Giants

[Gil Galad]

After Bilbo escapes from the orcs and that lil sneak, and meets up with the Dwarfs and Gandalf, the old Wizard says something about getting a more or less descent Gaint to block up the entrance to the cave they were in. i was just wondering is there any word of them anywhere else or anything like that

[Radagast]

Gil Galad:

No the giants are strangely one of the only things that Tolkien never mentions again... not in any of his books..

This could probably be, because the Hobbit was his first book.. and he was in the stage of "inventing!" new things..

[Mirkgirl]

The Giants are actually mentioned all the time in The Hobbit
The Hobbit, An Unexpected Party
Not the fellow who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties, about dragons and goblins and giants and the rescue of princesses and the unexpected luck of widows' sons?
The Hobbit, Riddles of the Dark
Poor Bilbo sat in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all the giants and ogres he had ever heard told of in tales
The Hobbit, Queer Lodgings
Some say that he[Beorn] is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came.

And of course, the quote you provided, and the ones that were throwing stones during the storm.

In LotR they are indeed not mentioned, but there are two quotes which might be used. Both are vague tho.
The Lord of the Rings, Three is Company
Giants and other portents on the borders of the Shire were forgotten for more important matters
of course this one might just mean someone of normal height for a hobbit tho
The Lord of the Rings, Helm's Deep
Men said that in the far-off days of the glory of Gondor the sea-kings had built here this fastness with the hands of giants

I believe they were left in the Hobbit as a more fairytale element. I don't miss them tho and can't really see what role they could have had, had he decided to keep them.

[Gwaihir]

I'm glad Tolkien didn't mention or use giants in LotR! So many other fantasy stories use giants.
There is a giant in Farmer Giles of Ham, but that has nothing to do with LotR or the Hobbit. The giant in Farmer Giles was a big, stupid thing.

[Gil Galad]

he was funny(Farmer Giles gaint)

i think they could have fitted in(to LofR), but in a similar way as the Ents, a powerful race of old that keeps to itself and have allot fo wisdom, but i do think the Ents were a beter choice to keep

[Mirkgirl]

Well, first, they will always be the throwing stones idiots from TH who were throwing stones during the storm... plus they couldn't be slow and thoughtful, couldn't be ecological, couldn't be original... ents were really a good choice, giants would have been just another giants.