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Bilbo Baggins
The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Bilbo's Last Song character
J. R. R. Tolkien's illustration of Bilbo in his comfortable hobbit-hole, Bag End
In-universe information
Race	Hobbit
Family	Belladonna Took (mother) Bungo Baggins (father) Gerontius "The Old" Took (grandfather) Frodo Baggins (younger cousin)
Home	Bag End, The Shire

Bilbo Baggins (Westron: Bilba Labingi) is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. The Hobbit is selected by the wizard Gandalf to help Thorin and his party of Dwarves reclaim their ancestral home and treasure, which has been seized by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo sets out in The Hobbit timid and comfort-loving and, through his adventures, grows to become a useful and resourceful member of the quest.

Bilbo's way of life in the Shire, defined by features like the availability of tobacco and postal service, recalls that of the English middle class during the Victorian to Edwardian eras. This is not compatible with the much older world of Dwarves and Elves. Tolkien appears to have based Bilbo on the designer William Morris's travels in Iceland; Morris liked his home comforts but grew through his adventurous journeying. Bilbo's quest has been interpreted as a pilgrimage of grace, in which he grows in wisdom and virtue, and as a psychological journey towards wholeness.

Bilbo has appeared in numerous radio and film adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and video games based on them.

Appearances

The Hobbit

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Interpretations

Name

The critic Tom Shippey notes that "Baggins" is close to the spoken words bæggin, bægginz in the dialect of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, where it means a substantial meal eaten between main meals, most particularly at teatime in the afternoon; and Mr Baggins is definitely, Shippey writes, "partial to ... his tea". The choice of the surname may be connected to the name of Bilbo's house, Bag End, also the actual name of Tolkien's aunt's farmhouse, which Shippey notes was at the bottom of a lane with no exit. This is called a "cul-de-sac" in England; Shippey describes this as "a silly phrase", a piece of "French-oriented snobbery", and observes that the socially aspiring Sackville-Bagginses have similarly attempted to "Frenchify" their family name, Sac-ville = "Bag Town", as a mark of their bourgeois status. The journalist Matthew Dennison, writing for St Martin's Press, calls Lobelia Sackville-Baggins "Tolken's unmistakable nod to Vita Sackville-West", an aristocratic novelist and gardening columnist as passionately attached to her family home, Knole House, which she was unable to inherit, as Lobelia was to Bag End. The opposite of a bourgeois is a burglar who breaks into bourgeois houses, and in The Hobbit Bilbo is asked to become a burglar (of Smaug the dragon's lair), Shippey writes, showing that the Bagginses and the Sackville-Bagginses are "connected opposites". He observes that the name Sackville-Baggins, for the snobbish branch of the Baggins family, is "an anomaly in Middle-earth and a failure of tone".

Period

Bilbo's distinctly anachronistic period, compared to the characters he meets, can be defined, Shippey notes, by the presence of tobacco, brought to Europe in 1559, and a postal service, introduced in England in 1840. Like Tolkien himself, Bilbo was "English, middle class; and roughly Victorian to Edwardian", something that as Shippey observes, does not belong to the much older world of elves, dwarves, and wizards.

Character

Marjorie Burns, a medievalist, writes that Bilbo's character and adventures match the fantasy writer and designer William Morris's account of his travels in Iceland in the early 1870s in numerous details. Like Bilbo's, Morris's party set off enjoyably into the wild on ponies. He meets a "boisterous" man called "Biorn the boaster" who lives in a hall beside Eyja-fell, and who tells Morris, tapping him on the belly, "... besides, you know you are so fat", just as Beorn pokes Bilbo "most disrespectfully" and compares him to a plump rabbit. Burns notes that Morris was "relatively short, a little rotund, and affectionately called 'Topsy', for his curly mop of hair", all somewhat hobbit-like characteristics. Further, she writes, "Morris in Iceland often chooses to place himself in a comic light and to exaggerate his own ineptitude", just as Morris's companion, the painter Edward Burne-Jones, gently teased his friend by depicting him as very fat in his Iceland cartoons. Burns suggests that these images "make excellent models" for the Bilbo who runs puffing to the Green Dragon inn or "jogs along behind Gandalf and the dwarves" on his quest. Another definite resemblance is the emphasis on home comforts: Morris enjoyed a pipe, a bath, and "regular, well-cooked meals"; Morris looked as out of place in Iceland as Bilbo did "over the Edge of the Wild"; both are afraid of dark caves; and both grow through their adventures.

