Lord of the Rings on Film

Lesson 2: Characters and Actors

Hobbits -- Frodo and Bilbo

"The Lord of The Rings required a commitment from our cast to learn how to swordfight, horseback ride, canoe, learn Elvish, climb mountain peaks and at the same time bring the magic and magnetism of Tolkien’s characters to the screen. They were up to the task." — Barrie M. Osborne, producer

This lesson discusses specific characters in The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) rather than types of people/creatures. See Lesson 3, The Fellowship of the Ring, for an explanation of the races of Middle-earth.

Characters in LOTR – Hobbits

The hobbits in the film are played by Elijah Wood (Frodo), Sean Astin (Sam), Dominic Monaghan (Merry) Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Ian Holm (Bilbo). Although Frodo is fifty in the book, he is cast as much younger in the film. This is one of the instances where changing the original version seems to work better – although hobbits live to around a hundred, so fifty is not as "old" as it would be for us, fifty does seem a little old for a naïve hero just starting out on a first quest.

FRODO BAGGINS - Elijah Wood

20 year-old Elijah Wood was chosen by the producers for his "sincerity of purpose". The character of Frodo changes and develops throughout the films, from a carefree hobbit in the Shire to one brave enough to take on the quest, to one finally taken by the Ring at the end.

Frodo is unusual for a hobbit in that he has an interest in adventure, a strange and "elvish" habit people blame on his wayward uncle Bilbo, who is notorious in Hobbiton and beyond for not settling down with his pipe as hobbits are meant to. Frodo has explored a lot of the Shire, particularly after Bilbo leaves (in the book it is several years before Frodo leaves on the quest) and he is "even suspected" of knowing elves.

As Gandalf says, "You can learn all that there is to know about [hobbits’] ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch" ( The Fellowship of the Ring [FOTR], Chapter 2). Frodo accepts that he must take the Ring to Rivendell, and, although he at first thinks this is all his task entails and is expecting to go home afterwards, he also volunteers to take the Ring to Mordor. As Elrond and Gandalf realise, Frodo and the other hobbits would not volunteer if they knew what the journey involved; yet they know it will be dangerous and still willingly agree to go.

Millions of words have been written about why LOTR is so popular and touches a chord with so many people – the characters of Frodo and the hobbits perhaps provide a reason. Everyone likes to that they would show the courage and strength the characters show and that they would do the right thing even if it were dangerous. Frodo shows himself ready for the challenge, although he would not have had much luck at the start of the quest without the other members of the Fellowship with him. Perhaps his bravest decision is to go to Mordor alone – after Boromir tries to take the Ring, Frodo knows that one by one it could ensnare the company and ruin the quest. Although the Ring claims him at the very end, he recovers to fight Gollum and succeeds in the quest. It is sad that he cannot then settle in Middle-earth afterwards; he finds that in ensuring that the Shire remains the same he has also ensured that he cannot stay there -- he has been "too deeply hurt" by what has happened in the War of the Ring. He gives the history of the Lord of the Rings to Sam to complete, and joins Bilbo in sailing into the west.

BILBO BAGGINS - Ian Holm

Bilbo Baggins was a happily conservative hobbit until Gandalf decided he should accompany the dwarves as a burglar on their expedition to recover dwarf gold from the dragon Smaug (The Hobbit). After resisting, refusing and all round complaining (although in the hospitable way of hobbits, also making breakfast for the fourteen), Bilbo finds himself outside, on a pony, wearing a too-big dwarf cloak and without even a handkerchief! However, he acquits himself well and returns to Bag-End to live comfortably on his share of the dragon gold.

Bilbo is then, of course, the talk of Bag-End, Hobbiton and the Shire. The opening of LOTR tells us that Bilbo is thought of as "very rich and very peculiar, [having] been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return" (FOTR, Chapter 1). He is even more of a subject of gossip after he disappears on his eleventy first birthday, "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 the true events were forgotten" (FOTR, Chapter 2).

In the films, Bilbo is an excellent character and played with real sympathy and affection by Ian Holm who makes him more likeable than in the book. We see him fussing around making preparations for his party, and offering Gandalf tea, or eggs, or cheese (Holm captures hobbits perfectly when Bilbo emerges from the kitchen trying to talk through a mouthful of sponge cake). But then we see his distress at leaving the Ring, and the hold it has on him when Gandalf tries to make him give it up. In Rivendell, he asks Frodo for a last look at the Ring, and becomes Gollum-like in his snarl as he tries to snatch the Ring from around Frodo’s neck (some fans did not like this moment but I feel it shows well the power of the Ring, and makes the audience feel great sympathy for Bilbo who is becoming entrapped by it). Bilbo also has to deal with the guilt he feels that he inadvertently passed such a dangerous object on to Frodo.

Bilbo joins the Council of Elrond and in the book offers to take the ring to Mordor himself. He then gives Frodo his old sword Sting, given to him in The Hobbit, and his coat of mithril, a very valuable precious metal that acts as armour for its wearer. The next time we see Bilbo is at the end of the third film, when as a former Ring-bearer he is entitled to go to the Grey Havens with Frodo. (Notice how much Bilbo has aged now that he does not have the Ring; his good health and youthful looks were another source of annoyance to his hobbit neighbours.)

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