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| “ | There and Back Again: A hobbit's holiday. | „ |
| ~ Bilbo, titling his book. |
| “ | I would have doubted me too. 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 joins Thorin and company on their quest to reclaim their long-lost kingdom of Erebor and the treasure within by Smaug.
In the Ralph Bakshi film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, he was voiced by the late Norman Bird. In Rankin and Bass' film adaptations of The Hobbit and The Return of the King, Bilbo was voiced by the late Orson Bean. In the Peter Jackson film adaptations, he is portrayed by the late Ian Holm as an 111-year-old and as a 50-year-old, is portrayed by Martin Freeman.
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.
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.
Animated film adaptations
Bilbo appears in the 1977 film adaptation of The Hobbit, where he was voiced by the late Orson Bean. Bean later reprises Bilbo's voice in the 1980 film adaptation of Return of the King. In the 1978 film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, he was voiced by the late Norman Bird.
Peter Jackson's films
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
In The Lord of the Rings, the late Ian Holm portrayed Bilbo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Bilbo leaves the One Ring for Frodo and reunited with him in Rivendell. Before his quest to destroy the One Ring, he gives Frodo a Mithril shirt he once wore and his sword, Sting.
When he sees the One Ring, he briefly turns into a creature and nearly attacks Frodo. A guilt-ridden Bilbo then breaks down crying and apologizes for leaving this heavy burden on Frodo.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
At the harbor, he asks Frodo if he can hold his ring one last time, but Frodo lied and said that he lost it, as Bilbo had forgotten about Frodo's quest to destroy it. Bilbo departs from Middle-Earth with Frodo and Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond and Celeborn on the way to the Undying Lands
The Hobbit film trilogy
Ian Holm reprised his role as Old Bilbo Baggins while Martin Freeman portrayed his younger self.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The late Ian Holm reprised his role to portray Bilbo Baggins, while his younger self is portrayed by Martin Freeman
Bilbo is first seen in the movie writing down his journey in the Red Book of Westermarch. In the present-day timeline, his nephew Frodo sees him working and attempts to read the book, but Bilbo does not let him look at it. He begins to hide things around the house and acknowledges Frodo goodbye when he goes to go meet Gandalf at East Farthing Woods.
The flashback begins to when Bilbo was fifty years old, approached by Gandalf, who is an old family friend of both Bilbo's parents' sides of his family. However, after Gandalf offers for Bilbo to take up a chance at an adventure, the hobbit refuses and retreats back into his house.
While traveling to the market place located near the Green Dragon, Mr. Baggins believes the wizard to be stalking him and what he thought was Gandalf's hat was really hobbits carrying a sack.
Later that evening, he met the four dwarves, Dwalin, Balin, Fíli and Kíli. After a while, Bilbo loses his patience at the fifth bell and finds at least nine more dwarves at the door. None of the dwarves treat his possessions none too kindly, as most of them use it for throwing it around. Mr. Baggins is then introduced to their leader, Thorin Oakenshield, who has an unexplained contempt over their newly found member. When they bring up the fact of a burglar position for the hobbit, Bilbo initially refuses, even after Gandalf tries to convince him otherwise. The next morning, Bilbo finds the dwarves gone. Having made up his mind, Bilbo decides to go on an adventure after hearing the dwarves sing their song from the night before.
On their first night of the quest to reclaim Erebor, Bilbo goes to pamper his pony, who he had affectionately named "Myrtle". After he heard a shriek from a long distance, Fíli and Kíli take this opportunity to scare him before Thorin puts an end to it. Balin comes to the three boys and explains to them Thorin's hatred of Orcs. This possibly causes Bilbo to see Thorin more than a stern prince, but one who is a benevolent leader and meant to be King. When he asks whatever happened to the Pale Orc, Thorin states Azog died of his wounds a long time ago, but Thorin couldn't be ever more wrong.
Sometime later, the Company moves on. Bilbo and his companions were covered by rain. After Gandalf telling Dori to find another wizard to change the weather of the world, Bilbo inquires of the other four. One he takes particular interest in was Radagast, and asked Gandalf if Radagast is a great wizard or more like the grey wizard himself.
