Bilbo was "landed gentry." Basically, he owned or inherited land other Hobbits farmed, and he presumably sold the crops around the Shire (probably someone did that for him, but he got the enough to live comfortably and eat at least six meals a day). He's not QUITE nobility, but that's essentially what he, Frodo, Perrin, and Merry are (and Fatty Bolger). It's implied that Bilbo lived more off of his reputation after the events of There and Back Again, but it's also stated that he didn't really bring back that much treasure. But it's why Samwise being "the real hero" of Lord of the Rings is so significant, among the Fellowship, Sam is the ONLY one who is a commoner. Aragorn is The King (in exile), Legolas is an elven Prince, Boromir is basically a prince as the son of the Steward of Gondor, and even Gimli as son of Gloin is a son of a lord of dwarvenkind. As to why Bilbo is The Burglar, all hobbits are naturally good at hiding, especially from the Big Folk. They also practice rock throwing from childhood, which lasts decades for them (Frodo turned 33 on Bilbo's 111th birthday, and was kind of only just considered an adult at the time; Bilbo, and Frodo later, left the Shire when they were 50, and considered to be in their primes). Really, Gandalf was just looking for any likely Hobbit, and chose Bilbo because he thought it would be funny (well, he probably knew about Bilbo's Took heritage, or could tell that Bilbo kind of longed for an adventure, and thought that with him around and 13 Dwarves too look after him, Bilbo couldn't get into THAT much trouble...) I don't know, constantly contact with The Ring for MONTHS when it was trying to make it to Sauron he most and Sauron's connection to it was strongest, and the wraith-world place was most nightmarish... it doesn't have the OBVIOUS spider-slaying badassery of Bilbo, but it's badass in its own way...
The land he owned was just Bag-End. He lived off the inherited wealth from his mom and dad's families and was a bachelor so he didn't have any job or income, just money
Burt's Great Great Grand Pappy Burttleloudus was there, risking his life sacking Gondolin, but his good for nothing descendants just steal sheep and coast by on his legend. Trolls just aren't what they used to be since the Melkor days.
Azog was very specifically _extremely_ dead by the time of The Hobbit, and was in fact killed by Dain Ironfoot. So what they were thinking bringing him in as a boss fight for Thorin (especially when his son Bolg was _right_ _there_ !) I couldn't tell you. Also shoutout to Gandalf using the Staggered-Dwarves-Trick that got Bilbo into this mess to Shanghai Beorn into helping them XD
Daniel Greene talking about my favourite book of all time in detail even though I've read it multiple times and with a whiteboard? Yes please and thank you!
The 5 armies were the elves, dwarves and men vs the orc/goblins and the wargs/wolves. The eagles were extra. Beorn actually won the war for the good guys by killing the goblin king and his personal guard causing the goblin army to break apart due to the loss in moral. Without Beorn's actions the good guys would have lost. The necromancer parts in the movie were lifted from other books to pad the run times of the hobbit trilogy because the actual story wouldn't last for that long.
I'm so glad you used so many film clips and screen caps from the Rankin Bass version of the hobbit. I no joke watched that movie everytime I went to my grandma's house.
After several years of watching, this is the first video I shared with my (now-10yo) daughter. For reference, we've been through The Hobbit and LotR at least 4 times total, and the Silmarillion three (the first time with Silmarillion was done by the time she was 8mo so she couldn't complain yet though). (She's also been listening to RatM for just as long.) She approved of your summary. She said your drawings were bad and your warg looked like a dragon (I disagree, but we can't all have her critical eye for art). I was surprised the resonance between how Gandalf introduces the gang to Bilbo and to Beorn wasn't explicitly called out. I read that as kinda tipping Gandalf's hand at how he manipulates all the peoples of Middle-Earth with the same set of wizardly tools. Wrt Gandalf vs goblins, he can absolutely lose that kind of fight. One of the background rules in Tolkien seems to be that even matchups are safer and more sensible (Gandalf vs balrog, Gandalf vs Saruman, Boromir vs a more-finite number of orcs, etc), while mismatches like Fingolfin vs Morgoth, Gil-galad vs balrog, or Sam vs Shelob can easily result in unexpected upsets, leaving the bigger threat at a relative disadvantage in the overall fight. Gandalf can probably take 10 goblins, maybe 20, but sooner or later someone gets a lucky arrow or sword blow and Gandalf has to go ask for 1UP. Gandalf isn't really practiced in that kind of fighting the way an elf or Dunedain would be. I kinda think the eagles save butt here more because Tolkien didn't know how else to rescue the gang than because he didn't know how to move them a few hundred miles further -- Tolkien has no trouble taking pages to explain how people walked some shit (these are often some of the best parts -- don't @ me). I think one of the strong tricks Tolkien uses in his battles is leaving the climactic victory off the page by taking out the perspective character temporarily. Battles usually end in ultimately anticlimactic ways (something Tolkien had too much experience with), so that enables him to abridge the part that couldn't have been quite as satisfying.
