The Hobbit is set in the same universe as The Lord of the Rings, but it may not be totally clear how the two relate in terms of The Lord of the Rings timeline. The protagonist of The Hobbit is Bilbo Baggins, who also appears in The Lord of the Rings. Since Bilbo appears much older in The Lord of the Rings than he does in The Hobbit, it’s reasonably obvious that The Hobbit is a prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings. But for those who don’t consume the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien, it may not be totally clear how much time elapsed between one story and the other. After all, Hobbits don’t age like humans.

What’s more, Bilbo was given an unnaturally long lifespan by his time possessing the One Ring. This ring also gave another Hobbit an unnaturally long life – it transformed Sméagol into Gollum over his long years of carrying it with him. This makes it even harder to tell how much elapsed between Peter Jackson’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies. Gandalf, who also appears in both movies, doesn’t age like humans either. However, with some understanding of the lore laid out by fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien – on which the movies are based – the timeline can be pinned down.

The Hobbit Is Set In 2941 Of Middle-Earth’s Third Age

The Hobbit And Lord Of The Rings Are Both Third Age Stories

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the book The Hobbit and had it published in 1937, but it was set in his fictional Third Age in the year 2941. Tolkien laid out an entire timeline from the creation of the universe onwards. The God of Tolkien’s world – Eru Ilúvatar – made the Ainur first and existed with them outside time in the Timeless Halls until he mandated the creation of the universe, Eä. Then followed, respectively, the Days before Days, the Years of the Trees, the First Age, the Second Age, the Third Age, and the Fourth Age.

Tolkienian Age
Event Marking The Start
Years
Total Length In Solar Years

Before time
Indeterminate
Indeterminate
Indeterminate

Days before Days
The Ainur entered Eä
1 – 3,500 Valian Years
33,537

Pre-First Age Years of the Trees (Y.T.)
Yavanna created the Two Trees
Y.T. 1 – 1050
10,061

First Age (F.A.)
Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
Y.T. 1050 – Y.T. 1500, F.A. 1 – 590
4,902

Second Age (S.A.)
The War of Wrath ended
S.A. 1 – 3441
3,441

Third Age (T.A.)
The Last Alliance defeated Sauron
T.A. 1 – 3021
3,021

In Tolkien’s mythology, the ages would have kept ticking over, Tolkien just didn’t document much about the Fourth Age, and even less about the ages to come after that. However, Tolkien wrote a lot about the First, Second, and Third Ages. Tolkien’s first published novel, The Hobbit, was set in the Third Age, setting up an era that would go on to form the basis of Tolkien’s magnum opus and most famous novel, The Lord of the Rings. The Second Age ended when the Last Alliance defeated Sauron in 3441. After that, 2,941 years passed before the events of The Hobbit.

How Long Passes Between The Hobbit & Lord Of The Rings

Bilbo Lives In Both Trilogies

The events of The Hobbit began in the year 2941 of the Third Age and ended in 2942, whereas the events of The Lord of the Rings began in the year 3001 of the Third Age. Therefore, 59 years elapsed between the end of The Hobbit and the start of The Lord of the Rings. With Hobbits normally living until 90 or 100, this space of time between the trilogies makes sense, allowing Bilbo to reach 111 by the start of The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo’s 111th birthday party started The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie off with a bang, but effected a big time skip straight after.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, estimated for release in 2026, will likely cover events just before and during The Fellowship of the Ring.

Jackson’s movie skipped 17 years ahead to show Frodo leaving the Shire almost straight after Bilbo’s party. Jackson’s movie was clever in that it didn’t make it explicit how much time had passed between Bilbo’s party and Gandalf’s resultant chat with Frodo about the ring, and Frodo and Sam leaving the Shire. Jackson’s movie made it seem as if Frodo left Hobbiton the day after the party by not indicating the passage of time in any way. Likewise, there was nothing to indicate that 17 years hadn’t passed, making it perfectly feasible that Frodo left the Shire in the movie in 3018, just like he did in the book.

How Long After The Rings Of Power Is The Hobbit Set?

There Is A Big Gap Between The Show And The Movies

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is Amazon Prime Video’s Second Age Middle-earth show and is set thousands of years before The Hobbit. With the Second Age lasting 3,441 years, the show appears to be set at some point halfway through it. The show has scrambled Tolkien’s timeline by setting its Eregion storyline at the same time as its Númenor storyline. In Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, Elendil’s Númenor storyline took place roughly 1600 years after the Eregion storyline. This makes it harder to say exactly how many years pass between the events of the show and The Hobbit.

Nonetheless, it seems wisest to situate Rings of Power season 2 in S.A. (Second Age) 1697, as this is, with absolute certainty, the year that the Siege of Eregion took place. While season 2 covers this battle, the show’s fifth season will most likely end with the War of the Last Alliance. Scheduled to run for five seasons, the show aims to tell a five-season edition of the story Peter Jackson told in five minutes in the prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring (via Time). This prologue ends with Isildur cutting the ring from Sauron’s finger, which happened in S.A. 3441, marking the start of the Third Age.

For The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to end in S.A. 3441 would mean that there were 2,941 years between the end of the show and the start of The Hobbit. This makes the show’s subplot of the Stranger all the more compelling – the Stranger may be Gandalf, which would mean that Gandalf appears in the show, plus Peter Jackson’s movies (along with other characters like Galadriel). Gandalf said he had walked the earth “300 lives of men” in The Lord of the Rings. By this measure, the Stranger’s timing works out in The Rings of Power, ahead of Gandalf’s appearance in The Hobbit.