The opening of The Fellowship of the Ring accomplishes a number of things. One, being a sequel, ties up loose ends that, though not critical, some may have wondered what had occurred in Hobbiton in the intervening years. Second, the novels shift in tone from a children's adventure to a darker adult tale, so there needs to be a transition that gets the reader comfortably situated in a similar tone before shifting gears. Finally, even if we start with this novel, the opening is a sort of portal fantasy that leads us from a world not too unlike our own, to the wider, wilder world.
The Hobbit ends on an auction conducted by the Sackville-Baggins, selling off all of Bilbo's stuff as if he were dead. Bilbo suspected they kept his silverware. The people of the town think him "queer" because he associated with different sorts of people--dwarves, elves, wizards, et al.
Not only does Tolkien wish us to compare and contrast The Lord of the Rings opening to The Hobbit's closing, but also its opening. The Hobbit opens with a chapter entitled "An Unexpected Party" while The Lord of the Rings opens with "A Long-Expected Party". In both openings, the term "party" plays on all of its meanings: a social gathering, a political group, one side in an agreement or dispute.
When Tolkien brings us back to Bilbo's hometown after his long retirement, we listen in on the gossip of the hobbits. The Sackville-Baggins are still on the outs with Bilbo--unlikely to inherit what they'd so desired to possess--while nephew Frodo is in, heir not only to Bilbo's worldly possessions but also his adventures, in a few different ways.
This returns us to The Hobbit:
"[Gandalf] had not been down that way under The Hill for ages and ages, not since his friend the Old Took died....
[Gandalf said,] "To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took’s son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!”
“Gandalf, Gandalf! Good gracious me! Not the wandering wizard that gave Old Took a pair of magic diamond studs that fastened themselves and never came undone till ordered?....
“ 'Dear me!' [Bilbo] went on. 'Not the Gandalf who was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures? Anything from climbing trees to visiting elves—or sailing in ships, sailing to other shores! Bless me, life used to be quite inter—I mean, you used to upset things badly in these parts once upon a time. I beg your pardon, but I had no idea you were still in business.”
“ 'Where else should I be?' said the wizard."
There's quite of bit suggested here. Gandalf is familiar with Bilbo's family--his grandfather Old Took who seems to be a fondly remembered patrician, and Old Took's daughter and Bilbo's mother, Belladonna--but unfamiliar with Bilbo.
Bilbo used to be more like his rube neighbor's--or at least he tried to be. He interrupted his statement about life being interesting with Gandalf in order to state that Gandalf upset the town--despite the many wonders Gandalf brought to the people. Gandalf occupies a strange niche within the community--both admired and shunned, liked and disliked, perhaps at the same time. This creates a fascinating mystery both within Bilbo, but also on the figure of Gandalf himself, who smiles about it, taking it in stride. Today, Americans would take offense at the prejudice, but here Gandalf finds it amusing.
Another further suggestion is that Gandalf keeps returning to this little village of little people for the purposes of taking them on adventures. Perhaps he took Old Took on one. It suggests that Tolkien may have already had Frodo's adventure in mind even while writing The Hobbit, seventeen years earlier.
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