IRP Blogpost 1

People:
-Bilbo Baggins: main character; Lives in the Shire; is a hobbit, which is a little person, smaller than a dwarf
-Gandalf: wizard; friend of the dwarfs; is very old, lived for hundreds of years;
-Thorin: main dwarf; ancestors were wealthy, but lost treasures to Smaug
-Smaug: dragon who stole Thorin's ancestor's gold and jewels; sleeps on big pile of treasure in a far-away mountain
-Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur: other dwarfs that are helping Thorin

Places:
-The Hill: where Bilbo lives and first section takes place
-The Mountains: where dwarfs are from, where Smaug lives, and where they are headed

Events:
Gandalf visits Bilbo, who doesn't remember him at first. Gandalf says he'll return Wednesday for tea, but on Wednesday thirteen dwarfs turn up unannounced. Bilbo is baffled and irritated by the sudden presence of a throng of dwarfs in his home, asking for food and various non-tea drinks. Gandalf finally turns up and they discuss the mission that Thorin is leading the other dwarfs on. They need one more person, or else their number will be the unlucky thirteen. But aside from being the fourteenth member of the group, Gandalf says "and here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar, the chosen and selected burglar" (Tolkien 22). This underlies the fact that Bilbo's size will come in very handy later in the book when they try to break in to the mountain where Smaug the dragon lives to try and steal back the treasure. This quote also shows some of Bilbo's character traits, by calling him a "burglar".