Highlights
- Hobbits like Fatty, Bullroarer, and Pippin played crucial roles in Middle-earth history, saving it from evil forces like Sauron.
- Characters like Lobelia and Deagol underwent significant transformations, showing bravery and selflessness in the face of adversity.
- Frodo and Sam’s unwavering loyalty and bravery were essential in destroying the One Ring and defeating Sauron, saving Middle-earth.
The Lord of the Rings is a massive franchise in popular culture today. With one of the richest lores of any franchise, there is a cast of characters spanning thousands of years and multiple ‘Ages’. Hobbits may have played a minor role in the first few ages of Middle-earth, but that all changed in the Third Age, concerning a certain Ring of Power.
These important Hobbits may have been unheard of by many folk in Middle-earth, but certain characters rose up and changed their world’s history, and eventually saved it from Sauron’s evil. This gives many Hobbits a place among Middle-earth’s most important characters, whether they were the Ringbearer, or even a ”fool of a Took”.
10 Fredegar ‘Fatty’ Bolger
Had Frodo Baggins’ Trust
Nicknamed ‘Fatty’, Fredegar himself was absent from the movies, even though the Bolger family was invited to Bilbo’s birthday party. However, this good-natured Hobbit had a solid role in The Fellowship of the Ring novel. One of Frodo’s most trusted friends, Fatty knew about the One Ring, and thus assisted Frodo in leaving the Shire inconspicuously.
Despite not being willing to leave with Frodo and travel to Rivendell, Fatty plays an important role in keeping his friends’ mission a secret, thus protecting him from the Nazgul. He lived at Frodo’s new home in Crickhollow, thus fooling everyone else into thinking he was there. During the Scouring of the Shire, Fatty became a leader, leading his rebels into fights against Saruman’s evil control.
9 Bandobras ‘Bullroarer’ Took
Protected The Shire
Bandobras is famous for a variety of reasons. As well as being one of the tallest Hobbits to have ever lived, he was capable of riding horses which wasn’t common among his people. However, Bandobras also achieved a great victory, protecting many of his people and homeland.
In the year 2747 of the Third Age, Bandobras successfully stopped an invasion of his homeland by a party of Orcs. As leader, he successfully led a defense, even delivering the killing blow to the orc’s leader Golfimbul. Speaking of ‘golf’, Bandobras decapitated Golfimbul, whose head fell into a hole someway off, thus starting the game of golf in the Shire. As such, the ‘Bullroarer’ became somewhat of a celebrity among the Took family and was revered among Hobbits.
8 Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
Could Frighten Bilbo Baggins Himself
Infamous for her greed and frightening temper, Lobelia was one of Bilbo’s worst enemies when he lived in Bag End. She always tried to intimidate him, one way or another, in her vain attempt to take Bag End from him. Despite her vast unfriendliness, Lobelia’s character changed drastically many years later.
Bravely, she stood up to the evil regime her own son, Lotho, and Saruman had placed over her homeland in the Scouring. Lobelia was imprisoned, but upon being rescued, was highly commended for her previous bravery. This, and the unfortunate death of Lotho, caused her character to change rapidly, and she grew to honor Frodo. Lobelia even leaves her money to him to help poorer hobbits find new homes, an act which Frodo was deeply touched by.
7 Deagol
If Not For Him, The Ring Wouldn’t Have Been Found
Deagol, like his friend Smeagol, was a Stoor Hobbit, a race that lived far away from the Shire. They inhabited the Gladden Fields, on the other side of the Misty Mountains. Deagol is one of the franchise’s most tragic characters, yet very important in ensuring Sauron does not get the Ring.
When out fishing with Smeagol one day, Deagol discovered the One Ring in the riverbed. However, upon seeing the Ring, Smeagol was so tempted by it, that he killed Deagol for it. However, through Deagol the Ring eventually came into the hands of Frodo, the Ringbearer, whose journey to destroy it was a success. Deagol’s tragic life ensured Sauron didn’t find the Ring hundreds of years earlier.
6 Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took
Became A Hero Despite A Previous Lack Of Courage
Pippin may have begun the adventure young and immature, a “fool of a Took” in Gandalf’s own words, but he would end it a hero. After accompanying Frodo to Rivendell, he joined the Fellowship despite Elrond’s insistence, thus showing loyalty to Frodo. Though he followed Merry’s lead in most events, it was when Gandalf separated the duo that Pippin became a courageous character.
Finding himself in Minas Tirith, Pippin befriended Faramir and became an aide to Denethor, Steward of Gondor. When the siege of Gondor began and Faramir was gravely injured, Pippin was instrumental in saving his life. He put himself in danger to warn Gandalf of Denethor’s plan to burn Faramir alive. This act of bravery turned Pippin into a valiant hero, and he even fought in the final battle outside the Black Gate. In the book, Pippin rallied a force of hobbits to fight against Saruman’s control of the Shire. Pippin went from relying on Merry to having others rely on him.