Later that day, Gandalf and Oakenshield have a massive argument leaving the dwarves and Bilbo to fend for themselves. Bilbo is later sent by Bofur to give Fíli and Kíli their portion of dinner. However, the boys had misplaced three of their sixteen ponies. They send Bilbo to try to free the poor creatures while they leave him behind and go to retrieve the company. Mr. Baggins doesn't make it in time to avoid the Trolls. Before they torture the poor hobbit, Kíli and the others rescue Bilbo. During the skirmish, Bilbo goes to release the ponies, before he and the other dwarves are captured by the trolls, who are ready to eat them. However, Mr. Baggins manages to keep them at bay until dawn, which Gandalf splits the boulder in half.
Later, Gandalf emerges from the Troll's cave and presents Bilbo with a sword, which would later glow blue when either Orcs or Goblins came closer. As Mr. Baggins unsheathed his sword, Radagast appeared and talked to Gandalf. There is the sound of a wolf, Bilbo thought, until Bofur says that it was not a wolf, but a pack of Wargs. They attempt to finish off the group, however, the dwarves subdue their attackers and are quick to realize they are being followed. With assistance from Radagast, Bilbo and his companions makes their escape. However, they are soon chased by the Wargs and Orcs, before they go through a hidden entrance. Before he takes another step, Bilbo stops to tell Gandalf that he feels a magical presence, to which the wizard responds to it being a "very powerful magic". They eventually emerge out of the cave and into Rivendell. Everyone decides that Gandalf should do all the talking.
When Bilbo first sees Rivendell, Bilbo immediately falls in love with the city, as well as the Elves who live there. Just at that moment, when Elrond appears, Bofur safely pulls Bilbo to the center of the circle. During their feast, Bilbo overhears the Lord of Rivendell talk of Thorin's and Gandalf's weapons. However, Balin advises against it, as it is not a proper weapon. He is present at the meeting in Rivendell, along with his companions Thorin, Balin and Gandalf and Lord Elrond himself. Bilbo is amazed at the moon runes and inquires of Durin's Day and what they will have time for.
Over the next couple of days, the company stayed in Rivendell, with Bilbo admiring its beauty. Elrond approached Bilbo and allowed him to stay in Rivendell, if that was what he wished. On the night before the Company leaves for the Misty Mountains, Bilbo continues to adventure in Rivendell, but overhears a conversation between Elrond and Gandalf, with Thorin present behind Bilbo's back. They depart for the mountains afterwards, where they are caught up in a stone-giant battle scene. Bilbo nearly fell off the cliff twice before Bofur and Dwalin pushed him back. When the mountains collide together, while his companions remain unharmed, Bilbo hangs on for dear life before Thorin saves him. Because Bilbo almost put both him and Thorin at risk, the dwarf king denounces Bilbo before the rest of the company. Thorin's claims take too much of a hold over Bilbo, and he makes for home. However, Bofur stopped him from leaving, but Bilbo refused. After seeing that they do not belong anywhere, Bofur lets him leave. However, they all fall into Goblin-town. After being able to evade capture, Mr. Baggins goes to save his companions, who are slowly becoming more like friends. However, he falls down a whole after colliding with a dead goblin. After seeing a creature named Gollum drop the Ring, Bilbo takes it for himself and confronts the Former Hobbit into a game of riddles. Before Gollum attacks him, Bilbo makes a run for it and even escapes him while knocking out the villainous Gollum to the ground.
Bilbo returns to his friends, apparently never abandoning them in a worse time of need. Their reunion is short-lived as Azog's hunting party attacks them. On the final stand, Thorin charges at Azog and is nearly killed by his would-be executioner before Bilbo jumps from the burning tree and kills Thorin's almost-killer while defending the dwarf king's broken body. Just before the orcs attack them, the eagles arrive and saves the company from Azog's men. Seeing the Hobbit in a new light, Thorin literally embraces Bilbo as a friend and apologizes for his previous ill-treatment of the Hobbit. The group looks into the horizon and spots the lonely mountain, all unaware of what the future has in hold for them.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Martin Freeman reprises his role as Bilbo. Bilbo is first mentioned in the beginning of The Desolation of Smaug, where Gandalf tells Thorin they're going to need a burglar to retrieve the Arkenstone for Thorin.
