The Hobbit Reading Order

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) is the origin of modern fantasy — Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit of the Shire, recruited by the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. Tolkien, a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, wrote the story for his children and published it in 1937; its success led to the request for a sequel, which became The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955). The Hobbit is lighter, funnier, and more child-friendly than its sequel, but it introduces the world, establishes Bilbo's character, and — crucially — contains his encounter with Gollum in the dark of the Misty Mountains, where he finds the One Ring. The proper reading order is The Hobbit first, then the three Lord of the Rings volumes.