The Hobbit

The Hobbit is a popular book by J.R.R.Tolkien, although it perhaps better now known in the mainstream thanks to the trilogy of movies based on the book by Peter Jackson.

The plot

The story follows the tale of Bilbo Baggins (the hobbit of the title) as he joins a band of dwarves in their quest to find a legendary treasure in their ancient lost city, which their forefathers were driven out by Smaug, a great and terrible dragon who is the terror of the lands. This journey sets off a train of events which would eventually lead to Tolkien's most famous work, the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The films

It was not surprising considering how popular the Lord of the Rings trilogy was that at some point the Hobbit would be made into a film. As the work on it commenced it was announced that the Hobbit would be split into a two part movie, which surprised many but they went with it. It was when it was revealed it would be a trilogy itself that cries of annoyance rang through the air, along with jokes about the producers and the film studio execs outdoing the dwarves in terms of gold hording. Like with the LoR trilogy, the first two movies are building up for a nice big epic battle in the third installment.

Games Workshop wargame adaptation

Games workshop has produced a new version of their Lord of the Rings miniature game, titled without surprise from anyone, The Hobbit.