Bilbo Baggins

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Bilbo Baggins
Tolkien's legendarium character
Aliases Ring-bearer, Elf-friend, Bilba Labingi
Race Hobbits
Book(s) The Hobbit (1937)
The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955)
Unfinished Tales (1980)
Arda.Tengwar.svg Middle-earth portal

Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings.

In Tolkien's narrative conceit, in which all the writings of Middle-earth are translations from the fictitious volume of The Red Book of Westmarch, Bilbo is the author of The Hobbit and translator of The Silmarillion.

Contents

[edit] Appearances

[edit] The Hobbit

The Hobbit relates how Bilbo Baggins, in comfortable middle age at 50 years old, is hired in spite of himself as a burglar by Gandalf and thirteen dwarves led by their king Thorin Oakenshield on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug. The adventure takes Bilbo and the companions through the wilderness, to the elf haven of Rivendell, across the Misty Mountains and the black forest of Mirkwood, to Lake-town in the middle of Long Lake, and eventually to the Mountain itself. Here, after the dragon is killed and the Mountain reclaimed, the Battle of Five Armies takes place.

In his journey, Bilbo encounters other fantastic creatures, including trolls, elves, giant spiders, a man who can change shape into a bear, goblins, eagles, wolves and a mysterious, murderous creature named Gollum. Underground, near Gollum's lair, Bilbo accidentally finds a magic ring of invisibility, which he uses to escape from Gollum.

While Bilbo initially comes across as a timid, easily-flustered bumbler, he grows wiser and more confident as the story progresses. In many gruesome situations, he is the one who saves the day. He rescues the dwarves from giant spiders with the magic ring and a short Elven-sword he acquired. He uses the ring to sneak around in hostile environments, as well as his wits to smuggle the dwarves out of the elves' prisons. He is able to hold his will in conversation with the wily Smaug. When tensions arise over ownership of the recovered treasure, he tries unsuccessfully to bring the opposing sides to compromise, using a stolen heirloom jewel as a leverage. This strains his relationship with Thorin, but the two are reconciled at Thorin's dying. Bilbo impresses leaders of men and elves, as well as Gandalf, who knew all along that there was more behind the easily-flustered hobbit from the opening chapter. At the end of the tale, Bilbo has become very wealthy due to his share of the dwarves' treasure; he also finds that he has traded respectability for experience and wisdom.

[edit] The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings begins with Bilbo's "eleventy-first" (111th) birthday, 60 years after the beginning of The Hobbit. The main protagonist of the novel is Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's kinsman.

In T.A. 2989 (S.R. 1389), Bilbo, a lifelong bachelor, adopted Frodo, the orphaned son of his first cousin Primula Brandybuck and his second cousin Drogo Baggins, and made him his heir. Though Frodo was actually "his first and second cousin once removed either way",[1] the two regarded each other as uncle and nephew.

All this time Bilbo had kept his magic ring, with no idea of its significance. He used the ring mostly to hide from his obnoxious cousins, the Sackville-Bagginses, when they came to visit. Gandalf's investigations revealed it to be a Ring of Power, the very Master-Ring forged by the Dark Lord Sauron to corrupt and dominate the bearers of the other Rings.

The Ring had prolonged Bilbo's life beyond the normal hobbit span, and at 111 he still looked 50. While the Ring did not initially corrupt him as it had its previous owners, it was beginning to affect him. Over the years, it had begun to prey on his mind when out of his sight; and he lost sleep and felt "stretched out and thin",[2] as he said to Gandalf.

On the night of his birthday party, Bilbo announces his intent to turn his home and estate over to Frodo, puts on the Ring and vanishes from sight. Gandalf (apprised of the plan) sets off a flash to cover Bilbo's disappearance and to mask the power of the ring. As Bilbo prepares finally to leave the house, he reacts with panic and suspicion when Gandalf tries to persuade him to leave the Ring with Frodo as well. Bilbo refers to the Ring as his "precious" — just as the wretched Gollum had in The Hobbit. Gandalf loses his temper with his old friend, talking some sense into him. Bilbo admits he would like to be rid of it; and he leaves it behind, becoming the first person to do so voluntarily. He leaves the Shire that night, and is never seen in Hobbiton again.

His earlier adventure, his eccentric habits as a hobbit, and his sudden disappearance lead to the enduring figure of "Mad Baggins" in hobbit folklore, who disappears with a flash and a bang and returns with gold and jewels.

