Some Points on Frodoâs childhood:
His parents were drowned in the Brandywine when he was twelve (and I will never be over the fact that despite no hobbit ever having killed another in the Shire, Sandyman is still out there spreading rumors that they murdered each other)
Lived in Brandy Hall from twelve to twenty-one (roughly 8-14 for us, I think, if you accept hobbits grow up more slowly).Â
Itâs implied that he was largely lost in the shuffle of all the Brandybucks, left to his own devices; now, this is implied by Hobbiton hobbits, with their strong anti-Buckland biases, but it doesnât seem out of line with what we know of Frodo.
Stole mushrooms from Farmer Maggot several times in his teensâor no, Iâm sorry, he was caught several times, which implies he may have committed more thefts than thatâuntil he was finally Scarred For Life and avoided Maggot for thirty years until Pippin insisted they should go see him.
Farmer Maggot remembers young Frodo as âone of the worst young rascals of Bucklandâ and says he was âalways a reckless lad,â which intrigues me greatly.
He went into the Old Forest once, âlong agoââI assume during these years, but Iâm curious how Merry knows, considering he was seven when Frodo moved to Bag End.
Bilbo adopted him when he was twenty-one, in a very Bilbo-ish way: âYou had better come and live here, Frodo my lad,â said Bilbo one day;Â âand then we can celebrate our birthday-parties comfortably together.â I love this bit.
Side note: Bilbo âhad no close friends, until some of his younger cousins began to grow up. The eldest of these, and Bilboâs favorite, was young Frodo Baggins.â This means Frodo was his first close friend in the Shire. Also, I donât think itâs unreasonable to guess his other friendships with the âyounger cousinsâ came through Frodo? Which gives me Feelings.
When Frodo moved to Bag End, Sam was nine; Merry was seven; and Pippin didnât exist yet. (Folco Boffin was eleven, and Fatty Bolger was also nineâFrodo, like Bilbo, has no friends his own age. This kinda supports the idea he was isolated in BucklandâŠ)
Please imagine Tiny Sam and Tween Frodo becoming friends.
At some point Frodo met Gandalf for the first time, and I would like to know whether it was before or after his adoption.
Frodo and Bilbo clearly were really close, which I also love.
Frodo was the only person in the Shire even allowed to see There and Back Again, let alone read it (Merry managed to sneak one quick look because he was a child spy, but thatâs it).
More than that, Bilbo made sure to tell him the true story of how he got the Ring, which is not what he put in the book and which only Gandalf knew (after badgering it out of him and straining their friendship in the process). âHe told me the true story soon after I came to live hereââmeaning he trusted a young tween with this. âNo secrets between us, Frodo,â he said. Yeah, uhâŠÂ no kidding.
Bilbo also shared his songs with Frodo & Friends, as evidenced by all the times one of the hobbits starts singing a Bilbo-made song. (There are three I can think of off the top of my head.)
Bilbo taught Frodo a little High Elvish, which is just⊠super cool, and a little insane to think about from the perspective of anyone who doesnât know Bilbo personally. There are just random hobbits going around speaking the Ancient Speech of the Elves?? Okay then.
When Bilbo left, Frodo was thirty-three; Sam was twenty-one (and already doing most of Bag Endâs gardening); Merry was nineteen; and Pippin was eleven. (Folco was twenty-three and and Fatty was twenty-one.)
Frodo misses Bilbo a lot. Like, I donât even know how many times he suddenly Misses Bilbo during the first five chapters, but it keeps coming up. Iâm very much looking forward to hitting Rivendell.
In conclusion: Amazon, if you must make extra-canonical Middle-earth content, where is my domestic Shire-based slice-of-life show about Frodo and Bilbo???