Martin Freeman’s Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Smaug were so perfect it actually makes me even more upset at how deeply flawed the rest of the movies are
I stand by my thought that this book would have been much better as a miniseries with like an average of two chapters per episode. Would have left more room for Bilbo to be his sneaky li'l sheister self, and also maybe give the non-Thorin/Balin dwarves more chances for being actual characters, along with the more episodic feel of the different obstacles feeling less out of place than in a movie
Totally with you about the Andy Serkis narration. The Hobbit is my favorite book to physically read but it was awesome to hear it read by someone who reads it so perfectly.
My favorites change all the time, my favorite movies have changed dozens of times, my favorite shows have changed dozens of times, my favorite music changes several times a day. All of these things are fluid. But The Hobbit has been my favorite book since the day I first read it and it has never been close to being pulled from that spot.
I only just read The Hobbit for the 1st time. It took me a while with my dyslexia with the writing style but really enjoyed it. I think the movies should have given Thorin his harp. Even though the battle of the 5 armies was only 5 pages, I was more entertained by it than the whole movie adaptation, the description was just that good!
It was in the Ring's best interest to go with Bilbo. That is why it worked on him the way it did and he kept it secret. The Ring did not want to be revealed, but wanted out of the mountains. Actions with and about the One Ring must always be looked at through the will of Sauron what the actual Ring wants.
Minor Correction: Bard does not become the new Master of Lake-town. He claims kingship of the restored kingdom of Dale. When the Old Master runs off into the desolation with the gold Bard donated for the rebuilding of Esgaroth, a new (unnamed) Master is chosen (elected?). The One Ring Roleplaying Game holds that the New Master was the guard who greeted Thorin and his companions at the bridge into Lake-town. Gandalf was up-front right from the start that he wasn't accompanying the Dwarves all the way to the Lonely Mountain. That's why Bilbo was the fourteenth member of the company and not the fifteenth member. Gandalf only meant to guide the company as far as the Misty Mountains and over the pass.
@@sentientwaffle535 Yes, he's identified in the Lake-town Sourcebook that was bundled with the 1e Loremaster's Screen. Tolkien never revealed the New Master's identity.
I recently went back through the Hobbit, and one thing I enjoyed is that the narrator is biased in Bilbo's favor. There are times when it seems to pity him in bad situations, and when he does the thing with the barrels and makes a mistake, the narrator essentially says to the reader "Oh, yeah, and what would you have done, smartass?" Great book, 13/10, no notes
Hey Daniel Greene, One aspect of "The Hobbit" that you missed is that it is a type of coming of age story. You touched on it a couple of times with Gandalf disappearing and being entirely absent. At the beginning of the story Gandalf was with Bilbo the entire time and did all the work to save and protect Bilbo. However, with each major event along the way Gandalf spent less time with Bilbo and was doing less for Bilbo until Gandalf was entirely absent. Bilbo had to make the decision about the Arkenstone entirely on his own. Gandalf returns when all is said and done in order to congratulate Bilbo on a job well done with his decision making
I recently watched the 1977 animated movie of this, and people hate it ... I loved it to death. It's super short, quick, but still reasonably paced, it was cozy and fun and exciting, as much as the book itself. I only have one problem with it, which is the music. They just mixed in weird old-school music that does not at all fit in with the world. But other than that, I loved it
It’s been one of my favorites ever since I was a kid. It’s got such a unique vibe to it and Bakshi is my all time favorite animator. I’ve always enjoyed the music despite it being VERY 70s folk singerish. Lol. One of my favorite things about the new Hobbit films were the updated Dwarven songs from my childhood.
There is a theory that the Arkenstone from this book is actually a Silmaril from the Silmarilion and imagine being Gandlaf where you send some random hobbit on a quest to slay a dragon and when you see him again he pulls out the one ring and a silmaril just when you found out Sauron is coming back
I'd love to see you do a review of one of the shortened Hobbit movies fan edits. There are a lot of great and varied offerings, everything from more book accurate cuts (Battle of the Five Edits is a good one) to more cinematic focused ones (Ironfoot edit has a genius character arc twist, and the Hart edit is quite good). Amazing what cutting 3-4 hours does for the films.
