List of The Hobbit characters facts for kids

This article describes all named characters appearing in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 book The Hobbit. Creatures as collectives are not included. Characters are categorized by race. Spelling and point of view are given as from The Hobbit; details from sources outside The Hobbit are given only where important to understanding the character within the tale, and with the source noted.

Hobbits

• Bilbo Baggins of Bag End, the protagonist and titular hobbit of the story.
• Bungo Baggins, Bilbo's father.
• Belladonna Took, Bilbo's mother.
• The Old Took, Bilbo's maternal grandfather.
• Chubb, Chubb, and Burrowes, auctioneers managing the liquidation of Bilbo's effects.
• The Sackville-Bagginses, acquisitive cousins to Bilbo.
• Bullroarer Took, a historical figure mentioned as Bilbo's great great grand-uncle.

Wizards

• Gandalf, the mastermind behind The Hobbit's quest.
• Radagast, a wizard mentioned as a "cousin" of Gandalf.

Dwarves

• Dáin, second cousin to Thorin, comes to the aid of Thorin's Company at the Battle of Five Armies with a company of several hundred dwarves.

Thorin's company

Thorin's company consisted of the following 13 dwarves; their quest in The Hobbit is the main impetus of the plot. Their quest was joined by Bilbo Baggins (the titular hobbit) and occasionally by the wizard Gandalf.

• The Royal House of Durin – Thorin Oakenshield and the two sons of his sister:
  • Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the company and hereditary claimant of the kingdom of the Lonely Mountain. He possessed the longest beard in the company, and wore a gold belt and a sky-blue hood with a large silver tassel. Thorin played the harp.
  • Fili, who with his brother Kili was the youngest dwarf in the company and therefore useful for his keen eyesight. He wore a blue hood and grew a yellow beard.
  • Kili, who with his brother Fili was the youngest dwarf in the company and therefore useful for his keen eyesight. He wore a blue hood and grew a yellow beard.
• Four of Thorin's third-cousins – two pairs of brothers:
  • Balin. Older brother to Dwalin. He wore a red hood and had a white beard. Bilbo and Balin later became good friends. (Balin is the only dwarf to have returned to Bag End to visit Bilbo after the events in The Hobbit.)
  • Dwalin. Younger brother to Balin. He wore a dark green hood and a golden belt, had a blue beard tucked into the belt, and, like his brother Balin, he played the viol. He was the first of the dwarves that Bilbo met.
  • Oin. Brother to Gloin. He wore a brown hood. He and Gloin were charged with starting the campfires.
  • Gloin. Brother to Oin. He wore a white hood. He and Oin were charged with starting the campfires. Gloin openly doubted Bilbo at the start of the quest. (Gloin was the father of the character Gimli in The lord of the Rings.)
• Three dwarves who were Thorin's remote kinsmen:
  • Dori. He wore a purple hood. Dori was tasked with carrying Bilbo in the goblin tunnels. He also played the flute.
  • Nori. He wore a purple hood. He also played the flute.
  • Ori. He wore a grey hood. He also played the flute.
• Three dwarves "descended from the Dwarves of Moria but were not of Durin's line":
  • Bifur. Cousin to Bofur and Bombur. He wore a yellow hood and played clarinet.
  • Bofur. Brother to Bombur and cousin to Bifur. He wore a yellow hood and played clarinet.
  • Bombur. Brother to Bofur and cousin to Bifur, whose primary traits were his fatness and his sympathy for Bilbo's plights. He wore a pale green hood.

Elves

• Elrond, master of Rivendell, the Last Homely House East of the Sea. The Hobbit calls him an elf-friend rather than an elf, one "who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors."
• The Elvenking, king of the Mirkwood Elves. He held the dwarves captive. They were eventually freed by Bilbo. (In The Hobbit he is only called "the Elvenking"; his name "Thranduil" is given in The Lord of the Rings.)
• Galion, the butler of the Elvenking's halls, whose fondness for wine enables Bilbo and the dwarves to escape.

Men

• Bard the Bowman, an archer of Lake-town who slew Smaug. Heir of Girion.
• Beorn the "skin-changer", master of the Carrock, able to take the form of a bear. He fought against the goblins at the Battle of Five Armies along with the men, elves and dwarves. Beorn may not have been a man; Gandalf states in The Hobbit that he believes the story calling Beorn "... a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world" rather than the other common story, that "he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came". In The Lord of the Rings, they refer to his kind as Beornings.
• The Master of Lake-town, a grasping politician who met his end starving in the wilderness with the wealth he plundered from his own people after the destruction of Lake-town. He is not named explicitly but had the nickname "Moneybags".

Trolls

• Tom, one of the three trolls who captured the members of the Company. The trolls argued over how to prepare their captives for eating, goaded on by the impersonating voice of Gandalf. They argued until dawn, when the sun's rays turned them to stone. (In The Lord of the Rings, the location of this scene is identified as the Trollshaws.)
• Bert, one of the three trolls who captured the members of the Company.
• William (Bill Huggins), one of the three trolls who captured the members of the Company.

Singular characters

• Gollum, a creature left largely to mystery in The Hobbit. He lived alone deep under the Misty Mountains on an island in a dark, cold lake. He lost his magic ring, which Bilbo found, and engaged Bilbo in a riddle game in order to stall for time. Ultimately Bilbo escaped with the ring. In The Lord of the Rings, it is revealed that Gollum is a degenerate hobbit of great age whose name was originally Sméagol.
• The Necromancer, a shadowy evil character mentioned in The Hobbit. In The Lord of the Rings, the Necromancer is seen to be Sauron.
• Smaug, a great dragon who made the Lonely Mountain his lair. After the Company roused him from his long quiescence, he destroyed Lake-town and was killed by Bard the Bowman.

Birds

• The Lord of the Eagles, a giant eagle who, with the other eagles, bore the Company away from the burning treetops the goblins had trapped them in, and who aided the allies at the Battle of Five Armies. His name is given in The Lord of the Rings as Gwaihir, meaning "wind-lord" in Sindarin Elvish.
• Carc, an intelligent raven who lived upon the Ravenhill beneath the Lonely Mountain in the days of King Thrór.
• Roäc, son of Carc; the leader of the great ravens of the Lonely Mountain.

Goblins

• The Great Goblin, whose kingdom lies under the Misty Mountains. Warriors of his realm waylay the Company and take them prisoner. Gandalf kills the Great Goblin when he rescues the Company.
• Bolg, who succeeded the Great Goblin, led an army of goblins in the Battle of Five Armies.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Personajes de El hobbit para niños