5 Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck
A Powerful And Influential Figure
Merry was the one Pippin looked up to and followed, and over the course of the Quest Merry demonstrated authority, thus impacting the events of the world. Merry was always more attentive than Pippin, wanting to know what creatures were pursuing Frodo as he escaped the Shire. After helping them reach Bree, Merry eventually joined the Fellowship of the Ring upon their escape to Rivendell. When the orcs ambushed the group at Amon Hen, Merry led a distraction to help Frodo escape. However, it was upon the Fellowship getting separated and he and Pippin kidnapped, that his character growth began.
Merry demonstrated a great desire to play a part in saving Middle-earth. After aiding Treebeards’ attack on Isengard, he and Pippin were separated. Merry was determined to fight in Rohan’s army and, though King Theoden refused, Merry allied with a disguised Eowyn. Thus, his role was critical, since it was he and Eowyn who slew the evil Lord of the Nazgul, the Witch-king, thus turning the tide in the Battle of Pelennor Fields. After fighting valiantly at the battle of the Black Gate, he was made a knight of Rohan when the war ended. Like Pippin, he encouraged and led hobbit forces to fight back against the oppression in the Shire.
4 Bilbo Baggins
An Adventurous Hobbit Who Aided The Dwarves and Had the One Ring
Bilbo Baggins achieved and succeeded against all odds. Chosen to accompany Thorin and Co to Erebor, who at first don’t see him capable of anything great, over the course of the adventure Bilbo countlessly proved himself. Bilbo rescued his companions from goblins, elves, and even giant spiders. It’s thanks to him that the dwarves even reached Erebor and recovered their treasure from Smaug.
Bilbo was instrumental in the Ring’s ultimate destruction. Demonstrating quick wit, intellect, and ability, he negotiated a way out from Gollum, who was intent on killing him. Bilbo’s resourcefulness and bravery, not to mention kindness sparing Gollum, ultimately made sure the Ring stayed out of Sauron’s hands, and could be inherited by his cousin Frodo eventually.
3 Smeagol
Had a Part to Play in Middle-earth’s History Due to His Possession of the One Ring
The Stoor Hobbit that eventually became Gollum, Smeagol, like Deagol, is a highly tragic character. After the brutal murder of Deagol, Smeagol was corrupted by the Ring and driven from his homeland. Instead, he lived in the mountains for hundreds of years. Over this time, he became the creature Gollum. Many years later, his ‘precious’, the One Ring, was taken from him by Bilbo. This set Gollum on a journey to get it back, fueled by his hatred for ‘Baggins’ and desperation for the Ring. Gollum could’ve previously died at Bilbo’s hands, but Bilbo was so filled with pity for him, he spared his life.
Yet, as Gandalf himself pointed out to Frodo, there was a reason his life was spared, and that he had a part to play in the Ring’s destruction, which he certainly did. When he was found by Frodo and Sam, Gollum led them to Mordor, which they couldn’t have done without him. Interestingly, in the book, it is Gollum who destroys the Ring. In his sheer excitement to have got it back from Frodo, he falls into Mount Doom’s lava, and thus causes the Ring’s, and therefore Sauron’s, undoing.
2 Frodo Baggins
The Ring-Bearer Who Ended Sauron’s Reign
If not for Frodo, events in Middle-Earth could’ve played out very differently. Orphaned as a child, Frodo was eventually adopted by Bilbo Baggins. As such, he inherited the One Ring, which would become a very heavy burden on him for the rest of his life. After heeding Gandalf’s advice, Frodo traveled to Rivendell for safety. However, his truest act of bravery was all his own: volunteering at the Council of Elrond to take the Ring to Mordor and destroy it.
Frodo had such great resistance and bravery, that the Ring didn’t have a huge influence over him until the very end. Frodo came up against many obstacles on his journey, barely escaping death from the likes of Boromir and the Witch-king. However, he trusted Gollum, which turned out to be the right course of action and caused the ultimate defeat of Sauron. Without Frodo’s incredible bravery and kindness to Gollum, the Ring may have fallen into the wrong hands, and thus Sauron’s evil overtook Middle-earth.
1 Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee
Without Him, The Quest To Destroy The Ring Would Have Failed
Frodo’s firmly loyal companion and best friend, Sam was the reason Frodo got through most of his weary journey to Mordor. At first, Sam was his humble gardener, but after being chosen by Gandalf to accompany Frodo, Sam’s adventure and character growth truly began. Sam always tried his best to defend and protect Frodo from harm, even facing the likes of the Nazgul at Weathertop. When Frodo appointed himself Ring-bearer, Sam immediately was at his side, declaring ‘Mr Frodo’s not going anywhere without me’. Even at Amon Hen, when Frodo insisted he travel alone, Sam risked his life to follow him by entering the river.
During the Quest, Sam always looked out for Frodos’ needs, offering vital support and encouragement to his ever-weakening friend. Sam even carried the Ring himself, faced and killed the terrifying tarantula Shelob, and rescued Frodo from the orcs in Cirith Ungol. When Frodo could no longer walk, it was Sam who carried him up Mount Doom. If not for Sam’s unwavering loyalty, Frodo would not have made it to Mordor.
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