@@ethans9379I exaggerate a bit. I just find it amusing to make a rather long"summary" for what is a 4-5 hour read for most people. Like PJ's movies it has a bit of filler 😉
Super timely video for me. I am just about done listening to the same version of the book and I have to agree, it's going to be my go to version of the audiobook.
"There's comments that could be made about Amazon adapting stuff and how the Tolkien Estate sold the rights" Tolkien himself sold the film rights to The Hobbit and LotR primarily with monetary gain in mind. From a 1957 letter to Christopher Tolkien: “Stanley U. [the publisher] & I have agreed on our policy: Art or Cash. Either very profitable terms indeed; or absolute author’s veto on objectionable features or alterations.” (Letter 202) Of course as we know, the "very profitable terms indeed" were chosen over a smaller amount with author's veto. And Christopher Tolkien was very much still on the Estate board when the television rights were sold to Amazon. I don't say this to denigrate Tolkien or his family in any way. Tolkien himself sold the rights in order to pay his taxes. And the Estate I'm sure sold the rights in part because Christopher Tolkien would rather see it done than have in happen after he died, and because it's really not that long until The Hobbit and LotR become public domain, and the rights at that point will effectively evaporate. And who knows, maybe they were stressed about taxes too?
The best audio book of the hobbit of all time is my grandfather :) He read it aloud to me even though I was well old enough to read it myself. It's one of my favorite memories.
During the Battle of Five Armies, Sauron is licking his wounds after fleeing Southern Mirkwood back to Mordor. Remember where Gandalf went? He was worried about the necromancer... who he suspected as Sauron... so the White Council kicks him out. Sauron did not have the power to sense the ring.
I only read The Hobbit for the first time this year. It’s easily my favorite children’s fantasy book ❤ Really love the summary you gave. Made me laugh a lot. 😂 Also Serkis is the superior audiobook for the Hobbit. It was absolutely fantastic!
My favorite dwarf is Gloin because his father's name is Groin. It's also interesting to note your description of Gandalf as manipulative and mysterious, and see that reflected in Bayaz from _The First Law_ in some really interesting ways. No spoilers but I think you'd know what I'm talking about. Finally, Tolkien is an interesting author because he's writing exactly what he wants to when it comes to his stories, so the most you can criticize about his stories is less about how he writes than *what and why* he writes. The most obvious case being women; there's only (I believe) one named female character in _The Hobbit_ and she is only mentioned posthumously. He almost could have (and eventually did!) write good female characters, but he didn't include them because he didn't think about it (or, if I were being uncharitable, because he didn't want to). This doesn't mean the book is bad, but it does mean we need a book as good as _The Hobbit_ with entirely women characters.
Such a great video, I really enjoyed it. I read these books years ago and it is awesome to have something like this summary Daniel did to remind me of it and have a better understanding of the whole story. As the book, this is a 10/10 video.
i really like the phil dragash readings of the hobbit and lotr. their audio quality is sometimes a little shaky, but they put the film music in the background in appropriate places and it's EPIC. they're free on spotify. the dwarves actually sing! 10/10 the version for theater kids
I know for many most people didn't care about the necromancer part of the movie and how everyone knew it was Sauron, but when I first went and saw the film I wasn't that deep into the lore of middle earth. I loved the original lotr movies, played some games, not even sure if I read the books by this point so I was surprised when the necromancer was first mentioned. I enjoyed Peter adding in that part of the movie for maybe just myself or the few folks out there that actually didn't realize it was Sauron all along, adding in a bit of fun mystery
Andy Serkis & Barbara Rosenblatt are my 2 favorite audiobook readers. Rosenblatt's version of the Amelia Peabody mystery series has me completely immersed; I know who did it, because I've read them 70 bajillion times, but I don't care. Only ran across Serkis' version pretty recently but that is also seriously immersive
Bilbo being the perfect hobbit… Gandalf coming… no way man, take the door! … Gandalf drops the dwarfs… ok, after all I’m a perfect hobbit so hospitality… Gandalf 2.0… noo.. alright… I go.
Bilbo gets the ring/sword and the mythril shirt. Besides some cash. And Beorn wins that war, the Eagles helped, but Beorn broke them by kills their King and Guard.
Guillermo del Toro originally wanted to do two movies, then the studios brought back Peter Jackson and told him "Do three movies". And Jackson was probably like "Huh? Well gotta make some shit up"
The Necromancer in The Hobbit is the re-manifestation of Sauron. He's still in such a weakened state that the White Council can't be certain of his identity. Basically, Quirrell in the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.
