The New Master of Bag End

There ends up being about 18 years of time between Bilbo's disappearance and Frodo's journey and I will cover some of those events in the next several posts. Peter Jackson and his creative team essentially cut out these years for the movie adaptation. For now Frodo was the new Master Baggins of Bag End and rather enjoying it. For well over a year Bilbo's strange birthday party was talked about in great detail and it never did leave Hobbit-lore. "It became a fireside-story for young hobbits; and eventually Mad Baggins, who used to vanish with a bang and a flash and reappear with bags of jewels and gold, became a favourite character of legend and lived on long after all true events were forgotten" (p. 51, The Fellowship of the Ring).

In the present, however, Bilbo was really thought of as going mad and most felt Gandalf was to blame. They hoped the wizard would leave Frodo be. But it seemed Frodo was only taking after old mad Bilbo. The very next year Frodo threw a 112th birthday party for Bilbo and he never went into mourning. He didn't believe Bilbo was dead even though he didn't know where he was if others asked. Year after year Frodo continued a birthday celebration for Bilbo until, for the most part, folks grew used to it.

Frodo never married, just like Bilbo, but he did keep some rather close friends unlike the older hobbit. Most of these were younger hobbits who enjoyed Bilbo's stories and they included: Folco Boffin, Fredegar Bolger, Peregrin (Pippin) Took, and Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck. They often were seen out and about in the Shire on some errand or adventure. But Frodo was also seen wandering alone, far from home, on the borders of the Shire. "Merry and Pippin suspected that he visited the Elves at times, as Bilbo had done" (p. 51-52, The Fellowship of the Ring).

Indeed, Frodo was trying to gather any news that he could for it had been several years since he had last seen Gandalf and many rumors of the outside world were being spread. "Elves, who seldom walked in the Shire, could now be seen passing westward through the woods in the evening, passing and not returning; but they were leaving Middle-earth and were no longer concerned with its troubles" (p. 52, The Fellowship of the Ring). The chief source of information were the dwarves who travelled along the ancient East-West Road on their way to the Blue Mountains. The Road ran through the Shire and at it's westernmost end were the Grey Havens. Frodo sought to speak with the dwarves. "They were troubled, and some spoke in whispers of the Enemy and the Land of Mordor" (p. 52, The Fellowship of the Ring).

Of Sauron the hobbits knew little save some legends of a dark and gloomy past. And yet this news still seemed unsettling to them nonetheless. "It seemed that the evil power in Mirkwood had been driven out by the White Council only to reappear in greater strength in the old strongholds of Mordor" (p. 53, The Fellowship of the Ring). Along with the Shadow Orcs and Trolls were multiplying as well. Yet another sign that things were not as peaceful as many in Hobbiton believed.

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 3001-3004
Today's reading comes from: The Fellowship of the Ring, pages 51-53