Quest

The Christian writer Joseph Pearce describes The Hobbit as "a pilgrimage of grace, in which its protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, becomes grown up ... in wisdom and virtue". Dorothy Matthews sees the story rather as a psychological journey, the anti-heroic Bilbo being willing to face challenges while firmly continuing to love home and discovering himself. Along the way, Matthews sees Jungian archetypes, talismans, and symbols at every turn: the Jungian wise old man Gandalf; the devouring mother of the giant spider, not to mention Gollum's "long grasping fingers"; the Jungian circle of the self, the ring; the escape from the dark underground imprisoning chambers of the wood-elves and Bilbo's symbolic rebirth into the sunlight and the waters of the woodland river; and the dragon guarding the contested treasure, itself "an archetype of the self, of psychic wholeness". Later research has extended Matthews' analysis using alternative psychological frameworks such as Erik Erikson's theory of development.

Genealogy

The Tolkien scholar Jason Fisher notes that Tolkien stated that hobbits were extremely "clannish" and had strong "predilections for genealogy". Accordingly, Tolkien's decision to include the Baggins and other hobbit family trees in Lord of the Rings gives the book, in Fisher's view, a strongly "hobbitish perspective". The tree also, he notes, serves to show Bilbo's and Frodo's connections and familial characteristics, including that Bilbo was both "a Baggins and a Took". Fisher observes that Bilbo is, like Aragorn: a "distillation of the best of two families"; he notes that in the game The Quest of Erebor, Gandalf is given the (non-Tolkien) lines "So naturally, thinking over the hobbits that I knew, I said to myself, 'I want a dash of the Took ... and I want a good foundation of the stolider sort, a Baggins perhaps.' That pointed at once to Bilbo".

The Tolkien critic Tom Shippey notes that Tolkien was very interested in such names, describing Shire names at length in The Lord of the Rings "Appendix F". One category was the names that meant nothing to the hobbits "in their daily language", like Bilbo and Bungo; a few of these, like Otho and Drogo in the family tree, were "by accident, the same as modern English names".

Adaptations

In the 1955–1956 BBC Radio serialization of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo was played by Felix Felton. In the 1968 BBC Radio serialization of The Hobbit, Bilbo was played by Paul Daneman.

The 1969 parody Bored of the Rings by "Harvard Lampoon" (i.e. its co-founders Douglas Kenney and Henry Beard) modifies the hobbit's name to "Dildo Bugger".

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.

The 1976 Russian translation of The Hobbit was illustrated with drawings by Mikhail Belomlinsky; he based his Bilbo character on the actor Yevgeny Leonov, who he described as "good-natured, plump, with hairy legs".

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 in the live-action recordings Bakshi used for rotoscoping. The 3000th story to be broadcast in the BBC's long-running children's programme Jackanory was The Hobbit, in 1979. Four narrators told the story with Bilbo's part being played by Bernard Cribbins.

In the BBC's 1981 radio serialization of The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo is played by John Le Mesurier. In the unlicensed 1985 Soviet version on the Leningrad TV channel, Хоббита ("The Hobbit"), Bilbo was played by Mikhail Danilov [ru]. In the 1993 television miniseries Hobitit by Finnish broadcaster Yle, Bilbo is portrayed by Martti Suosalo.

In Peter Jackson's films The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Return of the King (2003), Bilbo is played by Ian Holm, who had played Frodo in the BBC radio series 20 years earlier.

