The Hobbit Movies
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50 free The Hobbit Movies trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy turned one short children's book into three long films: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies. Along the way it added new characters, brought back familiar faces from The Lord of the Rings and gave fans plenty to argue about. This quiz follows Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin's company from the Shire to the dragon's hoard and the fighting that follows. Expect questions on the plot of all three films, the actors behind the dwarves, elves and villains, the songs over the credits, and what went on behind the camera. It opens with questions most viewers can answer and builds to deep cuts for people who have watched the extended editions more than once. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up a story or two from the set even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which actor voiced the dragon Smaug in the Hobbit films and performed him in motion capture, crawling on all fours?
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch also played the Necromancer in the same films. His crawling performance led the effects team to rework Smaug into a wyvern-like shape.
Q 02How do Bilbo and the dwarves escape the Elvenking's halls in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?
Floating in wine barrels
Floating in wine barrels turns into a three-way river battle on screen, as elves chase the dwarves downstream while Orcs ambush them both.
Q 03Which English singer-songwriter wrote and recorded the end-credits song for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran got the job after the director's daughter suggested him. He watched the film, wrote I See Fire and recorded most of it on the same day.
Q 04In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur reveals himself to Gandalf as which dark lord?
Sauron
Sauron overpowers and cages Gandalf in the ruined fortress. In the next film Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman break in to free the wizard, and Galadriel banishes the dark lord to the East.
Q 05Which Lord of the Rings star returns as the elf Legolas in the Hobbit films, though Legolas is absent from the book?
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom's return has some logic to it: Legolas is the son of Thranduil, the Elvenking who imprisons the dwarves in Tolkien's novel.
Q 06Which capital city renamed itself the Middle of Middle-earth for the week of the first Hobbit film's world premiere?
Wellington
Wellington hosted the premiere at its Embassy Theatre, where tens of thousands of fans lined the red carpet along Courtenay Place.
Q 07In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, what contest does Bilbo win against Gollum to earn a way out of the caves?
A riddle game
A riddle game with deadly stakes: Gollum agrees to show Bilbo the way out if beaten, and to eat him if not. Bilbo leaves with the creature's lost golden ring in his pocket.
Q 08Which actor plays young Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit films, having first turned the role down over a TV scheduling clash?
Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman was the one Bilbo the director says he ever wanted, whatever the schedule clash. Eddie Redmayne also auditioned for the part.
Q 09When Bilbo returns to Bag End at the end of the Hobbit film trilogy, what is being done with his belongings?
Sold at auction
Sold at auction, because Bilbo has been presumed dead after his long absence. He stops the sale and tidies up, still secretly carrying the ring.
Q 10In the first Hobbit film, what turns the three trolls who capture the dwarves into stone?
Sunlight
Sunlight does it: Bilbo stalls the trolls from eating the dwarves until dawn, when Gandalf exposes them to the light. Their cave then yields the company's Elven blades.
Q 11Which actor returned as Gollum in the Hobbit films and also served as the trilogy's second unit director?
Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis handled aerial shots and battle scenes as second unit director, years before making his own directorial debut with Breathe.
Q 12Which creatures does Gandalf summon to rescue Thorin's company from an Orc ambush at the end of the first Hobbit film?
Great Eagles
Great Eagles carry the company to safety on the Carrock, and they return in the third film to help turn the final battle against the Orcs.
Q 13Which Australian actress was the first Lord of the Rings star signed to return for the Hobbit films, as Galadriel?
Cate Blanchett
Q 21Which Orc war-chief, who lost a hand to Thorin outside Moria, hunts the dwarves through the Hobbit film trilogy?
Azog
Azog is an addition to Thorin's quest on screen, an arch-enemy who puts a bounty on the dwarf leader and meets him in a final duel that kills them both.
Q 22Which creatures ensnare Thorin's company in Mirkwood in the second Hobbit film until Bilbo cuts the dwarves free?
