Frodo Baggins
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Frodo Baggins is one of the most significant characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.
He is the primary protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The novel's proceedings depend most crucially upon his decisions and actions. He is also mentioned in The Silmarillion, a work whose concept predates The Lord of the Rings by about forty years, but was published after Tolkien's death.
Frodo has a close and caring family relationship with Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist of Tolkien's original Middle-earth novel, The Hobbit. Bilbo adopted his young cousin Frodo as his heir after Frodo's parents died in a boating accident.
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[edit] Appearances
[edit] Literature
Frodo, a Hobbit (or halfling, as other peoples tended to call them), was born to Drogo Baggins and Primula Brandybuck on September 22 in the year of 2968 of the Third Age. In 2980, Frodo lost both his parents in a boating accident. Then aged twelve, he was taken in by his mother's family, the Brandybucks. In 2989, Frodo came under the guardianship of Bilbo Baggins, who adopted him, and whom he thought of as his uncle (though Frodo was actually his first and second cousin once removed, since his mother was Bilbo's first cousin, and his father was Bilbo's second cousin). Frodo was 21 years old at the time, still far short of his coming of adult age at 33. The childless Bilbo chose Frodo as his adoptive heir, and brought him to live at Bag End. The two shared the same birthday. During the twelve years that passed, Bilbo taught him a bit of Elvish, and they often took long walking trips together.
When Frodo came of age, Bilbo left for Rivendell on his eleventy-first (111) birthday, and Frodo inherited Bag End and the Bilbo's magic ring. Gandalf warned Frodo that the Ring must never be used and should be kept secret. (At the time, he was not yet certain that it was Sauron's One Ring.) Frodo kept the Ring hidden for 17 years, until T.A. 3018, when Gandalf returned to confirm that it was indeed the One Ring. Gandalf sent Frodo away with Sam Gamgee, Frodo's gardener and his dearest friend. Together with his cousins Peregrin "Pippin" Took and Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, and later, a Ranger named Strider, they made it to the house of Elrond in Rivendell.
On their way to Rivendell, while waiting for Gandalf at a disused watchtower at Weathertop hill, Frodo was stabbed by the Witch-king of Angmar, the chief of the Nazgûl, with a Morgul-blade. Without the assistance of Elrond, the wound would have turned him into a wraith under the control of the Nazgûl and Sauron. Even though he was saved from that fate, the wound never healed completely.
In Rivendell, at the Half-elven lord Elrond's Council, it was decided that the Ring must be destroyed by casting it into the Crack of Doom. A Fellowship was formed to protect Frodo as the Ring-bearer. His quest to destroy the Ring forms the main story of The Lord of the Rings. After leaving Rivendell Frodo carried an Elven dagger ("for a Hobbit, as good as a short sword ") called Sting and wore a coat of Dwarven chainmail made of mithril under his clothes, both given to him by Bilbo. At Lothlórien, Galadriel gave him an Elven cloak and a phial carrying the light of Eärendil to aid him on his quest.
Among the Fellowship, Frodo was most affected by Gandalf's apparent death in Moria, having grown up with the old wizard as a kind of grandfather-figure. He was also the most relieved when Gandalf returned from Valinor.
Frodo and Sam left the Fellowship after one of its members, Boromir, tried to take the Ring for himself at Amon Hen. The Fellowship further separated after Boromir was mortally wounded by Uruk-hai while defending Pippin and Merry, an attempt at redemption. Frodo and Sam headed toward Mount Doom, followed by the creature Gollum, who was seeking to reclaim the Ring he had possessed for centuries. Frodo eventually captured and "tamed" Gollum, using him as their guide to Mordor. The two formed a sort of bond, as they both knew all too well what a heavy, seductive burden the Ring was.
Gollum eventually betrayed them, however, leading them to Cirith Ungol, the lair of Shelob, where he planned to take the Ring after the giant spider had eaten them. Shelob stung Frodo and put him into paralysis but he was saved from death when Sam fought her off. Sam could not save him from a pack of Orcs, however, who carried him off to their dungeon. Thankfully, Sam had pocketed the Ring before the Orcs arrived.
Sam rescued Frodo from the Orcs, and the two set off for Mount Doom. By this time, however, Frodo was considerably weakened by the Ring's strengthening influence; when they reached the volcano, Frodo finally gave in to its power and took it for himself. Moments later, however, Gollum attacked him and bit off his finger, finally taking back the Ring. In his subsequent ecstasy, Gollum then lost his balance and fell into the waiting lava, taking the Ring with him. The Ring was finally destroyed, Sauron lost his power and was ultimately defeated and peace was brought to most of the Middle-earth. Frodo and Sam were saved by the Eagles of Manwë as the volcano erupted and collapsed.
