Words by Matt Jarvis
■ The cover artwork from Fantasy Flight’s The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.
On September 21st 1937, Bilbo Baggins left his hole in the Shire and set out to make the world a better place. It was on that day, almost exactly 80 years ago, that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit, the book that established the realm of Middle-earth, invented orcs and hobbits, and cemented fairytale and mythological races and creatures such as elves, goblins, dwarves and dragons in the fantasy genre lexicon – as well as the public consciousness.