Who is Frodo Baggins

• He's pretty. OK, maybe not quite as pretty as Legolas, but he's got the big blue eyes going for him.


• He's studious. Not only has Frodo always been fascinated by the world outside the Shire, he's learned a bit of Elvish too. He's an unusually bookish hobbit.


• He's a survivor. He may have needed stalwart Samwise to lift his spirits and carry him during his weakest moments, but Frodo himself carried the Ring for a long time. He kept going and resisted its evil influence almost until the very end.

• Bilbo Baggins isn't actually Frodo's uncle; he is Frodo's first cousin once removed as well as his second cousin once removed.


• Meriadoc Brandybuck is Frodo's first cousin once removed.


• Peregrin Took is Frodo's second cousin once removed.


• Drogo Baggins is Frodo's father.


• Primula Brandybuck Baggins is Frodo's mother.

It's hard to believe that a quiet, sensible hobbit like Frodo was something of a rascal when he was a boy. He used to sneak onto Farmer Maggot's property to steal mushrooms.

Frodo's parents died when he was only twelve years old. It was a boating accident on the Brandywine River. Drogo couldn't swim, but his mother Primula could. Exactly how they both managed to drown is something of a mystery.

There have been unkind rumors about the drowning incident. Some say that Primula pushed Drogo out of the boat and that he dragged her down with him. All a bunch of fabrications by idle hobbits who are known to spread false rumors.

Frodo spent most of his childhood in Brandywine Hall, the home of his mother's clan. It was very crowded, and Frodo probably felt out of sorts living there. He had no siblings of his own, though many fan fiction writers like to believe that Frodo was much like an older brother or uncle to his cousin Merry Brandybuck.

At age 21, Frodo was adopted by Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo made Frodo his heir, much to the consternation of the Sackville-Bagginses who expected to inherit Bag End after Bilbo's death.

From Bilbo, Frodo learned to speak a bit of Elvish. Bilbo also taught Frodo much of what he knew about Middle Earth's lore, and took the lad on long walking trips. Apart from his parents' untimely death, Frodo had a very quiet and mostly uneventful life before the Quest.

There are those who say that Frodo is not a true hero, because he succumbed to the Ring's power in the end. He had a choice, and he blew it! Well, that's one way of looking at it. But I think the incident says more about the Ring than it does about Frodo.

Tolkien himself wrote about Frodo's failure in a letter: "I do not think that Frodo's was a moral failure. At the last moment the pressure of the Ring would reach its maximum - impossible, I should have said, for any one to resist, certainly after long possession, months of increasing torment, and when starved and exhausted. Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) and had produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved. His humility (with which he began) and his sufferings were justly rewarded by the highest honour; and his exercise of patience and mercy towards Gollum gained him Mercy: his failure was redressed."

Frodo isn't a classic, warrior-like hero. He shows heroism through self-sacrifice, mercy, and strength of character. His first heroic act was leaving his peaceful, sheltered life in the Shire and striking out on the road to face danger.

Frodo could have let someone else worry about destroying the Ring. Instead, he volunteered to take the Ring to Mordor himself, though he knew it would be a treacherous journey.

Frodo kept going despite starvation, despite pain, and despite the powerful influence of the One Ring-- a Ring that even Gandalf was afraid to touch. Frodo showed great strength of character and willpower until the very end.