The Fellowship of the Ring

The first chapter in the book begins quite lightly, following the tone of The Hobbit which is more of a children's story than The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo celebrated his 111th (or eleventy-first, as it is called here) birthday on the same day that Frodo celebrated his 33rd birthday (his 'coming of age'). At the birthday party, Bilbo disappears after his speech, to the surprise of all. The wizard Gandalf later alerts Frodo to the darker aspects of the ring which Bilbo had used to make himself invisible: it is the One Ring of Sauron, the Dark Lord.