The best hobbit and LoTR audiobooks are here on RUclips or on archive sites. The hobbit is by bluefax and LoTR by Phil dragish. These are also free. They are the best audiobooks ever made. They’re essentially a radio drama XD
I read LoTR when I was 11, after my dad dragged us to watch first movie in cinema. On the way home, he told me that we have had the books home for years. I proceeded to devour them, and fell in love. Then I discovered Hobbit. Huray, more LoTR! Aaand it wasn´t. That sense of disapointment, that it is just children book, not epic fantasy never really left me. I wonder if people who love it, read hobbit first, or just didn´t expect same writting style, as I did as a child.
As far as them adding a main white goblin antagonist, you can't meechandise and market a whole evil army. To sell toys and models, you have to have a single or small number of characters that can represent that faction, or else you'd be missing out on a whole revenue stream.
I would love to see another attempt at a movie though I would like 2 films as we do need the necromancer storyline as I always found it weird Gandalf just disappearing.
I don't blame Gandalf for not immediately recognizing the Ring. If my friend found a magic ring in a world with magic stuff I wouldn't assume it's THE one ring from thousands of years ago
I wrapped up the Rob Inglis audio book recently and it's a good version too. I purchased the Andy Serkis version but unfortunately Amazon don't have their &#*$ together and you cannot play them both from a kindle (you get whichever audio book you purchased last)
Check out the limited merch drop here: www.danielbgreene.com
Now do the Silmarillion
My favoritee!
Video per chapter! (Ok, some chapters can be scrunched together, obviously.)
@@oneoftheorderpersonally, I think OF BELERIAND AND ITS REALMS deserves several videos by itself!
@philipmarsh2172 famously the most plot-heavy chapter in all of fantasy
No, no, I want an under an hour video summarizing the Silmarillion. I believe he can do it.
Brilliant breakdown/review, particularly loved how Daniel’s pronunciation of Smaug slowly devolved throughout 😂
Bilbo was "landed gentry." Basically, he owned or inherited land other Hobbits farmed, and he presumably sold the crops around the Shire (probably someone did that for him, but he got the enough to live comfortably and eat at least six meals a day). He's not QUITE nobility, but that's essentially what he, Frodo, Perrin, and Merry are (and Fatty Bolger). It's implied that Bilbo lived more off of his reputation after the events of There and Back Again, but it's also stated that he didn't really bring back that much treasure.
But it's why Samwise being "the real hero" of Lord of the Rings is so significant, among the Fellowship, Sam is the ONLY one who is a commoner. Aragorn is The King (in exile), Legolas is an elven Prince, Boromir is basically a prince as the son of the Steward of Gondor, and even Gimli as son of Gloin is a son of a lord of dwarvenkind.
As to why Bilbo is The Burglar, all hobbits are naturally good at hiding, especially from the Big Folk. They also practice rock throwing from childhood, which lasts decades for them (Frodo turned 33 on Bilbo's 111th birthday, and was kind of only just considered an adult at the time; Bilbo, and Frodo later, left the Shire when they were 50, and considered to be in their primes). Really, Gandalf was just looking for any likely Hobbit, and chose Bilbo because he thought it would be funny (well, he probably knew about Bilbo's Took heritage, or could tell that Bilbo kind of longed for an adventure, and thought that with him around and 13 Dwarves too look after him, Bilbo couldn't get into THAT much trouble...)
I don't know, constantly contact with The Ring for MONTHS when it was trying to make it to Sauron he most and Sauron's connection to it was strongest, and the wraith-world place was most nightmarish... it doesn't have the OBVIOUS spider-slaying badassery of Bilbo, but it's badass in its own way...
Bilbo's 'job' before the adventure was wealthy landowner who lived off rent that other hobbits paid to him for using his land.
Based 😎
So basically a thief
The land he owned was just Bag-End. He lived off the inherited wealth from his mom and dad's families and was a bachelor so he didn't have any job or income, just money
@@matthewletexier So he was basically a character from every Agatha Christie novel...
@@paulm.8660 So basically, "no".
Gloin is important too because he's Gimli's father and was present at the Council of Elrond in the book.
These random ass trolls just happen to have some of the rarest historical weapons in middle earth
Burt's Great Great Grand Pappy Burttleloudus was there, risking his life sacking Gondolin, but his good for nothing descendants just steal sheep and coast by on his legend. Trolls just aren't what they used to be since the Melkor days.
Azog was very specifically _extremely_ dead by the time of The Hobbit, and was in fact killed by Dain Ironfoot.
