to
that of ancient epic. Bilbo baffles Gollum with the question, “What have I got in
my pocket?,” which is, of course, not a true riddle at all. A true riddle must
 contain clues necessary to solve it. Gollum, with his purely ancient sensibilities,
cannot even challenge Bilbo’s question, let alone answer it.

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4. Bilbo Baggins lives a quiet, peaceful life in his comfortable hole at Bag
End. Bilbo lives in a hole because he is a hobbit—one of a race of small,
plump people about half the size of humans, with furry toes and a great
love of good food and drink. Bilbo is quite content at Bag End, near the
bustling hobbit village of Hobbiton, but one day his comfort is shattered by
the arrival of the old wizard Gandalf, who persuades Bilbo to set out on an
adventure with a group of thirteen militant dwarves. The dwarves are
embarking on a great quest to reclaim their treasure from the marauding
dragon Smaug, and Bilbo is to act as their “burglar.” The dwarves are very
skeptical about Gandalf’s choice for a burglar, and Bilbo is terrified to leave
his comfortable life to seek adventure. But Gandalf assures both Bilbo and
the dwarves that there is more to the little hobbit than meets the eye.

5. Shortly after the group sets out, three hungry trolls capture all of them
except for Gandalf. Gandalf tricks the trolls into remaining outside when
the sun comes up, and the sunlight turns the nocturnal trolls to stone. The
group finds a great cache of weapons in the trolls’ camp. Gandalf and the
dwarf lord Thorin take magic swords, and Bilbo takes a small sword of his
own.

6. The group rests at the elfish stronghold of Rivendell, where they receive
advice from the great elf lord Elrond, then sets out to cross the Misty
Mountains. When they find shelter in a cave during a snowstorm, a group
of goblins who live in the caverns beneath the mountain take them
 prisoner. Gandalf leads the dwarves to a passage out of the mountain, but
they accidentally leave behind Bilbo.

7. Wandering through the tunnels, Bilbo finds a strange golden ring lying on
the ground. He takes the ring and puts it in his pocket. Soon he encounters
Gollum, a hissing, whining creature who lives in a pool in the caverns and
hunts fish and goblins. Gollum wants to eat Bilbo, and the two have a
contest of riddles to determine Bilbo’s fate. Bilbo wins by asking the
dubious riddle, “What have I got in my pocket?”

8. Gollum wants to eat Bilbo anyway, and he disappears to fetch his magic
ring, which turns its wearer invisible. The ring, however, is the same one
Bilbo has already found, and Bilbo uses it to escape from Gollum and flee
the goblins. He finds a tunnel leading up out of the mountain and discovers
that the dwarves and Gandalf have already escaped. Evil wolves known as
Wargs pursue them, but Bilbo and his comrades are helped to safety by a
group of great eagles and by Beorn, a creature who can change shape
from a man into a bear.

9. The company enters the dark forest of Mirkwood, and, making matters
worse, Gandalf abandons them to see to some other urgent business. In
the forest, the dwarves are caught in the webs of some giant spiders, and
Bilbo must rescue them with his sword and magic ring. After slaying his
first spider, Bilbo names his sword Sting. Shortly after escaping the
spiders, the unlucky dwarves are captured by a group of wood elves who
live near the river that runs through Mirkwood. Bilbo uses his ring to help
the company escape and slips the dwarves away from the elves by hiding
them inside barrels, which he then floats down the river. The dwarves
arrive at Lake Town, a human settlement near the Lonely Mountain, under
which the great dragon sleeps with Thorin’s treasure.
10. After sneaking into the mountain, Bilbo talks to the sly dragon
Smaug, who unwittingly reveals that his armorlike scales have a weak spot
near his heart. When Bilbo steals a golden cup from the dragon’s hoard,
Smaug is furious and flies out of the mountain to burn Lake Town in his
rage. Bard, a heroic archer, has learned the secret about Smaug’s
weakness from a thrush, and he fires an arrow into the dragon’s heart,
killing him. Before Smaug dies, however, he burns Lake Town to the
ground.

11. The humans of Lake Town and the elves of Mirkwood march to the
Lonely Mountain to seek a share of the treasure as compensation for their
losses and aid, but Thorin greedily refuses, and the humans and elves
besiege the mountain, trapping the dwarves and the hobbit inside. Bilbo
sneaks out to join the humans in an attempt to bring peace. When Thorin
learns what Bilbo has done, he is livid, but Gandalf suddenly reappears
and saves Bilbo from the dwarf lord’s wrath.

12. At this moment, an army of goblins and Wargs marches on the

mountain, and the humans, elves, and dwarves are forced to band
together to defeat them. The goblins nearly win, but the arrival of Beorn
and the eagles helps the good armies win the battle.

13. After the battle, Bilbo and Gandalf return to Hobbiton, where Bilbo
continues to live. He is no longer accepted by respectable hobbit society,
but he does not care. Bilbo now prefers to talk to elves and wizards, and
he is deeply content to be back among the familiar comforts of home after
his grand and harrowing adventures.