J.R.R. Tolkien identifies Bilbo Baggins as the fictional author of The Hobbit’s account. The book is framed as a story connected with Bilbo’s memoirs, and Tolkien presents himself as an editor or translator of material from Middle-earth rather than as an in-world participant.
This framing helps explain the novel’s conversational style and its occasional asides to the reader. Bilbo is not merely the central character: within Tolkien’s mythology, he also records the events of his journey to the Lonely Mountain. His account includes the company’s travels, the encounter with Gollum, and the recovery of the Arkenstone.
The framing becomes more elaborate in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s fictional editorial history attributes parts of the larger narrative to sources such as the Red Book of Westmarch, begun by Bilbo and continued by Frodo and Sam. Readers sometimes confuse Bilbo’s role as narrator with Frodo’s role in The Lord of the Rings, but the two hobbits have different places in the imagined documentary tradition.