The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien is an amazing book. The Hobbit was published on September 21, 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children’s literature. Because of the book’s quality and profitability, the publishers asked Tolkien for a second book. The Lord of The Rings was the result, and it has three books to it. It took Tolkien about 20 years to write the trilogy. The Hobbit is an adventure story about a company of dwarves, a wizard and a hobbit. Their goal is to reach the Lonely Mountain and reclaim the land and treasure that is rightfully theirs. In The Hobbit, the characters make mistakes that lead them into many strongholds, both of allies and the enemy.

Bilbo is an adventurous yet shy hobbit and a descendent of the Took clan, a famous adventuring Hobbit family. Gandalf is a wise and old wizard who helps the company from time to time. Thorin and Co. are a group of dwarves, short and strong creatures. Thorin is the son of Thrain, son of Thror, and Thror was deposed after the evil dragon Smaug arrived and killed everyone at the Lonely Mountain, taking over the gold and jewels of the dwarves, three hundred years before. The first occurrence of going into a stronghold is when Thorin and Co. walk off the path and sneaks up on some hill trolls. The trolls do not treat the Company very well, putting them in bags and planning to make dwarf soup.  This pattern of running off the trail reoccurs throughout the book. The second time Thorin and Co. arrives in the strongholds of others is when they are kidnapped by goblins to be brought to the Great Goblin. It is a monstrous-sized labyrinth in the heart of the Misty Mountains. Then, Gandalf reappears and kills many of the goblins, and the Great Goblin. They are forced to run and in the process they drop Bilbo and lose him. This leads him to Gollum’s stronghold, a long, “wide and deep and deadly cold” (81) lake where he swims and finds his food. It is also where he commits his deadly adventures. He is relatively undisturbed unless the Great Goblin sends a goblin soldier to search for food; this is when Gollum kills and devours them.  Gollum also enjoyed fish and the visiting goblins never return. On the outskirts of Gollum’s lair, Bilbo finds something that changes the course of the journey. He discovers a mysterious, ancient, invisibility ring that will change the future of all of Middle Earth.

The third time the Company find themselves in another stronghold is at Beorn’s place. This stronghold, however, is an apiary, a bee farm, and a haven for all sorts of animals, the place where Thorin and Company re-energize and gain their bearings again, after the trials with the goblins. They are led to this stronghold because they were rescued by the Eagles (and led to the heart of the Eagle’s eyrie which also saved them from the wolves called Wargs and the goblins) and are in too poor a shape to continue traveling. Beorn will also keep them safe from any Wargs or goblins. The fourth time they are taken to a stronghold after they try to find food and water in Mirkwood. Mirkwood is a giant forest with many dangers and traps. The only safe path is to follow the road and never stray from it. When they are in the forest, the company is dying of thirst and starvation. They are lured by music and singing off the trail and into the forest, which is exactly what they’re not supposed to do, what they’ve been informed is a very bad decision. Beorn said, “And in the dim shadows of that place I don’t think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the path. That you MUST NOT do, for any reason” (146). Everyone is captured except for Bilbo with his ring by the spiders and is taken away to the center of the spider’s lair. This mistake causes them to be captured at the wood-land elves’ citadel after escaping from the spiders. They are prisoners for a very long time until they escape, again with the help of Bilbo and his ring. The Company arrives at the stronghold of the men of Esgaroth, ending up there after escaping the Wood-land elves through the river in barrels. The company should’ve stayed away from the village but instead they go on in and have a feast. The last stronghold the company is in is the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo taunts and aggravates Smaug enough to make him leave his cave and start hunting their ponies and then the men at Esgaroth.

Lonely Mountain becomes a stronghold in the Battle of Five Armies. The Wargs, Goblins, Men, Elves, and Dwarves all fight a bloody battle against each other. “The elves were first to charge. Their hatred for the goblins was cold and bitter. Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them. As soon as the host of their enemies was dense in the valley, they sent against it a shower of arrows, and each flickered as it fled as if with stinging fire. Behind the arrows a thousand of their spearmen leapt down and charged. The yells were deafening. The rocks were stained black with goblin blood” (305). This expresses how the Lonely Mountain becomes a base for the Men, Elves, and Dwarves and storage as well for the treasure the Company had found.

In conclusion, in The Hobbit the characters make many mistakes that lead them to many strongholds of other people.