Bilbo Baggins

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Bilbo Baggins is the central character in the J. R. R. Tolkien novel The Hobbit, and a minor character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. He is the first ring-bearer in the history of Middle-earth to give up the One Ring voluntarily.

Biography of Bilbo Baggins

According to the Appendices of the Lord of the Rings, Bilbo was born on September 22, 2890 of the Third Age, son of Bungo Baggins and Belladonna Took. The Bagginses were aristocratic landowners, rich and (until Bilbo's adventures) supremely respectable. In 2941, he joined Gandalf the Grey, Thorin Oakenshield and his 12 Dwarves on the quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the Dragon Smaug. This led to an adventure which takes Bilbo and his companions to Rivendell and through Mirkwood, eventually reaching Erebor. Here, after the mountain has been reclaimed by Thorin Oakenshield, the Battle of Five Armies takes place.

During his adventures in The Hobbit, Bilbo also found the One Ring, and escaped from Gollum when he won a riddle competition with the question "What have I got in my pocket?" However, during the contest, he also revealed the names of Baggins and The Shire to Gollum. Bilbo was the Ring-bearer for 60 years afterward, with no idea of its significance, and it prolonged his life beyond normal limits and slowed his ageing. He used the Ring to its fullest ability when the expedition was captured by spiders in Mirkwood, and also when Thorin and his companions were imprisoned by the Mirkwood Elves. At the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo uses the Ring to prevent himself getting hurt, making it difficult to find him after the battle. Eventually he regains consciousness and takes the Ring off himself. He further remarks to his nephew (really second cousin once removed) Frodo in The Lord of the Rings that it is useful for hiding from his obnoxious cousins, the Sackville-Bagginses, when they come to visit.

While the Ring did not corrupt Bilbo as it had its previous owners, it did have some negative effects upon him; over the years, he began to obsess over it, losing sleep and feeling "stretched out and thin" when he was out of its sight. On the night of his 111th birthday party, the opening event of The Fellowship of the Ring, he reacted with panic and suspicion when Gandalf tried to persuade him to leave it. The last straw was when Bilbo referred to the Ring as his "precious" — the same name the wretched Gollum had given it — and Gandalf lost his temper with his old friend, putting some sense into him. Bilbo then admitted he would have liked to be rid of it, and left it behind.

In The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo left the Shire on the day of his eleventy-first (111th) birthday, (September 22, 3001), leaving the Ring and all the rest of his estate, including his home, Bag End in Hobbiton, to his relative and heir Frodo. He put on the Ring and vanished from sight at his own birthday party, and was never seen in Hobbiton again. This, coupled with his (for a hobbit) eccentric doings and a flash that Gandalf, in on the joke, set off at the moment of his disappearance, led to him being immortalized in hobbit folklore as "Mad Baggins", who disappeared in a flash and returned with riches.

He travelled to Rivendell, accompanied by three Dwarvish friends, where he lived a very pleasant life of retirement: eating, sleeping, writing poetry, and working on his memoir, There and Back Again, known to us as The Hobbit. He also wrote a book called Translations from the Elvish, which formed the basis of what is known to us as The Silmarillion.

At the end of The Return of the King, Bilbo accompanied Frodo, Gandalf, Elrond, and Galadriel to the Grey Havens, there to take ship for Valinor across the sea, on September 29, 3021. He had already celebrated his 131st birthday, becoming the oldest living Hobbit ever in Middle-earth.

The poem "Bilbo's Last Song" was published after Tolkien's death.

Translations

• In the Slovak he is called Bilbo Bublik
• In the Czech it is Bilbo Pytlík
• In the Danish translation he is called Bilbo Sækker (sæk = bag)
• In the Estonian translation he is called Bilbo Paunaste (paun = bag)
• In the German translation he is called Bilbo Beutlin (created from Beutel=bag).
• In the French translation he is called Bilbo (or Bilbon) Sacquet (sac = bag).
• In the Norwegian translation he is called Bilbo Lommelun.
• In the Finnish translation he is called Bilbo Reppuli. (reppu = backpack)
• In the Dutch version he is called Bilbo Balings.
• In the Catalan version he is called Bilbo Saquet.
• In the Brazilian Portuguese translation he is called Bilbo Bolseiro (but Bilbo Bolsin in the first edition of The Hobbit).
• In the Spanish translation he is called Bilbo Bolsón. (bolso = handbag)
• In the Hungarian translation he is called Zsákos Bilbó.
• In one of three Polish translations of The Lord of the Rings he is called Bilbo Bagosz. In the other two translations and in The Hobbit he keeps his original name.
• In Åke Ohlmarks' 1959-1961 Swedish translation he is called Bilbo Bagger (bagge = male sheep). In Erik Andersson's 2004-2005 translation he is more appropriately called Bilbo Secker (säck = sack).
• In the Russian translation he is also called Torbins or Sumkins.

Portrayal in adaptations

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 the Peter Jackson films [[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]] (2001) and [[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)|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.

The Line of Bilbo

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

For an alternate, fuller, version of this tree see [link].

|- style="text-align: center;"

Appearances in popular culture

The comic book character Jon Sable (created by Mike Grell) published children's books under the name "B. B. Flemm." It has been suggested that the initials may stand for "Bilbo Baggins".

Some fans celebrate September 22nd as Hobbit Day, in honour of both Bilbo's and Frodo Baggins's birthdays.

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