Fans of Tolkien celebrate September 22 as the birthday of two of his most famous characters. By “Shire Reckoning”, both Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins would be celebrating their birthdays today. Hobbit Day has been celebrated for around thirty years now. Here is a brief look into the Baggins family tree.
J.R.R. Tolkien is the author who wrote “The Hobbit”, and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. If you haven’t read at least one of those books yourself, then you probably saw the movies. I can remember watching the animated version of “The Hobbit” when I was a kid.
Fans of Tolkien’s work will immediately recognize the name Bilbo Baggins. Fans of the movies will know who Frodo is. The two characters are related to each other, and have the same birth date (but not the same birth year).
Let’s start with Bilbo Baggins. He is unmarried, and has no children. His parents were named Bungo Baggins and Beladonna Took.
The parents of Bungo Baggins are Mungo Baggins and Laura Grubb. Bungo has several siblings, and many of them got married. Some had children of their own. This means that Bilbo has aunts and uncles (who are blood relatives) named Bungo Baggins, Belba (Baggins) Bolger, Longo Baggins, Linda (Baggins) Proudfoot, and Bingo Baggins.
From these aunts and uncles, Bilbo Baggins has two first cousins. Otho Sackville-Baggins is the child of Longo Baggins (Bilbo’s uncle), and Camellia Sackville-Baggins, (Bilbo’s aunt by marriage). Bilbo’s other first cousin is named Falco Chubb-Baggins. Falco is the child of Bingo Baggins (Bilbo’s uncle), and Chica Chubb (Bilbo’s aunt by marriage).
The parents of Bilbo’s dad, Bungo Baggins, are Mungo Baggins and Laura Grubb. Those two hobbits are the grandparents of Bilbo Baggins. Mungo had several siblings: Pansy Baggins, Ponto Baggins, Lily Baggins, and Largo Baggins. All of them are either the great-aunt, or great-uncle, to Bilbo Baggins. All of them are the children of Balbo Baggins and Berylla Boffin, (who are the great-grandfather and great-grandmother to Bilbo).
Those of you who are familiar with the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy know that Bilbo Baggins is related to Frodo Baggins. Frodo refers to Bilbo as his “uncle”, but technically, this is not how the two are related.
Frodo Baggins is the only child of Drogo Baggins and Primula Brandybuck. Drogo Baggins is the child of Fosco Baggins and Ruby Bolger. Fosco can be looked at as the “link” between Bilbo and Frodo.
Fosco is the child of Largo Baggins and Tanta Hornblower. Largo Baggins is the great-uncle of Bilbo Baggins, and the grandfather of Frodo Baggins. This makes Bilbo’s great-grandparents, Balbo Baggins and Berylla Boffin, the great-great-grandparents to Frodo. Therefore, Bilbo cannot truly be Frodo’s “uncle”.
The two are definitely related to each other, but the exact terminology for that relationship is a lot more complicated than “uncle”. According to Wikipedia, the two hobbits are “first and second cousins, once removed either way.”
Image by Daniel F. Pigatto on Flickr