Throughout the 2003 video game The Hobbit, the players control Bilbo, voiced by Michael Beattie. The game follows the plot of the book, but adds the elements of platform gameplay and various side-objectives along the main quests. In The Lord of the Rings Online (2007) Bilbo resides in Rivendell, mostly playing riddle games with the Elf Lindir in the Hall of Fire.

In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film series, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, the young Bilbo is portrayed by Martin Freeman while Ian Holm reprises his role as an older Bilbo in An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).

See also

• The Quest of Erebor

Notes

1. The French words in this phrase mean "bottom-of--bag", "Bag End", but the French word for a street with no exit, Shippey observes, is impasse.
2. The Annotated Hobbit notes also that Bilbo feels for matches (a 19th century invention) to light his pipe.

References

Primary

1. Cite error: The named reference Riddles in the Dark was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. Tolkien 1955, "Appendix C – Baggins of Hobbiton"
3. Tolkien 1955, "Appendix F", 2, "On Translation"

Secondary

1. ^ Dennison, Matthew (18 August 2015). "Behind The Mask: Vita Sackville-West". St. Martin's Press. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
2. Shippey cites Haigh, W. E. (1928). Glossary of the Dialect of the Huddersfield District. Oxford University Press., noting that Tolkien had written the Prologue.
3. ^ Shippey, Tom (1982). The Road to Middle-Earth. Grafton (HarperCollins). p. 66. ISBN 0261102753.
4. ^ Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. pp. 5–11. ISBN 978-0261-10401-3.
5. "cul-de-sac". Collins English-French Dictionary. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
6. Shippey, Tom (2005) . "A Cartographic Plot". The Road to Middle-earth. HarperCollins. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-547-52441-2.
7. ^ Burns, Marjorie (2005). Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth. University of Toronto Press. pp. 86–92. ISBN 978-0-8020-3806-7.
8. Epps, Peter G. (December 2014). "Review of Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning of The Hobbit". Christianity and Literature. 64: 122–126. doi:10.1177/0148333114556596c. JSTOR 26194807.
9. ^ Matthews, Dorothy (2003). "The Psychological Journey of Bilbo Baggins". In Lobdell, Jared (ed.). A Tolkien Compass (2nd ed.). Open Court. pp. 27–39. ISBN 9780875483030.
10. Collins, Rory W. (2020). "Wombs, wizards, and wisdom: Bilbo's journey from childhood in The Hobbit". Crossing Borders. 4. Article 1. doi:10.4148/2373-0978.1073.
11. ^ Fisher, Jason (2007). "Family Trees". In Drout, Michael D.C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 188–189. ISBN 978-0-415-96942-0.
12. Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-0261-10401-3.
13. ^ Belomlinsky, Mikhail. "Книжное обозрение: Леонов «играет» Хоббита" [Book Review: Leonov 'plays' the Hobbit]. Russian Bazaar (in Russian). 2 (508). Archived from the original on 27 April 2014.
14. "Genome BETA Radio Times 1923 - 2009 Listings". BBC. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
15. ^ Robb, Brian J.; Simpson, Paul (2013). "ch. 1 Audio Adaptations". Middle-earth Envisioned: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: On screen, on stage, and beyond. Race Point Publishing. pp. 19, 66. ISBN 978-1-937994-27-3.
16. Beard, Henry; et al. (Harvard Lampoon) (2001) . Bored of the Rings. Gollancz. ISBN 978-0-575-07362-3. OCLC 47036020.
17. Barnett, David (8 February 2011). "After Tolkien, get Bored of the Rings". The Guardian.
18. Gilkeson, Austin (24 April 2019). "Middle-Earth's weirdest movie: Rankin-Bass' animated The Return of the King". Tor.com. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
19. ^ Beck, Jerry (2005). The Animated Movie Guide. Chicago Review Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-56976-222-6.
20. Hewett, Richard (4 July 2014). "Now a Major TV Series: An ode to television tie-ins". Critical Studies in Television. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
21. Green, Willow (29 November 2001). "Lord of the Radio". Empire (Cinemas). Retrieved 6 May 2020.
22. Marshall, Colin (14 August 2014). "The 1985 Soviet TV Adaptation of The Hobbit: Cheap and Yet Strangely Charming". Open Culture.
23. "Review of the Lord of the Rings radio adaptation". The Tolkien Library. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
24. "Michael Beattie - 30 Character Images". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 8 August 2021. He is credited as "Michael Beatie".
25. Lamb, Kevin (2003). "Quest Log". The Hobbit PlayStation 2 instruction manual. Sierra Entertainment. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 22 February 2016 – via replacementdocs.com.
26. Schiesel, Seth (4 May 2007). "Finding Fellowship (Hairy Feet Optional)". The New York Times.
27. White, James (22 October 2010). "Martin Freeman Confirmed As Bilbo!". Empire. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
28. Kendrick, Ben (22 April 2011). "Sir Ian Holm Returning as Older Bilbo in 'The Hobbit'". Screenrant. Retrieved 9 May 2020.