He first physically appears one year later in The Desolation of Smaug where he is sent by Thorin Oakenshield and their company to spy on Azog. While not being spotted, he sees Beorn standing there, watching the Wargs and the Orcs as well. Bilbo goes to warn the dwarves of their enemies' recent movement, but every time he does, he is either interrupted by a dwarf or a wizard. When Bilbo tells Thorin and the others that there is something else out there, which Gandalf guesses is in the form of a bear, shocking both Bilbo and the other dwarves. The company is forced to take refuge with a man named Beorn, who was the bear Bilbo saw a few seconds ago. Gandalf tells them that this man will either help them or destroy them. The team reluctantly agrees, but they are tracked down by Azog and chased to Beorn's house.
During the night, Bilbo takes out the Ring, swearing he could hear it whisper while inspecting it. The next morning, Bilbo and his friends meet Beorn, but one by one, starting with him and Gandalf while slowly introducing their companions. Learning of their ordeals, Beorn decides to aid Bilbo and his friends by giving them ponies. However, when the company reaches Mirkwood, Bilbo is shocked to learn that Gandalf is leaving them yet again, but the wizard reveals he has no choice. Before Gandalf departs, he senses that Bilbo has indeed changed and that he is not the same Hobbit as the one who left the Shire. Mr Baggins attempts to tell his friend about the Ring he found while he was separated from the company in the Goblin tunnels. However, he decides against it and claims that he found his courage, which appears to satisfy Gandalf, who secretly knows Bilbo has the Ring with him. He leaves the company at the gates of Mirkwood and warns them not to touch the water and not to stray clear of the path, stay on it at all times.
After days of travelling, the woods' dangerous spell begins to slowly take effect on Bilbo and his companions. During one of their obstacles, they find they cannot cross the enchanted river, which Bilbo is forced to cross alone. While they are in Mirkwood, Bilbo and Thorin spot a white stag but Thorin shoots the creaturea as Bilbo watches it. After Thorin gets the company lost, Bilbo hears a whisper in the trees when he plucks the giant spider webs that hang from the trees.
Bilbo goes up to look ahead to see that they are getting closer to the Lonely Mountain, but Bilbo finds them to be gone before h is taken away by a giant Spider. However, Bilbo manages to escape and frees the dwarves from the spider's nest. Bilbo proceeded to join them but was attacked by a spider, and dropped down to the forest floor where the Ring took hold over Bilbo, who began brutally murdering a baby spider thinking it was getting the ring. However, he sees the error of his ways before going to rescue his friends, only for the company gets captured again this time by the Elves led by Thranduil, Bilbo helps the others escape from the Elves by snuggling them in barrels and the Spiders by killing them.
The day that the company reaches their goal, Bilbo finds the secret door and enters the mountain to find the Arkenstone, advised by Balin not to wake the dragon up. However, Bilbo accidentally wakes it up and and engaged in a cat/mouse dialogue with Smaug while chasing after the stone. The dragon notices Bilbo's intentions and threatens to let him take it to see it make Thorin mad, causing Mr Baggins to take the stone for safe keeping. He helps participate in attracting Smaug to the Erebor Forges.At the very end, Bilbo leads Smaug to the Gallery of the Kings and accidentally sets Smaug to destroy Lake-town.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Bilbo makes his last appearance in The Battle of Five Armies. Martin Freeman reprises his role as Young Bilbo, while the late Ian Holm reprises his role as Old Bilbo.
Along with his nine companions, Bilbo watches the destruction of Lake-town from afar, but also worries about Thorin more. He sees the dragon fall dead and announces it to the others, who rejoice. However, Thorin is not impressed and walks towards the Lonely Mountain. Like Thorin did before when Thrór was under dragon sickness, Bilbo watched from the shadows as Thorin fell into the dragon sickness, affecting all those around him. He once confronted Thorin one night to convince him to do something other than hunt the treasury room all day, but Thorin doesn't listen to Bilbo.
