Bilbo Baggins

**Bilbo Baggins** (born **Bilba Labingi**) was a supporting character in *The Lord of the Rings* and the titular main protagonist of the Prequel series,  *The Hobbit*.

Bilbo is the son of Belladonna Took and Bungo Baggins, grandson of Old Took, Mungo and Laura Baggins and cousin of Frodo Baggins, Peregrin "Pippin" Took and Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck. Born to Belladonna Took and Bungo Baggins, Bilbo was born September 22, fifty years before the Quest of Erebor and later inherited Bag End from his parents after their deaths.

Around April 24, TA 2941, Bilbo was later visited by thirteen dwarves and a wizard and later became the fourteenth member of the company of dwarves. He faced trolls, orcs and Wargs during their travels. Bilbo ultimately escaped from Goblin town and came in possession of the One Ring, succeeding Gollum as the Ring-bearer. When they were cornered by Azog the Defiler, a terrifying white Orc, he saved the life of Thorin Oakenshield, the King under the Mountain in exile and the leader of their company. In late summer, early autumn, Bilbo and his friends stayed in Beorn's house before making their way to Mirkwood. He and his friends were found and captured by the spiders that dwelled there. After they escaped them, Bilbo's friends were captured by Elves and with the use of his ring, Bilbo managed to get his companions out of the Elven king's dungeons. Bilbo later reawakened Smaug from his slumber, leading to the conflict in Erebor and they accidentally set the dragon lose upon Lake-town.

After Smaug was killed, Bilbo had to struggle with Thorin falling into dragon sickness. He later tried to settle the conflict of the Battle of the Five Armies from happening by trading off the Arkenstone he had found and gave it to his friend's enemies, Bard and Thranduil. His intentions were objected, and Bilbo was later thrown out of the Lonely Mountain by Thorin. During the Battle of the Five Armies, Bilbo fought bravely but had to warn Thorin of the army coming from the North, but he was too late. Bilbo stayed goodbye to a dying Thorin Oakenshield before returning to the Shire to live a peaceful life again, but Bilbo was not the same.

He later adopted his cousin and nephew, Frodo Baggins. Around the time Bilbo grew older, he had by then decided to stay with Elrond in Rivendell for the time being and gave his younger cousin the One Ring. He later assisted Frodo by giving him the mithril shirt Thorin gave him and then Sting. When Bilbo had lived up all his years on Middle-earth, being the bearer of the One Ring, bilbo later departed over the seas.

Bilbo is a member of the **Baggins Family** and the **Took Clan**, the Goodenough Family and the **Grubb Family.** Bilbo is also a former member of **Thorin and Company**.

## Early life

Bilbo is born fifty years before the Quest of Erebor on September 22 in Bag End to Bungo Baggins and Belladonna Took. There, his parents raise him in their hobbit home and their hometown, Hobbiton. However, Bilbo wants adventure as he grows older. (The Hobbit)

As a child, Bilbo often stays out past his bedtime in search of Elves, late after dark while trailing in mud, twigs and fireflies. During one of the Old Took's parties, Bilbo watches Gandalf set off fireworks for his grandfather's parties. One evening, Bilbo approaches Gandalf with his wood sword, playfully hitting the wizard on the sides. Bella approaches the pair, gently chastising her son and apologizes to Gandalf for her son's playful nature. However, the wizard lets it pass by and just ruffles the child's curls. (An Unexpected Journey: Extended Edition)

Time goes on and Bilbo grows up into a young mature hobbit. He is about 24 years old when the Fell Winter hits. At 36 years old, his father dies and eight years later so that his mother. Bilbo later takes ownership of all his parents' possessions, including their family home, Bag End. (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

## Personality

At the beginning of the series, Bilbo was very skeptical of himself being on the journey in the first place, similar to what the other dwarves thought of. However, Gandalf had confidence that his Hobbit friend was more capable than they thought including himself. Bilbo eventually had a self-confidence as the series went on, proving to be quite more resourceful than they he let on. It's especially at the end that Bilbo proves his resourcefulness when he helps save his friends, for example, saving Thorin from beheading from Azog's Executioner, showing his self confidence accelerated even further. As he returned home, Bilbo's confidence had been better, as he strongly stood up against the Sackville-Bagginses.

