J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is another book that I've read more than once, but it's one that I find myself reading there and back again. Strangely, I've never seen or read The Lord of The Rings trilogy, but at this point I'm quite knowledgeable about it's folklore and the rich backstory that Tolkien created for this universe. I've always found it interesting to look at the different interpretations of The Hobbit in particular, and how these interpretations differ.
When people think of the first version of The Hobbit to hit the screen, they usually think about the TV movie from 1977 done by Topcraft, the precursor to Studio Ghibli. But there was actually a short experimental film that came out before that in 1966 by director Gene Dietch, which was a very loose interpretation of the Hobbit with a higher focus on the Arcenstone and a fair share of strange decisions, such as changing Smaug's name to Slagg the dragon.
What keeps people coming back to Tolkien's universe is how in-depth all of the characters and their backgrounds really get. Just examining the lore behind the different races in Middle-Earth lends itself to an in-depth analysis and stories for each. For example, there are three types of hobbits which are already a subset of Middle Earth men. There are the Harfoots which most closely resemble the hobbits described in The Hobbit, are the most numerous of the races and found mainly in the Shire as well as Bree. There are also the Stoors who are more apt to be related to water, boats and swimming, while the Fallohides were more adventurous. It could be argued that the Baggins were from the Harfoot hobbits, but had Fallohide in their lineage from the Took side of the family. This sense of adventure fueled the story for Bilbo Baggins, and drove him to his hero's journey.
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