He was a thief. Or at least, that’s what his contract said. Most people look at Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings and see a respectable, slightly fussy old man who likes seed cake and long walks. But if you actually track his trajectory from the Shire to the Grey Havens, you realize he was the most disruptive force in Middle-earth.
He didn't have a sword like Andúril. He didn't have a staff. He had a gold ring and a weirdly high tolerance for psychological torture.
When we meet Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, he is 111 years old. That is a massive deal. Hobbits are long-lived, sure, but Bilbo was "well-preserved," which in Hobbiton is code for "there is something deeply unnatural happening here." J.R.R. Tolkien wasn't just writing a fantasy story; he was writing a study on how power, specifically the One Ring, interacts with a soul that lacks traditional ambition.
The Bilbo Baggins Lord of the Rings Connection: Why He Kept the Ring
Most fans forget that Bilbo is the only person in the history of the Third Age to give up the One Ring voluntarily. Think about that. Isildur couldn't do it. Gollum certainly couldn't. Even Boromir, a literal prince of Men, lost his mind just being near the thing.
So why could Bilbo?
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It’s basically down to how he got it. Gandalf points out in The Fellowship of the Ring that because Bilbo’s first act with the Ring was one of pity—choosing not to kill the miserable creature Gollum—the Ring’s evil didn't take hold of him as quickly. It’s a moral technicality that saved the world. If Bilbo had slit Gollum’s throat in the dark, the quest to destroy the Ring would have failed before it even started because Bilbo would have become a monster long before Frodo was even born.
Honestly, the way Bilbo treats the Ring is kinda terrifying when you look at it closely. He calls it his "precious." He lies about how he found it—telling the Dwarves he won it in a fair game, when he actually just stumbled upon it. That’s the Ring working on him. It’s a slow-acting poison. By the time we see him at his 111th birthday party, he’s "stretched." Like butter scraped over too much bread.
The Map, the Mithril, and the Baggins Legacy
Bilbo didn't just pass on a curse to Frodo. He passed on a literal fortune. The Mithril shirt he gave Frodo was worth more than the entire value of the Shire and everything in it.
But Bilbo's real impact on The Lord of the Rings isn't his money. It's his lore.
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While living in Rivendell after his "eleventy-first" birthday, Bilbo became a legitimate scholar. He translated the Red Book of Westmarch. He wrote poetry that would make an Elf weep. He wasn't just a retired adventurer; he was the primary historian of the War of the Ring. Without Bilbo’s obsession with recording his journey, we wouldn't have the context for why the world was ending.
What People Get Wrong About Bilbo’s "Greed"
There’s this weird misconception that Bilbo was greedy.
He wasn't.
He was a victim of a sentient weapon. When he snaps at Frodo in Rivendell—that jump-scare moment where his face turns demonic—that’s not Bilbo. That’s the Ring’s lingering shadow. Tolkien once wrote in Letter 131 that the Ring’s power was proportional to the stature of the wearer. Since Bilbo was a "small" person in terms of worldly power, the Ring didn't know what to do with him for a long time. It couldn't tempt him with empires, so it tempted him with... staying exactly the same.
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The Ending Most People Miss
In the films, Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings feels like a side character who pops up for a few laughs and a scary face. In the books, his departure to the Grey Havens is heartbreaking.
He’s old. Truly old this time.
The Ring is gone, and time is finally catching up to him. When he sails West with Frodo, Galadriel, and Elrond, he is the only mortal besides Frodo and Sam (and arguably Gimli later) to be granted that grace. He earned it. Not because he fought an Orc army, but because he was the first person to look at ultimate power and say, "No, I think I'll leave it on the mantelpiece."
Actionable Takeaways for Tolkien Fans
If you want to understand Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings on a deeper level, you have to look at the primary sources. Don't just rely on the movies.
- Read "The Shadow of the Past": This chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring contains Gandalf’s full explanation of why Bilbo was chosen. It’s not because he was a hero. It’s because he was "meant" to find the Ring, and not by its maker.
- Track the "Butter over Bread" Metaphor: Look at how Bilbo describes his own exhaustion. It’s the perfect clinical description of burnout caused by external pressure.
- Analyze the Riddles in the Dark: Re-read the riddle contest from The Hobbit but through the lens of The Lord of the Rings. You’ll see that Bilbo’s "winning" riddle—"What have I got in my pocket?"—was actually a total breach of etiquette that nearly cost him his life.
Bilbo wasn't a warrior. He was a guy who wanted to go home and eat honey cake. And that’s exactly why he was the only person capable of holding the world’s most evil object for sixty years without turning into a wraith. He was too "Hobbit" to be corrupted quickly. He is the ultimate proof in Tolkien's world that the smallest person can, indeed, change the course of the future just by being a decent neighbor.