So what they were thinking bringing him in as a boss fight for Thorin (especially when his son Bolg was _right_ _there_ !) I couldn't tell you.
Also shoutout to Gandalf using the Staggered-Dwarves-Trick that got Bilbo into this mess to Shanghai Beorn into helping them XD
Daniel Greene talking about my favourite book of all time in detail even though I've read it multiple times and with a whiteboard? Yes please and thank you!
I haven’t gotten very far in, but I’m guessing the quote for the proposal was something like “What have I got in my pocket?”
😂
Is that a ring or are you just excited to see me? would have been a burn
Smaug noticing the missing piece of his treasure is actually a callback to one of Tolkien's love: Beowulf.
Came to the comments for this. This part of The Hobbit is basically Tolkien's fan fiction of Beowulf.
25:23 - Sting came from the troll hoard, Bilbo was not given it in Rivendell
The 5 armies were the elves, dwarves and men vs the orc/goblins and the wargs/wolves. The eagles were extra. Beorn actually won the war for the good guys by killing the goblin king and his personal guard causing the goblin army to break apart due to the loss in moral. Without Beorn's actions the good guys would have lost. The necromancer parts in the movie were lifted from other books to pad the run times of the hobbit trilogy because the actual story wouldn't last for that long.
I thought elves, dwarves, men and Beorn (a one man army) vs the orc/goblins/wargs/wolves
I'm so glad you used so many film clips and screen caps from the Rankin Bass version of the hobbit. I no joke watched that movie everytime I went to my grandma's house.
After several years of watching, this is the first video I shared with my (now-10yo) daughter. For reference, we've been through The Hobbit and LotR at least 4 times total, and the Silmarillion three (the first time with Silmarillion was done by the time she was 8mo so she couldn't complain yet though). (She's also been listening to RatM for just as long.) She approved of your summary. She said your drawings were bad and your warg looked like a dragon (I disagree, but we can't all have her critical eye for art).
I was surprised the resonance between how Gandalf introduces the gang to Bilbo and to Beorn wasn't explicitly called out. I read that as kinda tipping Gandalf's hand at how he manipulates all the peoples of Middle-Earth with the same set of wizardly tools.
Wrt Gandalf vs goblins, he can absolutely lose that kind of fight. One of the background rules in Tolkien seems to be that even matchups are safer and more sensible (Gandalf vs balrog, Gandalf vs Saruman, Boromir vs a more-finite number of orcs, etc), while mismatches like Fingolfin vs Morgoth, Gil-galad vs balrog, or Sam vs Shelob can easily result in unexpected upsets, leaving the bigger threat at a relative disadvantage in the overall fight. Gandalf can probably take 10 goblins, maybe 20, but sooner or later someone gets a lucky arrow or sword blow and Gandalf has to go ask for 1UP. Gandalf isn't really practiced in that kind of fighting the way an elf or Dunedain would be. I kinda think the eagles save butt here more because Tolkien didn't know how else to rescue the gang than because he didn't know how to move them a few hundred miles further -- Tolkien has no trouble taking pages to explain how people walked some shit (these are often some of the best parts -- don't @ me).
I think one of the strong tricks Tolkien uses in his battles is leaving the climactic victory off the page by taking out the perspective character temporarily. Battles usually end in ultimately anticlimactic ways (something Tolkien had too much experience with), so that enables him to abridge the part that couldn't have been quite as satisfying.
Martin Freeman’s Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Smaug were so perfect it actually makes me even more upset at how deeply flawed the rest of the movies are
I stand by my thought that this book would have been much better as a miniseries with like an average of two chapters per episode. Would have left more room for Bilbo to be his sneaky li'l sheister self, and also maybe give the non-Thorin/Balin dwarves more chances for being actual characters, along with the more episodic feel of the different obstacles feeling less out of place than in a movie
Totally with you about the Andy Serkis narration. The Hobbit is my favorite book to physically read but it was awesome to hear it read by someone who reads it so perfectly.
My favorites change all the time, my favorite movies have changed dozens of times, my favorite shows have changed dozens of times, my favorite music changes several times a day. All of these things are fluid. But The Hobbit has been my favorite book since the day I first read it and it has never been close to being pulled from that spot.
Is he meowing every time he says the dragon's name? Nesbit sends her regards
I only just read The Hobbit for the 1st time. It took me a while with my dyslexia with the writing style but really enjoyed it. I think the movies should have given Thorin his harp. Even though the battle of the 5 armies was only 5 pages, I was more entertained by it than the whole movie adaptation, the description was just that good!
