The Hobbit, or There and Back Again recap

Bilbo Baggins, a home-loving hobbit, is swept into a quest by the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield to reclaim their ancestral mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug. Along the way he survives trolls, goblins, and giant spiders, and beneath the mountains he wins a magic ring of invisibility from the creature Gollum in a riddle contest. Reaching the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo enters the dragon's lair, provokes Smaug, and quietly keeps a great gem, the Arkenstone, for himself. Smaug attacks the nearby lake-town and is shot dead by the archer Bard. Dwarves, elves, and men then quarrel over the unguarded hoard, and Bilbo gives the Arkenstone to Thorin's opponents to force a peace. Before terms are settled, goblins and wolves attack, and all sides unite in the Battle of Five Armies. Thorin is mortally wounded but reconciles with Bilbo before dying. Bilbo takes only a small share of the treasure and journeys home, keeping the ring.

Bilbo Baggins, a comfortable hobbit who wants no adventures, is visited by the wizard Gandalf and a company of thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield. They enlist him as their burglar for a journey east to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its treasure, taken long ago by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo reluctantly joins them. On the road they are captured by three trolls and nearly eaten, but Gandalf tricks the trolls into arguing until sunrise turns them to stone, and the travellers recover fine old swords from the trolls' hoard. They rest at Rivendell, where the elf-lord Elrond reads hidden moon-letters on their map. Crossing the Misty Mountains, they are seized by goblins and dragged underground. In the tunnels Bilbo is knocked out and left behind. Lost in the dark, he finds a plain gold ring and then meets Gollum, a creature who challenges him to a riddle contest for his life. Bilbo wins, discovers the ring makes him invisible, and uses it to slip past Gollum and escape into the open.

Bilbo rejoins the dwarves outside the mountains, but goblins and wolves pursue them and trap them up in trees, from which great eagles rescue the whole company. They shelter with Beorn, a fierce man who can take the shape of a bear, and he sends them on toward the forest of Mirkwood with food and warnings. Gandalf leaves them at the forest's edge on business of his own. In the dark, tangled woods the travellers grow starving and disoriented; they stray from the path and are caught in the webs of giant spiders. Bilbo, using his ring and the small sword he took from the trolls, fights off the spiders and frees the captured dwarves almost single-handed, earning their real respect for the first time. But their troubles are not over: the Wood-elves of the forest capture the dwarves and lock them away in the underground halls of their king, leaving Bilbo, unseen in his ring, alone and free but with no plan to free his friends.

Hiding invisibly in the Elvenking's caverns, Bilbo works out an escape: he packs the dwarves into empty barrels that the elves float down the river, and rides out clinging to the wood himself. Battered and soaked, the company reaches Lake-town, a settlement of men built on the long lake near the mountain. The townsfolk, recalling old prophecies about the return of the King under the Mountain, welcome Thorin and his company and supply them for the last stage of the journey. They travel on to the Lonely Mountain and search its slopes until they find the hidden door described on their map. Using Elrond's instructions about the light of the setting sun, they uncover the keyhole and open the secret passage into the mountain, leaving Bilbo to face what waits inside.

Bilbo creeps down the passage alone and enters the dragon's lair. He steals a cup, then returns to talk with Smaug, keeping himself invisible and trading riddling words while secretly noting a bare patch in the scales of the dragon's underside. Smaug, enraged by the theft and certain the men of Lake-town are behind it, flies out to destroy the town. Meanwhile the dwarves enter the treasure hall, and Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, the great jewel Thorin prizes above all else, and quietly hides it for himself. Over the lake, Smaug rains fire on the town, but the archer Bard, learning from a thrush of the dragon's one weak spot, looses his black arrow into the bare patch. Smaug falls dead into the water, and the town is left ruined and grieving but free of the dragon at last.

With Smaug dead, the treasure lies unguarded, and everyone wants a share. Bard, now a hero, and the Elvenking march on the mountain: Bard asks compensation for the destroyed town and a portion of the hoard, but Thorin, seized by greed and pride, refuses and shuts himself and the dwarves inside the mountain, sending word for his kinsman Dain to bring an army. To break the deadlock, Bilbo secretly slips out and gives the Arkenstone to Bard and the Elvenking, so they can bargain with the one thing Thorin most desires. Thorin is furious at the betrayal when he learns of it. Before the dispute can turn to war between dwarves, elves, and men, a great host of goblins and wolves sweeps down on them all. The three peoples unite against the common enemy in the Battle of Five Armies, and the eagles and Beorn arrive to turn the fight, but the cost is high and Thorin is struck down in the thick of it.

In the aftermath of the battle, Bilbo is brought to the dying Thorin, who takes back his angry words and parts from him as a friend before he passes. The goblins are defeated and the surviving peoples make peace; Thorin's kinsman Dain becomes King under the Mountain and honours fair shares of the treasure with the men and elves. Bilbo, wanting no great wealth, accepts only a small portion of gold and silver that he can carry. He journeys home with Gandalf, stopping again at Rivendell, and quietly keeps the magic ring he never told anyone about. Reaching Bag End, he finds he has been declared dead and his belongings are being sold off, and he has to reclaim his home and his standing. He settles back into hobbit life, forever after regarded as a little odd by his respectable neighbours, but richer in memory and adventure than any of them.

The dwarves reclaim the Lonely Mountain, but at a heavy cost. When Bard's people and the Wood-elves come to claim a share of the hoard, Thorin refuses and prepares for war, so Bilbo secretly hands the Arkenstone to the besiegers to force a settlement. Before it can take effect, an army of goblins and wolves falls on them all, and dwarves, elves, and men join together in the Battle of Five Armies. The eagles and the bear-man Beorn turn the tide. Thorin is mortally wounded in the fighting; before he dies he forgives Bilbo and takes back his angry words. Dain, Thorin's kinsman, becomes King under the Mountain and honours the agreed shares, and the surviving peoples are reconciled. Bilbo, wanting no great wealth, accepts only a modest portion of gold and silver. He travels home with Gandalf, quietly keeping the magic ring, and finds that he has been presumed dead and his belongings are being auctioned off. He resettles at Bag End, changed by his journey and no longer quite respectable in the eyes of his neighbours, content with his memories and his small treasures.