Chapter Text
To say that Hobbits are homely creatures is putting it lightly. After all, if one is to travel to the Shire, not only would one find an abundance of food, laughter, and pipe-weed, but also an abundance of good-will, hospitality, and generosity. But behind all that, behind the rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed, plump little Hobbits, is a secret that not many Outsiders know. This isn't to say that Hobbits are hiding something ghastly, not at all. Nor do they mean to hide this so well. If one were to ask, they would simply laugh and tell. This secret isn't abhorrent, but it is quite shocking. After all, who would expect such small, innocent creatures to be masters at a bow and arrow?
Our story starts with one of the greatest in the Shire, Bilbo Baggins. Now Bilbo Baggins is quite an interesting Hobbit because he is, in fact, prone to adventurous tendencies. And despite having quite the skill at archery, Hobbits are still at heart soft beings. They are quite content to dance and drink their way into happiness, not caring much of the goings-on in the outside world. Bilbo Baggins, however, was not your usual Hobbit. He much preferred the land outside the Shire to drinking in the Green Dragon. Instead of spending his days laughing, eating, and generally being merry, Master Baggins was known to travel beyond the border lines or else sitting at home, scouring over maps and books. His dream was to one day make it to Rivendell, or maybe even to the Misty Mountains. Yes, Bilbo Baggins was not your usual Hobbit. But perhaps the most unusual thing about him wasn't the traveling, nor the books and scrolls filling his library in Bags End. No, perhaps what made Bilbo Baggins the madman of the Shire (at least, madman was what the other hobbits called him, but we won't focus on that) was his particular skill with the bow.
The art of archery fell out of practice in the Shire many years before Bilbo's time. Of course, there were still renowned Hobbits here and there that still practiced the art, but mostly for sport. There would be competitions, festivals, games in the backyards of families, wherein archery would be a large part of it all, but no Hobbit had used the skill for hunting needs in many years. Bilbo Baggins was the first. His skill with the bow, in addition to his need for adventure and his interest in old tomes and scrolls, served to estrange him from all Hobbits (except, of course, the Tooks). It is obvious, then, that when one Gandalf the Grey was charged with finding a fourteenth member for a most curious band of Dwarves, that Master Gandalf would choose the only being in all of Middle Earth who would not only jump at the chance to go on an adventure but also bring his skills at slight-of-feet, as all Hobbits have, and at the bow.
And this, dear friends, is our story, the story of a curious little Hobbit and his band of curious little Dwarves, the story of how the madman of the Shire finally got his adventure of a lifetime.
This is the story of Bilbo Baggins.