No, there is no indication in The Hobbit that The Ring was malevolent, although it is most definitely magical.
The main theme of The Hobbit is good vs. evil.
wargs
I don't recall a griffin in Lord of the Rings.
Frodo carried the ring to Mordor.
Some evil characters in LOTR are Sauron, Saruman, and their followers. In the Hobbit, it is mainly Smaug and other, lesser evil characters. In the Silmarillion, it is Morgoth.
Triumph of Good over Evil.
Evil was destroyed, the money evenly divided, prosperity returned to Lake Town and Bilbo was home.
Wargs. They are slightly larger and can speak.
The Hobbit has many themes, but the main theme is good vs. evil.
Well, if you want to know where they are in the game, they usually spawn in one of your teams bases (if your evil side). In the books, the wargs came from Morgoth, who bred them. They lived along the misty mountains for a while, that's why Goblins began to ride them (like in the Hobbit). the wargs on on plennor feilds both sides on instant action and there are on evil side on capture the ring on the shire
The Sword of Truth is a 12-book series whereas The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy consisting of three books. The Sword of Truth tells a story of a couple of men who are fighting against those who are evil. The Lord of the Rings tells a story of Frodo, a hobbit who takes on the responsibility of destroying a ring that gives whoever wears it, the power to control the other "Rings of Power" and corrup those who wear it, by returning it to the orginal place where it was forged.
I assume you are meaning Saruman, who was played by Christopher Lee. Otherwise it's the Dark Lord himself, Sauron.