Sources

• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a). The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 9552942.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 519647821.

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About	Volumes The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King Stories "The Shadow of the Past" "The Council of Elrond" "The Scouring of the Shire" "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" Translating List of translations Swedish Reception Impact Literary Fandom Fan fiction Oxonmoot Tolkienmoot Works inspired Tolkien's impact on fantasy
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Related works	The Hobbit The Adventures of Tom Bombadil Errantry Fastitocalon The Sea-Bell The Road Goes Ever On Bilbo's Last Song The Silmarillion Unfinished Tales The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien The History of Middle-earth The Children of Húrin The History of The Hobbit Beren and Lúthien The Fall of Gondolin The Nature of Middle-earth
Adaptations and derivative works Books Bored of the Rings (1969) The Last Ringbearer (1999) Muddle Earth (2003) Illustrations A Map of Middle-earth Pauline Baynes Barbara Remington John Howe Alan Lee Margrethe II of Denmark Ted Nasmith Theatre Fellowship! (2005) Lord of the Rings (2006) Music Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (1972) Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings (1988) Led Zeppelin "Ramble On" (1969) "Misty Mountain Hop" (1971) "The Battle of Evermore" (1971) Radio The Lord of the Rings (BBC, 1955) The Lord of the Rings (NPR, 1979) Hordes of the Things (1980) The Lord of the Rings (BBC, 1981) Der Herr der Ringe (1992) Film Animated The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi, 1978) The Return of the King (Rankin/Bass, 1980) The War of the Rohirrim (Kamiyama, 2024) Peter Jackson series The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Two Towers (2002) The Return of the King (2003) Music "Concerning Hobbits" "Into the West" "May It Be" Approach Production Hobbiton Movie Set Peter Jackson's interpretation Picturing Tolkien Tolkien on Film Other Sagan om ringen (1971) Khraniteli (1991) Hobitit (1993) The Rings of Power (2022) music Fan-made The Hunt for Gollum (2009) Born of Hope (2009) Video games Journey to Rivendell Game One Game Two: Shadows of Mordor War in Middle Earth Vol. I (1990) Vol. I (SNES) Riders of Rohan Elendor Vol. II: The Two Towers The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King War of the Ring The Third Age Game Boy Advance The Battle for Middle-earth Tactics The Battle for Middle-earth II The Rise of the Witch-king Conquest Aragorn's Quest War in the North Lego The Lord of the Rings Guardians of Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor Shadow of War Gollum Return to Moria The Lord of the Rings Online Mines of Moria Siege of Mirkwood Rise of Isengard Riders of Rohan Helm's Deep Mordor Minas Morgul War of Three Peaks Fate of Gundabad Before the Shadow Tabletop role- playing games Middle-earth Role Playing The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game The One Ring Roleplaying Game Adventures in Middle-earth Board games Middle Earth War of the Ring Gondor: The Siege of Minas Tirith Sauron Lord of the Rings War of the Ring Card games Middle-earth Collectible Card Game The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game Other games Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Lego The Lord of the Rings

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