Giant spiders
Giant spiders are no sooner beaten back than the Wood-elves arrive, kill the rest and take the dwarves prisoner. Bilbo, unseen thanks to the ring, avoids capture.
Q 23In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, what do the dwarves pour over the dragon in a bid to bury him alive?
Molten gold
Cate Blanchett came back even though Galadriel never appears in the novel. On screen she sits on the White Council and later banishes the Necromancer from his fortress.
Q 14Which filmmaker spent two years developing the Hobbit films as director before studio delays led him to quit?
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro still shares the screenplay credit on all three films. Peter Jackson stepped in with scripts unfinished and no storyboards ready.
Q 15Which American late-night host has a cameo as a Lake-town spy in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert appears alongside members of his own family, all as spies. An animated Smaug later repaid the visit with a guest spot on The Colbert Report.
Q 16Which jewel does Thorin hunt for obsessively in the third Hobbit film, unaware that Bilbo has been hiding it?
The Arkenstone
The Arkenstone becomes a bargaining chip: Bilbo smuggles it out to Bard and Thranduil, hoping they can trade it for a share of the treasure and prevent a war.
Q 17In the Hobbit films, Gandalf recruits Bilbo to serve Thorin's company of dwarves in which unlikely role?
Burglar
Burglar is the job, since the plan needs someone to slip inside the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo refuses at first, then races after the dwarves the next morning.
Q 18In the first Hobbit film, where does Elrond reveal that the dwarves' map holds a clue to a secret door?
Rivendell
Rivendell is also where Gandalf faces the White Council, having guessed Saruman would try to halt the quest and sent the dwarves ahead without him.
Q 19Which Lost actress plays Tauriel, an elf warrior created for the Hobbit films with no counterpart in the novel?
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly had been a fan of Tolkien's books since she was 13. Her character was written to bring another woman into a cast otherwise dominated by men.
Q 20Which dwarf forms a romantic bond with the elf Tauriel in the Hobbit films, a love story absent from the novel?
Kíli
Kíli is healed by Tauriel after a poisoned Orc shaft wounds him, and in the final film he dies coming to her aid against Bolg.
Molten gold from a huge melted statue cannot hold him: Smaug emerges from it, stumbles out of the mountain and flies off to destroy Lake-town.
Q 24With what weapon does Bard kill Smaug at the start of the third Hobbit film, The Battle of the Five Armies?
A black arrow
A black arrow, the last one handed down to Bard from his ancestor, does the job. The dragon's falling body then crushes the Master of Lake-town as he flees with the gold.
Q 25Which skin-changer, able to take the form of a great bear, shelters Thorin's company in the second Hobbit film?
Beorn
Beorn was played by Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt, who was allowed to keep his own accent while the rest of the cast used accents from the British Isles.
Q 26Which English actor plays the dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield across all three films of the Hobbit trilogy?
Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage also sings on the first film's soundtrack as a cast performer. Brian Blessed had earlier been discussed for the role under the project's previous director.
Q 27Which English comedian and broadcaster plays the greedy Master of Lake-town in the Hobbit film trilogy?
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry called the part a chance for sheer grossness, played under a bald cap, a combover wig and blotchy skin. He described the Master as a coward and very greedy.
Q 28Which American actor plays Thranduil, the Elvenking of Mirkwood, in the Hobbit film trilogy?
Lee Pace
Lee Pace was the filmmakers' favourite for the part after his performance in The Fall. His Thranduil rides a giant elk, played on set by a horse named Moose.
Q 29Which Welsh actor plays Bard the Bowman, the Lake-town bargeman who smuggles the dwarves in, in the Hobbit films?
Luke Evans
Luke Evans also plays Girion, the last lord of Dale and Bard's own ancestor, who appears in a flashback.
Q 30Which former Doctor Who star plays the wizard Radagast the Brown in the Hobbit film trilogy?
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy's Radagast rides a sled pulled by enormous rabbits, an idea invented for the films. Years earlier he had been kept waiting six months as a possible Bilbo.