The History of the Hobbit, One-Volume Edition Quotes

“The fair copy text also makes clear that one element of Bilbo’s exhaustion was the mail-coat: ‘he felt dragged down by the unaccustomed weight of his mail coat”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“The men of the Lake-town were [sitting on the quays >] mostly indoors for the wind was from the North and chill”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“The only philological remark (I think) in The Hobbit is on p. 221 (lines 6–7 from end):”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“In fact”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Riddling’ here indicates not a riddle-game such as Bilbo had played with Gollum but instead the first indication of the ‘riddling talk’ whereby Bilbo identifies himself while refusing to tell the dragon his actual name.”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“he greatly increased the number of survivors”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“So too with Lake Town”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Tolkien’s rejection of ‘Gandalf’ as the name of the chief dwarf no doubt came because”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“King Herla”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“The pie Bilbo steals”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“It must be potent wine to make a wood-elf drowsy. But this it would seem was the heady brew of the great gardens of Dorwinion in the warm South”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“We are not told specifically how the Mirkwood spiders poison their prey”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“These they hate above all things,TN44 and fear for few of them have swords of iron or steel at all. Hardly any at all even now. None I expect in those days. They fight chiefly with clubs”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“In fact the wood elves themselves mostly lived in the woods in huts on the ground or in the branches. Their king lived in the great wood-cave because of his treasure”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“A more famous example of a non-German name of the era preserved only in a Germanic language is Attila”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Morinehtar [‘Darkness-slayer’] and Rómestámo [‘East-helper’],”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“in outlines for the chapter ‘Farewell to Lórien’ in The Lord of the Rings (Book Two Chapter VIII) we find the island later known as Tol Brandir was originally called ‘Tolondren the Great Carrock”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Tolkien’s source was probably his old mentor”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Yet a writer is also naturally inclined to include things that he knows from first-hand experience will interest his audience”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“He was dressed in loose black fur as low as his knees”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“He eats wild things often [> sometimes”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“There is the story of the eagle sent by Zeus to carry off Ganymede the Trojan to be his cup-bearer (a tale which gave its name to the Inklings’ favorite pub”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“we must just trudge on”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“What have I got in my pocket?’ he said aloud (but he only meant it for himself). Gollum thought it was a riddle”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“in later times a strong human strain was added to the mix;”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“There is nothing like looking if you want to find something. You usually find something if you look”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“one particular phase of the moon would only coincide with a specific night of the year roughly once per century.”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“we learn a bit more about dwarven culture”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“The Snow-elves were joined the next year by Snow-men (see the letter for 1930). The latter did not make it into The Hobbit”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“And his house was perfect”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit