The Hobbit was J.R.R. Tolkien’s first major fantasy story to feature Bilbo Baggins.
Tolkien began writing The Hobbit in the early 1930s, and George Allen & Unwin published it in 1937. Its protagonist is Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving hobbit recruited by Gandalf to join Thorin Oakenshield’s company on a journey to the Lonely Mountain.
The story introduces readers to Hobbiton, the Shire, Rivendell, Mirkwood, and Smaug’s hoard. It also contains Bilbo’s encounter with Gollum and the discovery of the One Ring, although the Ring’s role became much more central when Tolkien later wrote The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo does not originate in The Silmarillion or the posthumous Great Tales.