Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who lives a quiet, comfortable life in his hole at Bag End, with no desire for adventure. That changes when the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield arrive at his door and recruit him as their burglar for a quest to reclaim the dwarves' ancestral home under the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. What follows is a journey across Middle-earth - through troll-haunted forests, goblin tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains, the wood-elves' halls of Mirkwood, and the desolation surrounding the dragon's lair. Along the way, Bilbo discovers a mysterious ring that makes its wearer invisible, an apparently minor find that will prove to be the most consequential discovery in the history of Middle-earth. The Hobbit is Tolkien's first published work set in his legendarium and serves as the natural entry point to his world.