I love dwarves because of the hobbit.
I liked the Fili&Kili combo as they are almost like lv1 n00bs that join a max level group
It was in the Ring's best interest to go with Bilbo. That is why it worked on him the way it did and he kept it secret. The Ring did not want to be revealed, but wanted out of the mountains. Actions with and about the One Ring must always be looked at through the will of Sauron what the actual Ring wants.
This also sets up that hobbits are supper resilient especially to mind controling stuff like the ring and the arkenstone
Minor Correction: Bard does not become the new Master of Lake-town. He claims kingship of the restored kingdom of Dale. When the Old Master runs off into the desolation with the gold Bard donated for the rebuilding of Esgaroth, a new (unnamed) Master is chosen (elected?). The One Ring Roleplaying Game holds that the New Master was the guard who greeted Thorin and his companions at the bridge into Lake-town.
Gandalf was up-front right from the start that he wasn't accompanying the Dwarves all the way to the Lonely Mountain. That's why Bilbo was the fourteenth member of the company and not the fifteenth member. Gandalf only meant to guide the company as far as the Misty Mountains and over the pass.
Is the note about the second Master from TOR 1e?
@@sentientwaffle535 Yes, he's identified in the Lake-town Sourcebook that was bundled with the 1e Loremaster's Screen. Tolkien never revealed the New Master's identity.
i love that you accidentally said Protagonist, overlaid the screen with a correction but still spelled it wrong
I recently went back through the Hobbit, and one thing I enjoyed is that the narrator is biased in Bilbo's favor. There are times when it seems to pity him in bad situations, and when he does the thing with the barrels and makes a mistake, the narrator essentially says to the reader "Oh, yeah, and what would you have done, smartass?" Great book, 13/10, no notes
Hey Daniel Greene,
One aspect of "The Hobbit" that you missed is that it is a type of coming of age story.
You touched on it a couple of times with Gandalf disappearing and being entirely absent.
At the beginning of the story Gandalf was with Bilbo the entire time and did all the work to save and protect Bilbo.
However, with each major event along the way Gandalf spent less time with Bilbo and was doing less for Bilbo until Gandalf was entirely absent. Bilbo had to make the decision about the Arkenstone entirely on his own. Gandalf returns when all is said and done in order to congratulate Bilbo on a job well done with his decision making
I recently watched the 1977 animated movie of this, and people hate it ... I loved it to death. It's super short, quick, but still reasonably paced, it was cozy and fun and exciting, as much as the book itself. I only have one problem with it, which is the music. They just mixed in weird old-school music that does not at all fit in with the world. But other than that, I loved it
It’s been one of my favorites ever since I was a kid. It’s got such a unique vibe to it and Bakshi is my all time favorite animator. I’ve always enjoyed the music despite it being VERY 70s folk singerish. Lol.
One of my favorite things about the new Hobbit films were the updated Dwarven songs from my childhood.
There is a theory that the Arkenstone from this book is actually a Silmaril from the Silmarilion and imagine being Gandlaf where you send some random hobbit on a quest to slay a dragon and when you see him again he pulls out the one ring and a silmaril just when you found out Sauron is coming back
I believe that Tolkien himself debunked that notion in a letter.
Nah the Silmarils are accounted for. One is a star, one is in the sea, one is buried way way deep in the earth
@@matthewletexier I'm not sure that mentioning the jewel thrown into the earth helps any.
My favorite dwarf is Gloin, because it sounds quite close to 'groin,' and I just think that's fantastic.
17:5 Gollum is treated teribly, but he also wanted to eat a nice guy. So maybe they are even
I'd love to see you do a review of one of the shortened Hobbit movies fan edits. There are a lot of great and varied offerings, everything from more book accurate cuts (Battle of the Five Edits is a good one) to more cinematic focused ones (Ironfoot edit has a genius character arc twist, and the Hart edit is quite good). Amazing what cutting 3-4 hours does for the films.
I see it more like, Bilbo realised his old friends were false. He made True Friends on his journey.
Dude in 50 minutes you could just read the whole book
I’m not a very fast reader. When people talk about how fast they read I often find it discouraging
@@ethans9379I exaggerate a bit. I just find it amusing to make a rather long"summary" for what is a 4-5 hour read for most people. Like PJ's movies it has a bit of filler 😉
@@ethans9379 lol I’m like 50 minutes per chapter with Tolkien, if it’s not too long.
Damn u is a fast reader
Oh damn it took me a week to read it. I’m such a slow reader lol.
