Bilbo's Greed In The Hobbit

At the beginning of the book, Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for Thorin

and his band of twelve dwarves, who sing songs of old, which spoke of reclaiming the

Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. When the music ends,

Gandalf shows them a map showing a secret door into the Mountain and nominated the

speechless Bilbo to serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves make fun of the idea,

but Bilbo, annoyed, joins despite himself.

The group travel into the wild, where Gandalf saves them from trolls and leads

them to Rivendell, where Elrond (an important elf), reveals more secrets from the map.

Passing over the Misty Mountains, they are caught by goblins and forced to march deep…show more content…
With the help of the ring, which gives him the ability of

invisibility, Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, which greatly improved his reputation

as a burglar with them. The goblins and Wargs chase them but they are then saved by

eagles and are under the hospitality of Beorn (the great bear/man).

The company enter the black forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf. In Mirkwood,

Bilbo first saves the dwarves from giant spiders and then from the dungeons of the

Wood-elves. Getting ever nearer to the Lonely Mountain, the travelers are welcomed by

the human people of Lake-town, who hope the dwarves will fulfill prophecies of Smaug's

death. The group travels to the Mountain and finds the secret door; Bilbo investigates the

dragon's lair, stealing a great goblet and learning of a weakness in Smaug's armor. The fuming dragon, assuming that Lake-town has helped the intruder, sets out to destroy the

town. A noble thrush who overheard Bilbo speaking of Smaug's weak spot reports it to

Bard, who then deals the arrow that was the end of the…show more content…
The Wood-elves and Lake-men then laid

siege to the Mountain and requested payment for their aid, recompense for Lake-town's

destruction, and settlement of old claims on the treasure. Thorin refuses and, having

summoned his kin from the mountains of the North, reinforces his position. Bilbo tries to

ransom the Arkenstone to avoid a war between all of them, but Thorin is stubborn. He

banishes Bilbo, and battle seems unavoidable.

Gandalf then reappears to warn them all of an approaching army of goblins and

Wargs. The dwarves, men, and elves band together, but only with the arrival of the eagles

and Beorn (which was JUST in time) do they win the epic Battle of the Five Armies.

Thorin is fatally wounded and resolves his differences with Bilbo before he dies. Bilbo

only takes a small amount of his treasure and gives the rest to the Lake-men and the

Wood-elves as recompense, as he was a very simple fellow and didn’t need very much at

all. Still, the little that he did take was still a fortune and lasted him for the rest of his life

(and it amazed all the other folk that it never seemed to run out!). And so, Bilbo Baggins

was again, home at