Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return. He becomes a thief for a band of dwarves and soon finds himself in the midst of a war with the evil goblins and wargs, and is forced to make a decision between the call of duty and the pull of the simple life.

Examines the personal life and literary career of the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien is one of the most popular authors in modern-day publishing. Tolkien was a scholar of the English language and mythology. His interest in languages led him to develop his own language based loosely on Finnish and Welsh. Eventually, Tolkien began to create a mythology around this original language, which evolved into his now-famous books. Since it...