Bilbo Baggins

"There and Back Again: A hobbit's holiday."

- Bilbo, titling his book. "I'm not a hero or a warrior or a burglar."

- Bilbo to Thorin

Bilbo Baggins is the titular main protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's highly acclaimed high fantasy novel, The Hobbit and its trilogy adaptation. Bilbo is later a supporting protagonist in The Lord of the Rings and its many adaptations. He is a hobbit, who gets allied up with dwarves to venture past the goblins and trolls to face his first nemesis, Smaug the Dragon.

In Peter Jackson's film series, he is played by Martin Freeman as a 50 year old and by Sir Ian Holm as an older hobbit.

The Hobbit
In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit in comfortable middle age at 50 years old, was hired despite his objections as a "burglar" by the wizard Gandalf and 13 Dwarves led by their king Thorin Oakenshield on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug. The adventure took 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 was killed and the Mountain was reclaimed, soon after that the Battle of Five Armies took place.

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

By the end of the journey, Bilbo had become wiser and more confident, having saved the day in many precarious situations. Bilbo's journey has been compared to a pilgrimage of grace. The Hobbit can be characterized as a "Christian bildungsroman which equates progress to wisdom gained in the form of a rite of passage

He rescued the dwarves from giant spiders with the magic ring and a short Elven-sword he acquired. He used the ring to sneak around in dangerous places, as well as his wits to smuggle the dwarves out of the elves' prisons. When tensions arose over ownership of the recovered treasure, he tried unsuccessfully to bring the opposing sides to compromise, using the Arkenstone, a stolen heirloom jewel, as leverage. This strained his relationship with Thorin, but the two were reconciled at Thorin's deathbed. At the end of the story, Bilbo returned to his home in the Shire only to find that several of his relatives, believing him to be dead, were trying to claim his home and possessions. In addition to becoming wealthy from his share of the dwarves' treasure, he found that he, like Adam, had traded respectability for experience and wisdom. At the end, Gandalf proclaims Bilbo is no longer the Hobbit he was. This is certainly true as Bilbo has gone through a rite and has fully matured. Continuing the pilgrimage theme, a true pilgrimage does not end at the destination, but rather when the wanderer is absolved, blessed, and ready to return home.

Lord of the Rings
Bilbo appears in The Fellowship of the Ring as a supporting character and The Return of the King as a minor character.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo gives up the one Ring and gives it up for his cousin and adopted nephew, Frodo In Return of the King , Bilbo leaves Middle-earth where he travels with Gandalf Frodo and Lord Elrond to the Grey Havens.

1977 film adaptations
Bilbo appears in the 1977 film adaptation of The Hobbit, where he was voiced by Orson Bean. Bean later reprises Bilbo's voice in the sequel, Return of the King.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Ian Holm portrayed Bilbo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King.

The Hobbit film trilogy
Ian Holm reprised his role as Old Bilbo Baggins. Martin Freeman portrayed a younger Bilbo.

Personality
Bilbo was a very friendly and well-mannered hobbit fond of food, drink, a full pipe, his friends and good cheer, and was known for greeting strangers and friends with hospitality saying; "At your service and your families". Being related to both the Tooks and the Baggins two family groups that were fundamentally opposite in their mentalities, with the Tooks being more fond of adventures and wandering, and the Baggins who were more fond of the settled life, Bilbo had two different sides to him something he referred to as the "Took side" and the "Baggins side". This meant that he secretly relished having adventures but still wanted to remain settled and was very afraid. His Tooks side was the reasons why he eventually chooses to go for adventures to Erebor alongside other heroes at the beginning of the story.

Bilbo seemed to be happy with his life at Bag End and would have been content to remain a child of his father, had adventure not come upon him. Still very afraid and wishing he had never left his hobbit-hole, the Took side eventually won out even after he returned home to his old life. Thus, his desire for another adventure never truly departed from him in his heart even into his old age. This he demonstrated in his sudden departure from Bag End in TA 3001.

Unlike anyone whom succumbed to the madness and obsession over One Ring since having possession of it, Bilbo has a strong will to eventually give up the ring unlike Gollum whom immediately succumbed and turned into the abomination of his former self. It was also thanks to Gandalf's sudden outburst on him that eventually snapped the Ring's influence on his mind. Although, there's a trace of Ring's corruption on his mentality that remains as revealed when discovered that Frodo was sent to took the Ring to destroyed it for good. When he talks to Frodo about the quest and gazed onto the Ring, he suddenly shown a madman-like expression on his face before seemingly tries to attack Frodo, only for his strong will refrained him to do so and he bursts into tears, saddened by the fact that Frodo would be vulnerable to the madness that would threatened to corrupt him like he himself did.

Trivia

 * Bilbo is the first individuals who voluntarily gives up the One Ring.
 * The way the ring slips out of Bilbo's hand in An Unexpected Journey and the ring lands on his finger is similar to the way Frodo catches the ring onto his own finger after it slips out of his hand as well.