Bilbo has proven that his bravery and resourcefullness has gotten out of dangerous situations. For, unlike the dwarves, who use their weapons to get themselves out of tricky situations, Bilbo used his wits and thoughts to get himself and others out of trouble. For instance, he was able to stall Smaug for a very long time, being able to keep a long conversation with him. Bilbo only uses weapons when necessary when dealing with an unreasonabe individual. He was also very resourceful and very inspirational, even among his Dwarven friends. Bilbo had leadership skills among his friends, who willingly followed his lead on several occasions.

Throughout the series, Bilbo found himself struggling between the Baggins half as well as his Took half.

On terms of the Took side of his family, Bilbo inherited most of his mother's adventurous nature. For example, he wished of a life outside of a shire and even as a child, would stay past his curfew to look for elves and also ask Gandalf about the outside world, even on his disappeared uncle. Even in adulthood and letting his father's side get over him, Bilbo still longed for adventure, as the Dwarves' singing about the Lonely Mountain moved him. He stroke an opportunity on adventures when the dwarves came and couldn't help but feel their plight. Eventually, Bilbo made it his goal to get the dwarves their homeland after realizing they had no home to go to like Bilbo did rather than out of adventure.

On the terms of his Baggins side of the family, Bilbo was raised to a gentlehobbit, just like his father. Growing up, Bilbo grew to love the comfortable life in Bag End but always found he was deep down his mother's son rather than his father's. He was very protective of his family's possessions and found it absurd that Gandalf was looking for someone (i. e. him) for an adventure. However, he always found conflicting between his "Baggins side" over his "Took side."

In the term of friends, Bilbo didn't seem to have any prior towards Thorin and Company arriving at his doorstep. However, he was still very friendly and well-to-do with the neighbors, except for the Sackville-Bagginses, who just naturally despised their cousin for owning Bag End. He also had friends in several hobbits, such as Hamfast Gamgee and farmer Mr Worrywort. Though a bit of a rough start at first, Bilbo came to consider the dwarves as friends and companions, especially to Tthorin, Bofur, Balin and Fili and Kili. However, out of the five closef riends, Bofur and Balin were the only ones initially friendly to Bilbo. Bofur showed fondness for Bilbo, especially pointing out that Bilbo was missing to Thorin. As for Fili and Kili, though they often teased their hobbit companion, Bilbo grew very fond of them, and grieved when they were killed by Azog. Even during his exchange with Bard for the Arkenstone, Bilbo expressed that he was very fond of the Dwarves and would save them if he could. Though they could be rude and have the worse manners he noted that they were kind, noble and loyal to a fault. Bilbo also traded away the Arkenstone to protect them and to attempt to avoid a war that friends he would lose.

He eventually became brutal when it came to enemies, especially those to his friends. For example, Bilbo showed no mercy in killing the Orc that almost executed Thorin and also viciously stabbed an orc that nearly killed Nori. However, his anger sometimes was examplified when he was under the Ring's influence, even killing a baby spider that neared the Ring and didn't even attack him. However, it should be noted that Bilbo was more pitiful towards his enemies than the other individuals he knew, for when Bilbo also wanted to kill Gollum, he felt nothing but pity for the creature after looking to his eyes.

Regarding additional information to his wit and resourcefulness, Bilbo also used them both when facing danger, even using manipulative means but only as a way to save a friend in mortal danger. He put this to good use when in the face of the trolls, Gollum and Smaug, using flattery for the last of the three enemies and also using a riddle game for Gollum and causing the trolls to bickering for them to get distracted. Even the dwarves were manipulated into thinking Bilbo was trying to help the Trolls figuring out how to cook them all until Thorin Oakenshield realized what Bilbo was doing. Also when dealing with Gollum, he manipulated the creature to play a game of riddles in order to distract him and flattering Smaug, the most dangerous dragon of all time. However, they could sometimes see through Bilbo, who had identified himself " a burglar but an honest one." One of the trolls was able to see what Bilbo was doing and Smaug on the other hand knew Bilbo was lying about the Dwarves not being there.

Finally, Bilbo had no knowledge of the outside world nor how to use a weapon. However, he was aware of what a dragon was and how dangerous the outside world was due to Gandalf's stories. He was also easily scared by Fili and Kili teasing him on how orcs would kill everyone in the middle of the Night and fainted when Bofur mentioned Smaug could turn him to a pile of ash in an instant. However, Bilbo learned all about the outside world through the adventures and the events surrounding the fall of Erebor.