Freed of the Ring's power over his senses and thus avoiding a lonely fate similar to Gollum's, Bilbo travels to Rivendell, where he lives a pleasant life of retirement: eating, sleeping, writing poetry, and working on his memoirs, There and Back Again, known to us as The Hobbit. He becomes a scholar of Elven lore, leaving behind the Translations from the Elvish, which forms the basis of what is known to us as The Silmarillion.

When Frodo and the other Hobbits return to Rivendell on their journey home to the Shire, Bilbo is still alive but now visibly aged, the years having caught up with him after he surrendered the Ring. Finally Bilbo accompanies Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Frodo to the Grey Havens, there to take ship for Tol Eressëa across the sea, on September 29, T.A. 3021. He had already celebrated his 131st birthday by this time, surpassing the Old Took by one year and becoming the oldest living Hobbit ever in Middle-earth.

[edit] The Appendices

According to the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo was born to Bungo Baggins and Belladonna Took on September 22, T.A. 2890, or S.R. 1290. The Bagginses of Bag End were one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most respectable hobbit families in Hobbiton until the year 2941 (SR 1341), when Bilbo inexplicably disappeared on his adventure and was thought dead.

[edit] Bilbo's Last Song

The posthumously published poem "Bilbo's Last Song", illustrated by Pauline Baynes, describes Bilbo's contemplation of his forthcoming voyage to the Undying Lands. The illustrations evoke his last ride in the company of Elrond from Rivendell to the Grey Havens, as described in The Lord of the Rings.

[edit] Portrayals in adaptations

Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

In the 1968 BBC Radio serialization of The Hobbit, Bilbo was played by Paul Daneman.

Nicol Williamson portrayed Bilbo with a light West Country accent in the 1974 performance released on Argo Records.[3]

In the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated version of The Hobbit, Bilbo was voiced by Orson Bean. Bean also voiced both the aged Bilbo and Frodo in the same company's 1980 adaptation of The Return of the King.

In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo was voiced by Norman Bird. Billy Barty was the model for Bilbo, as well as Frodo and Sam, in the live-action recordings Bakshi used for rotoscoping.

In the BBC's 1981 radio serialization of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo is played by John Le Mesurier.

In Peter Jackson's films The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Bilbo is played by Ian Holm, who had played Frodo in the BBC radio series 20 years earlier. For the upcoming film The Hobbit, also directed by Jackson, Bilbo will be portrayed by Martin Freeman.[4]

[edit] Family tree

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Balbo Baggins
 
 
 
 Berylla Boffin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Laura Grubb
 
 Mungo
 
 Pansy
 
 Fastolph Bolger
 
 Ponto
 
 Mimosa Bunce
 
 Lily
 
 Togo Goodbody
 
 Largo
 
 Tanta Hornblower
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bungo
 
 Belladonna Took
 
 Belba
 
 Rudigar Bolger
 
 Longo
 
 Camellia Sackville
 
 Linda
 
 Bodo Proudfoot
 
 Bingo
 
 Chica Chubb
 
 Fosco
 
 Ruby Bolger
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bilbo Baggins
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Otho Sackville-Baggins
 
 Lobelia Bracegirdle
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Falco Chubb-Baggins
 
 ?
 
 
 Dora
 
 Drogo
 
 Primula Brandybuck
 
 Dudo
 
 ?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lotho
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Poppy
 
 Filibert Bolger
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Frodo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Daisy
 
 Griffo Boffin
 
 
 
 

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954), The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 1987), "A Long-expected Party", ISBN 0-395-08254-4 
  2. ^ The Fellowship of the Ring, book I, Chapter 2: "The Shadow of the Past".
  3. ^ Nicol Williamson on IMDB
  4. ^ White, James (22 October 2010). "Martin Freeman Confirmed As Bilbo!". Empire. http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=29275&WT.dcsvid=SilverpopMailing&WT.mc_id=102210%20newsletter%20(1). Retrieved 28 November 2010. 

[edit] External links

v · d · eThe Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
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Characters
Bilbo · Gandalf · Thorin Oakenshield · Balin · Dwalin · Fíli · Kíli · Dori · Nori · Ori · Óin · Glóin · Bifur · Bofur · Bombur · Tom, Bert and Bill · Elrond · Great Goblin · Gollum · Lord of the Eagles · Beorn · Elvenking · Bard · Master of Lake-town · Smaug
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