The Hobbit (film series) was written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, who was originally chosen to direct before his departure from the project. The films take place in the fictional world of Middle-earth sixty years before the beginning of "The Lord of the Rings", and follow hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is convinced by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to accompany thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). The films also expand upon certain elements from the novel and
Bilbo Baggins in Tolkien's work. In 2012, they named a hilly area "Bilbo Colles" after Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo Baggins Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel "The Hobbit", as well as a supporting character in "The Lord of the Rings". In Tolkien's narrative conceit, in which all the writings of Middle-earth are translations from the fictitious volume of "The Red Book of Westmarch", Bilbo is the author of "The Hobbit" and translator of various "works from the elvish" (as mentioned in the end of "The Return of the King"). In "The Hobbit", Bilbo Baggins,