Who is the central hobbit character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit?

Bilbo Baggins is the central hobbit character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit.

The story follows Bilbo after the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves recruit him for a journey to the Lonely Mountain. Their goal is to recover the treasure held by the dragon Smaug, whose attack displaced the dwarves from their homeland.

Bilbo’s adventure also introduces the One Ring, which he finds in the Misty Mountains after meeting Gollum. The Hobbit was published in 1937 and was originally written as a children’s fantasy novel. Bilbo later became an important link to The Lord of the Rings, where the older hobbit’s possession of the Ring helps set the larger story in motion. Frodo, not Bilbo, is the principal ring-bearer in the later trilogy.