Frodo Baggins is the hobbit protagonist of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, published in three volumes between 1954 and 1955. Frodo inherits the One Ring, a source of immense and corrupting power, from his older cousin and guardian Bilbo Baggins, and after learning from the wizard Gandalf that it is the master weapon of the Dark Lord Sauron, Frodo undertakes the perilous quest to carry it across Middle-earth to Mount Doom, the only place it can be destroyed. Accompanied for much of the journey by his loyal gardener and closest friend Samwise Gamgee, and for a time by a wider Fellowship including Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and others, Frodo bears not only the physical dangers of the quest but the Ring's steadily growing psychological weight, which gradually wears down his will and body over the course of the story. At the very end, standing at the edge of the fire, Frodo is ultimately unable to willingly destroy the Ring himself, and it is only through the intervention of the creature Gollum that the quest is completed. Frodo Baggins is regarded as one of the central figures of modern fantasy literature, an unlikely hero whose courage lies in endurance rather than strength.
Facts
Narrative RoleSourced to the subject's own accountHobbit protagonist of The Lord of the Rings who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins and undertakes the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom. 1 Defining TraitSourced to the subject's own accountRepeatedly wounded and increasingly burdened by the Ring as the quest nears Mordor, growing in understanding and compassion but never able to settle back into ordinary life afterward. 1 Narrative role (class)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Sources
1. Frodo Baggins (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, paragraph 1
Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly as "uncle", and undertakes the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor.
Lead section, paragraph 2
On his return to the Shire, he is unable to settle back into ordinary life; two years after the Ring's destruction, he is allowed to take ship to the earthly paradise of Valinor.
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Frodo Baggins when he actually leaves the Shire in the books?
Fifty years old, notably older than his film portrayal by Elijah Wood suggests.
In Tolkien's own chronology, set out in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, Frodo inherits the Ring from Bilbo on his own thirty-third birthday, the age at which hobbits are considered to come of age, but does not actually set out from the Shire until seventeen years later, in the year 3018 of the Third Age, when he is fifty. Hobbits age more slowly than men by Tolkien's own account, so fifty is still a relatively young adult age for one.
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