托尔金认为《指环王》是一本书，就像霍比特人一样：针对年轻观众，围绕幽默和恶作剧，并以民间故事或童话故事的结构为基础。他甚至称其为《霍比特人》续集或新的霍比特人。他
(Tolkien imagined The Lord of the Rings as a book very much like The Hobbit: aimed at a young audience, built around humor and pranks, and modeled on the structure of a folktale or fairy story. He even called it the Hobbit sequel or the new Hobbit. He)