After adopting Frodo, Bilbo came to see him as something of a son rather than a nephew, since he raised Frodo since childhood. He became much more secretive and odd, so much that Frodo noticed his uncle changing. Bilbo became the first person to willingly give up the Ring rather than have it being taken from him like Isildur and Gollum. Even in old age, Bilbo was adventurous spirit and would continue to dream for adventures in the distant future.

## Relationships

* **Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield:** They once had a rocky friendship, neither trusting the other. However, throughout the films, Thorin and Bilbo learn to trust each other.

## Name

* The name **Bilbo** is a translation of the original Hobbitish name, ***Bilba***. According to John D. Rateliff, he suggests that it was a name likely invented by Tolkien a "short, simple, made-up name appropriate for a hero of a children's book or light-hearted fantasy story."  It has also been noted by Jim Allan that bilbo is a kind of Spanish sword deriving its name from Bilbao. According to the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, a dictionary of Old English, the element bil refers to either a farming or military blade, significant in that it must have two edges. The element bó, equivalent to bá, means both.
* The surname **Baggins**, is actually an English version of the Westron name, ***Labingi***. It is believed Labingi is related to the Tolkien Westron Word laban, meaning bag and associated with Bag End.  It is often translated in other languages keeping the meaning of "bag" or "sack."

## Appearances

### Films

* *The Hobbit* (film series)
	+ *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*
	+ *The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug*
	+ *The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*
* '**The Lord of the *Rings* (film series)**
	+ *The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring*
	+ *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers* (mentioned only)
	+ *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*

### Books

* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Annual 2013

* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Chronicles: Art & Design

* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Chronicles: Creatures & Characters
* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Official Movie Guide (mentioned)
* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: The Movie Storybook
* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: The World of Hobbits
* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Visual Companion

## Behind the scenes

Ian Holm portrayed Bilbo Baggins in the *Lord of the Rings* trilogy, appearing in *The Fellowship of the Ring* and *The Return of the King.*  Martin Freeman portrayed a younger version of Bilbo in *The Hobbit* trilogy, appearing in *An Unexpected Journey*, *The Desolation of Smaug* and *The Battle of the Five Armies*. A child version of Bilbo was portrayed by Oscar Strik in *An Unexpected Journey* but his scene was cut in the theatrical version. However, his scenes were restored in the Extended Edition.

## Trivia

* Bilbo is the only one of the five main hobbits to be seen as a child.
* Bilbo's *Lord of the Rings* equivalent is both Sam Gamgee and his own nephew
* Bilbo is the first individual to give up the Ring willingly.
* Bilbo's farewell to the dwarves was some of the actor's last day filming on set, including Martin Freeman's.
* Bilbo is often called "The Hobbit" by those outside of his species *(An Unexpected Journey, The battle of the Five Armies)*
* By the time of the quest of Erebor, Bilbo is fifty years old.
* Bilbo is the first individual to give up the Ring willingly.
* According to Dwalin, Bilbo's cooking is "very good."
* Out of all the Hobbits, Bilbo is the only one to be seen as a child.
* According to Elrond, Bilbo and his species are very resilient and want the comforts of home. *(The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)*
* Bilbo possesses his mother's doilies, dish clothes, and his grandfather's chairs and other furniture. *(The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)*
* Adam Brown originally auditioned for Bilbo. However, he was given the role of Ori instead.
* Daniel Radcliffe, Shia LaBeouf, James McAvoy, Erryn Arkin and Tobey Maguire were considered for the role of Bilbo Baggins. Martin Freeman was already Jackson's choice at first.

* Martin Freeman also didn't get the role for younger Bilbo due to scheduling conflicts with the TV show *Sherlock*.
* Originally, Bilbo was going to have Black hair like Frodo's before being changed to a lighter brown because it fit better with the character and Martin Freeman himself.
* The ending scene between Gandalf and Bilbo in *The Battle of the Five Armies* is the same scene where both old friends reunite with one another in *The Fellowship of the Ring*, but told Bilbo's point of view
* Shortly after Thorin's death, there was dialogue written between Bilbo and Gandalf in the shot where they are sitting together. However, the writers felt the silence was much better.

## References

1. ↑ *The Peoples of Middle-earth*, "The Appendix on Languages", pp. 48-50
2. ↑ *The History of The Hobbit: One-volume Edition*
3. ↑ Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 753
4. ↑ Tolkien, Christopher and JRR Tolkien. Jared Lobdell (editor). "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings." Entry: Baggins. *A Tolkien Compass (edited by Jared Lobdell).*