History Literature / TheHobbit

* AndThenWhat: When Bilbo brings up the subject of just how he's supposed to get his share home, the dwarves themselves admit they didn't think about what they'd do after they got back their treasure. Thorin finally says that once Smaug has actually been dealt with, they'll have plenty of time to think about the issue.

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: Noticeable, since Tolkien's perspective of Middle-Earth was constantly changing (and would continue to do so), and because Tolkien originally didn't think ''to'' place it in his wider Legendarium:
** In the first edition of the book, Gollum willingly bet the Ring and was sorry he had lost it and couldn't give it to Bilbo after he won the riddle contest. When Tolkien decided to use the Ring as the hook for his sequel, he determined this would be OutOfCharacter for Gollum, and he completely rewrote this chapter to the current version. He also provided an in-universe justification for the revision in ''The Lord of the Rings'', with Bilbo being driven by the Ring to become an UnreliableNarrator when he retold the story.
** The One Ring is merely treated as a powerful and unique magical item that grants the wearer invisibility with no other ill effects or connections to a wider world. This may be justifiable, since only Gandalf has any inkling of what the Ring could even be, and Sauron has not yet declared himself openly, meaning the Ring was not yet as "awake" as it later became.

** Like the elves, Tolkien's dwarves were originally based primarily on Norse mythology, where they are almost always antagonists. While never depicted as servants of Morgoth, ''The Silmarillion'' includes several accounts of dwarves acting as antagonists, especially the treacherous "petty" dwarves. This conception carries over to ''The Hobbit'', despite the dwarves being Bilbo's friends and companions. When the dwarves refuse to send anyone to accompany Bilbo into the dragon's lair, the narrator notes that "dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots", and describes good-aligned dwarves like Thorin and Company as "[[DamnedByFaintPraise decent enough people, if you don't expect too much.]]" By the time of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and later drafts of ''The Silmarillion'', several entirely heroic dwarves have appeared in the narrative, most prominently Gimli. Dwarves are also described there as among the most resistant to Sauron's corruption. Gimli also says that dwarves value quality workmanship and aesthetics, not really monetary value, to the point of leaving gold or other valuable materials in natural caves untouched if mining them would spoil a cave's beauty.

** As a consequence of Tolkien not planning for the novel to take place in his mythology, a lot of characters and creatures have ordinary names in English rather than fantasy names derived from his own languages. This extends to the forces of evil, with trolls having mundane names like ''William'', ''Tom'' and ''Bert'' rather than anything in the Black Speech, which orcs are established to have in the sequel. This inconsistency evidently bothered Tolkien a bit, leading him to reveal in the sequel that all the English-sounding names we see throughout the series are actually translations of their original Westron forms.

** A consequence of Tolkien not planning for the novel to take place in his mythology is that a lot of characters and creatures have plain English names rather than fantasy ones derived from his own languages. This extends even to the forces of evil, with trolls having mundane names like ''William'' and ''Bert'' rather than anything in the Black Speech, which orcs are shown to have in the sequel. This inconsistency evidently bothered Tolkien a bit, leading him to reveal in the sequel that all the English-sounding names we see throughout the series are actually translations of their original Westron forms.

** A consequence of Tolkien not planning for the novel to take place in his mythology is that a lot of characters and creatures have plain English names rather than fantasy ones derived from his own languages. This extends even to the forces of evil, with trolls having mundane names like ''William'' and ''Bert'' rather than anything in the Black Speech, which orcs are shown to have in the sequel.

** A consequence of Tolkien not originally planning for the novel to take place in his mythology is that a lot of characters and creatures have plain English names rather than exotic ones constructed from his own conlang. This extends even to the forces of evil, with trolls having mundane names like ''William'' and "Bert" instead of anything in the Black Speech.

* DyingReconcilliation: Thorin and Bilbo have a heated argument about the impending war on the eve of battle, with Thorin regarding Bilbo as a coward for not wanting to fight. Bilbo, on the other hand, balks at the coward label, pointing out the many times he's pulled the dwarves' fat from the fire. After the Battle of Five Armies is concluded, Thorin is mortally wounded and dying. He calls for Bilbo, and says he would take back his words at the gate. Bilbo acknowledges that there are things he would take back, as well. Thorin is pleased to part as friends with Bilbo, and is at peace when he dies.