The History of the Hobbit, One-Volume Edition Quotes

“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

“O! tra-la-la-lally here down in the valley!”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Somewhere ahead is the Last Decent HouseTN4 – I have been there already and they are expecting us.”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Despite Tolkien’s breezy addition of ‘as you know’ to the description of their petrification”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Hello!’ said Bladorthin ‘what are these do you suppose? There are no other locks or doors in here. These keys were not made for this place’. So he brought them out and hung them on his belt.”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Yes I am afraid trolls behave like that”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Not even a policeman on a bicycle is ever seen this way;”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“There was a good deal of wide respectable country to pass through inhabited by decent respectable folk”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“This is not to say that The Hobbit is an allegory of twentieth-century Zionism; rather that Tolkien drew selectively on the history of the medieval Jews when creating his dwarves. Some elements”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“Tolkien’s portrayal of dwarves exclusively as men”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“a hero captures the dwarves Dvalin and Durin and forces them to forge him a magical sword; they do so but before departing lay a curse upon it so that once drawn it can never be resheathed until it has taken a human life.4”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit

“he is flown [added: to another darker place] – Beren and Tinúviel broke his power, but that is quite another story.”
― John D. Rateliff, The History of the Hobbit