When the four dwarf companions who stayed in Lake-town were found, Bilbo quickly ran up to the four who were coming. When one of them see him alive, Bilbo warns that all of them need to leave. When Bofur reasons that they had just got there, Bilbo tells them how Thorin has been misbehaving, spending his days in the treasure room and not bothering to get a nibble or a wink of sleep. Kíli asks what kind of sickness has possessed his uncle while his brother, Fili runs past them to the treasure room with Bilbo, Bofur, Óin and Kíli following Fili down to the treasure room. While the dwarves look at it in awe, Bilbo feels nothing but contempt and disgust for the gold and scared for what Thorin has become.
Bilbo later sits alone in a secluded area, where it is revealed in a flashback that Bilbo stole the Arkenstone shortly after he disappeared when putting the Ring on. After seeing what danger Thorin has been in, Bilbo pulls the Arkenstone out of his pocket, contemplating on what to do with it. The gold sickness gets worse. Thorin begins sulking in the Throne room hour after hour, waiting for the Stone's return. Little does he know Bilbo still is in possession of the Arkenstone. Bilbo grows even more concerned after the fact that Thorin will kill whomever withholds the king's jewel from him. He later comes across a crying Balin, who voices his concerns. Bilbo asks if finding the Stone will help Thorin, Balin points out that finding the Arkenstone will only make Thorin worse and that it's best if it remains lost, and sending signals he knows Bilbo has the stone. Because Thorin is unaware of the Orcs that are going to attack from the north, and Thranduil refuses to dispatch the forces to Ravenhill, Bilbo instead volunteers to go there and warn him, but Gandalf will not allow Bilbo to complete it. Despite everything they have been through, Bilbo still cares for his friends and tells him he doesn't care if the wizard allows it or not. Bilbo then takes the ring and runs to Ravenhill.
Bilbo tries to warn Thorin of the oncoming orcs led by Bolg, but is too late. Azog kills Fili in front of him, Thorin, Dwalin and Kíli. He stays behind where he is attacked by Bolg and his mercenaries, as well as several bats. Before more are able to kill him, Dwalin comes to Bilbo's rescue. As he fights off the other Orcs, Bolg hits Bilbo with the handle of his mace, and he passes out. Sometime after the Battle in Ravenhill ends, Bilbo wakes up to find the Eagles are flying over him and that the battle is won. Overlooking the valley, he sees Azog has been killed, but Thorin has been mortally wounded. Bilbo goes by his side, where Thorin spends his last moments with Bilbo, apologizing to the Hobbit of his rude behavior towards him. Despite the Hobbit's efforts to keep Thorin alive, the dwarf king succumbs to his wounds.
Bilbo also comes to their funeral to pay his respects for his fallen friends. When he comes across Thorin's body, he breaks down crying. Bilbo is also one of the others who show their respect to the new King under the Mountain.
Later, Bilbo returns home to see the Sackville-Bagginses selling his stuff, but Bilbo is able to prove he's himself by the contract. When Bag End is cleared out, Bilbo finds his parents' portraits thrown on the ground and picks them up, putting them back up where they belong. He pulls out the ring one last time. Flash-forward sixty years later, an older Bilbo has finished writing the story (and also telling said story to Frodo), when a knock is at the door. Though Bilbo tells the stranger to go away, he immediately perks up when it is actually Gandalf and goes out to greet him.
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 fonder of adventures and wandering, and the Baggins who were fonder 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 Took's 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 take 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.
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Trivia
- Bilbo is the first individual who voluntarily gave up the One Ring.
- The way the One 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.
- Bilbo uses the One Ring to make himself invisible a total of six times throughout the trilogy: -1st - to escape Gollum in the Goblins' caves. -2nd - to escape the spiders. -3rd - to help Thorin and the rest of the Company to escape from Thranduil's cells. -4th - to hide from Smaug's sight after his awakening. -5th - to avoid being eaten by Smaug, running from Smaug's fire breath. -6th - to travel from Dale to Ravenhill, to tell Thorin about Azog's trap.
- By sparingly Gollum, Bilbo unknowingly saved Middle-Earth. If Gollum was dead he wouldn’t have been able to bite off Frodo’s finger and accidentally destroy the Ring, thus destroying Sauron and saving Middle-Earth.