Upon his return to the Shire, Frodo helped clear out a criminal mob, led by his cousin, Lotho Sackville-Baggins, and the fallen wizard Saruman, that had taken over the region during his absence. He refused however, to carry a sword or any weapon. He saw to it that any enemies captured were not killed. He never recovered from the physical, emotional and psychological wounds he suffered during the War of the Ring, and was in particular taken ill on the anniversaries of the days of his wounding on Weathertop and his poisoning by Shelob. He briefly served as Deputy Mayor of the Shire, but later resigned. Two years after the Ring was destroyed, Frodo as the Ring-bearer and Bilbo as the Ring-finder were accorded a special right to travel to Valinor where, receiving the gift of the undying land, they might be healed and find peace, together with Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel, the Keepers of the Three. They boarded a ship from the Grey Havens and passed over the sea on September 29, T.A. 3021. Having no children of his own, Frodo left his estate and passed on the Red Book of Westmarch to Sam, who, according to Hobbit legend, followed Frodo across the sea 61 years later, following the death of his wife Rose (nee) Cotton.
[edit] Adaptations
 Frodo from the 1978 animated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. |
 Frodo from the 1980 animated film adaptation of The Return of the King. |
 Frodo (Elijah Wood) in the 2001-03 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. |
 Frodo (Joe Sofranko, left) in the 2003 stage production of The Return of the King. |
In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo was voiced by Christopher Guard. Billy Barty was the model for Frodo, as well as Bilbo and Sam, in the live-action recordings Bakshi used for rotoscoping.
In the 1980 Rankin/Bass animated version of The Return of the King, made for television, the character was voiced by Orson Bean, who had previously played Bilbo in the same company's adaptation of The Hobbit.
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) — Frodo is played by American actor Elijah Wood. A matter of debate among both viewers of these films and readers of the book is the concern that Wood was physically too young to play Frodo, as he was 18 and then 19 at the time of principal photography. In the book, when setting out on his quest, Frodo is, like Bilbo before him, fifty years of age. However, hobbits are described by Tolkien to live longer than most humans (they were properly a subset of humanity, rather than a separate race, as they themselves thought), with their average age of death being roughly about one hundred. They also reach their coming of age — full maturity and adulthood — at thirty-three. In Chapter II of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Shadow of the Past, Frodo is described as not ageing due to the influence of the Ring: "A robust, energetic hobbit just out of his tweens (twenties akin to teenage years)". This makes the disparity of Wood's age not as drastic as it would appear at first glance, but still Frodo in the books would appear roughly 25-30 years old.
On stage, Frodo was portrayed by James Loye in the 3-hour long Toronto, Canada stage production of The Lord of the Rings, which opened in 2006. In the United States, Frodo was portrayed by Joe Sofranko in the Cincinnati productions of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003) for Clear Stage Cincinnati. In Chicago, Patrick Blashill played Frodo in the Lifeline Theatre production of The Two Towers in 1999.
In the 1981 BBC radio serial of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo is played by Ian Holm, who later played Bilbo in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
[edit] Characteristics
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Frodo, as described by the Wizard Gandalf, was a "stout little fellow with red cheeks [as were most Hobbits]... taller than some and fairer than most, [with] a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye." (The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 10, "Strider".) He had thick, curly brown hair like most other hobbits. He had Fallohide ancestry due to his Brandybuck mother.
Bilbo and Frodo shared a common birthday on September 22, but Bilbo was 78 years Frodo's senior. At the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and Bilbo were celebrating their thirty-third and eleventy-first (111th) birthdays, respectively, on September 22, T.A. 3001.
Frodo, like Bilbo, was considered by many others in Hobbiton to be a little odd. His interests in the outside world, fascination with elves and faraway places (like those that Bilbo travelled in The Hobbit) did not fit the general content personality of most Hobbits. This curiosity was also attributed to his Took ancestry.
Frodo was always a pleasant Hobbit, cheerful to everyone and had wisdom that most Hobbits did not. But after returning home from his long journey, he was never again the same person that he was when he left (this being said to be due to Frodo suffering post traumatic stress disorder from the Quest). Merry, Pippin, and Sam were treated as heroes and adored in the Shire for their bravery on the quest, but Frodo was never given as much credit (though he didn't really care). No one quite understood the pain he had gone through, and as a result he became somewhat quiet and isolated in the years after the destruction of the Ring until he left for the Grey Havens. This ending is more emphasized in the original The Return of the King than in Peter Jackson's movie adaptation. Frodo Baggins was considerably the most courageous hobbit who ever lived, who lost his mental and physical health in the Quest of the Ring.
[edit] External links
- Frodo Baggins at the Encyclopedia of Arda
- Frodo Baggins at the Thain's Book
| Preceded by Bilbo Baggins |
Bearer of the One Ring 3001 Third Age – 3019 TA |
Succeeded by Tom Bombadil |
| Preceded by Tom Bombadil |
Bearer of the One Ring 3019 TA |
Succeeded by Samwise Gamgee |
| Preceded by Samwise Gamgee |
Bearer of the One Ring 3019 TA |
Succeeded by Smeagol |
| The Fellowship of the Ring |
| Frodo · Sam · Merry · Pippin · Gandalf · Aragorn · Legolas · Gimli · Boromir |