33:54 this part made me giggle so much - the "oops!" look on your face tehe
Super timely video for me. I am just about done listening to the same version of the book and I have to agree, it's going to be my go to version of the audiobook.
"There's comments that could be made about Amazon adapting stuff and how the Tolkien Estate sold the rights"
Tolkien himself sold the film rights to The Hobbit and LotR primarily with monetary gain in mind.
From a 1957 letter to Christopher Tolkien:
“Stanley U. [the publisher] & I have agreed on our policy: Art or Cash. Either very profitable terms indeed; or absolute author’s veto on objectionable features or alterations.” (Letter 202)
Of course as we know, the "very profitable terms indeed" were chosen over a smaller amount with author's veto. And Christopher Tolkien was very much still on the Estate board when the television rights were sold to Amazon.
I don't say this to denigrate Tolkien or his family in any way. Tolkien himself sold the rights in order to pay his taxes. And the Estate I'm sure sold the rights in part because Christopher Tolkien would rather see it done than have in happen after he died, and because it's really not that long until The Hobbit and LotR become public domain, and the rights at that point will effectively evaporate. And who knows, maybe they were stressed about taxes too?
The best audio book of the hobbit of all time is my grandfather :) He read it aloud to me even though I was well old enough to read it myself. It's one of my favorite memories.
During the Battle of Five Armies, Sauron is licking his wounds after fleeing Southern Mirkwood back to Mordor. Remember where Gandalf went? He was worried about the necromancer... who he suspected as Sauron... so the White Council kicks him out. Sauron did not have the power to sense the ring.
The behind the scenes stuff with Gandalf and the White Council is what I like most about the movies.
Such a wonderful and fun breakdown Daniel, I want more books with you and whiteboard 😀
Excellently done. But you forgot where Sting comes from !?!?!?! inconceivable !
An interesting bit about Bard Killing Smaug is it sets up a running theme that every great dragon is defeated by a man(human).
I only read The Hobbit for the first time this year. It’s easily my favorite children’s fantasy book ❤
Really love the summary you gave. Made me laugh a lot. 😂
Also Serkis is the superior audiobook for the Hobbit. It was absolutely fantastic!
My favorite dwarf is Gloin because his father's name is Groin.
It's also interesting to note your description of Gandalf as manipulative and mysterious, and see that reflected in Bayaz from _The First Law_ in some really interesting ways. No spoilers but I think you'd know what I'm talking about.
Finally, Tolkien is an interesting author because he's writing exactly what he wants to when it comes to his stories, so the most you can criticize about his stories is less about how he writes than *what and why* he writes. The most obvious case being women; there's only (I believe) one named female character in _The Hobbit_ and she is only mentioned posthumously. He almost could have (and eventually did!) write good female characters, but he didn't include them because he didn't think about it (or, if I were being uncharitable, because he didn't want to). This doesn't mean the book is bad, but it does mean we need a book as good as _The Hobbit_ with entirely women characters.
The Andy Serkis audio book is truly a treat
The Hobbit is so nostalgic to me
This came at a perfect time! I'm making a PowerPoint on Tolkien lore for my friend and I intend to go DEEP into it
Such a great video, I really enjoyed it. I read these books years ago and it is awesome to have something like this summary Daniel did to remind me of it and have a better understanding of the whole story. As the book, this is a 10/10 video.
Never read this but this video makes me want to check it out now!
i really like the phil dragash readings of the hobbit and lotr. their audio quality is sometimes a little shaky, but they put the film music in the background in appropriate places and it's EPIC. they're free on spotify. the dwarves actually sing! 10/10 the version for theater kids
I know for many most people didn't care about the necromancer part of the movie and how everyone knew it was Sauron, but when I first went and saw the film I wasn't that deep into the lore of middle earth. I loved the original lotr movies, played some games, not even sure if I read the books by this point so I was surprised when the necromancer was first mentioned. I enjoyed Peter adding in that part of the movie for maybe just myself or the few folks out there that actually didn't realize it was Sauron all along, adding in a bit of fun mystery
Great review. I really want to read the book again now
Rob Inglis is the best reader for any of the LotR audiobooks. But Serkis helped me get through the Silmarillion!
Andy Serkis & Barbara Rosenblatt are my 2 favorite audiobook readers. Rosenblatt's version of the Amelia Peabody mystery series has me completely immersed; I know who did it, because I've read them 70 bajillion times, but I don't care. Only ran across Serkis' version pretty recently but that is also seriously immersive
Bilbo being the perfect hobbit… Gandalf coming… no way man, take the door! … Gandalf drops the dwarfs… ok, after all I’m a perfect hobbit so hospitality… Gandalf 2.0… noo.. alright… I go.
This is a throwback sensation to the WoT lore vids that initially drew me here.
I don't think I have ever heard it pronounced S-meow-g. Now I imagine Smaug as a giant cat and it is great.
the hobbit was such a great story so tightly packed and thought out
Bilbo gets the ring/sword and the mythril shirt. Besides some cash. And Beorn wins that war, the Eagles helped, but Beorn broke them by kills their King and Guard.
I was OBSESSED with the 1970s animated movie.
i'm in love with your recreation of gandalf thinking "you're my burglar" xD
*Balin* has always been my favourite ❤️
33:33 also that is essentially a copy from the Dragon Episode in Beowulf.
Oh dang I'm literally reading Fellowship right now, four years after having read The Hobbit so this is very good timing, thank you Daniel
Thorin is the best dwarf because he's a mental and moral dwarf. Bravo Tolkien. Now this is Cinema.
“Dude we gotta go into MIRKWOOD without you?!? It’s RIGHT THERE IN THE NAME”
Guillermo del Toro originally wanted to do two movies, then the studios brought back Peter Jackson and told him "Do three movies". And Jackson was probably like "Huh? Well gotta make some shit up"
34:58 The look of "I won't tell the insurance company or the fire department if you don't."
Bilbo really went on vacation while planning a jail break on the side
Love the video
19:00 there was a central goblin villain it was just the pale orcs son, Bolg (who the movies also ruined)
34:54 That's what we call "setup & payoff" ladies & gentlemen! 😂
The Necromancer in The Hobbit is the re-manifestation of Sauron. He's still in such a weakened state that the White Council can't be certain of his identity. Basically, Quirrell in the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.
He wasn't weak he was waiting. Sauron had fully re-formed by around TA-1000 and was biding his time.
Always a good day when we get a standing video
Can you do a video specific on the differences in the two versions of Bilbo and Gollum encounter in the Hobbit?
Does the Elder Wander truly work for this? Daniel should have used Sting as a pointer. Much more macho.
Did you read "History of Middle-Earth" books? I'd love to hear your opinion on this series. :)
Seriously though, I would have dropped the Jackson movie footage and used the Rankin-Bass instead. Much better material.
The best hobbit and LoTR audiobooks are here on RUclips or on archive sites. The hobbit is by bluefax and LoTR by Phil dragish. These are also free. They are the best audiobooks ever made. They’re essentially a radio drama XD
I read LoTR when I was 11, after my dad dragged us to watch first movie in cinema. On the way home, he told me that we have had the books home for years. I proceeded to devour them, and fell in love. Then I discovered Hobbit. Huray, more LoTR! Aaand it wasn´t. That sense of disapointment, that it is just children book, not epic fantasy never really left me. I wonder if people who love it, read hobbit first, or just didn´t expect same writting style, as I did as a child.
“My favorite is… Thorin. I kinda like his whole greed thing…. BUY MY MERCH!” 😂❤❤ I see you goblin.
Way to put modern sensibilities to The Hobbit
The whiteboards back, baby!
this was so nice!
As far as them adding a main white goblin antagonist, you can't meechandise and market a whole evil army. To sell toys and models, you have to have a single or small number of characters that can represent that faction, or else you'd be missing out on a whole revenue stream.
Bilbo: Badass, Frodo: Hapless Neffiepoo
I would love to see another attempt at a movie though I would like 2 films as we do need the necromancer storyline as I always found it weird Gandalf just disappearing.
I don't blame Gandalf for not immediately recognizing the Ring. If my friend found a magic ring in a world with magic stuff I wouldn't assume it's THE one ring from thousands of years ago
Dayum, that fireball joke was pure fire! (How's my slang, fellow kids?)
It’s cooking
You should check out the old BBC radio play of LotR, with Ian Holm as Frodo. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
Yes! Bilbo is so much cooler than Frodo that I never really liked the Hobbits in the LOTR books.
Would love to see the same style of video for the lord of the rings
Day 41 of asking the Goblin to give Made in Abyss a try.
Did you crochet your blanket?
I wrapped up the Rob Inglis audio book recently and it's a good version too. I purchased the Andy Serkis version but unfortunately Amazon don't have their &#*$ together and you cannot play them both from a kindle (you get whichever audio book you purchased last)
Have you ever thought about summarizing any of Brandon Sanderson’s work?
What would’ve made the Hobbit better? A visit to The City Gondor Of.
No one:
Daniel: Smeowg 🐈⬛
My kitten named is Tom bombadil