Bag End’s Design
I love the set design of Bag End bc it tells you so much about Bilbo without words.
One of things that separates LotR from many other fantasy films is that the environments feel lived-in...they don’t just feel like sets, they’re designed to make you feel like the characters are actually living there, and making their marks on the environment.
I’ve mentioned before how I love the contrast between Bilbo’s cozy Bag End we see in the Fellowship of the Ring vs Frodo’s cold empty Bag End that we see in Return of the King.
But I also just really love how much FotR Bag End says about Bilbo as a person, without any words.
The home is a clutttered mess. There are books and maps and papers and inkwells eveRYWHERE, on every available surface-- on shelves, on tables, on chairs, on stools, scattered across the floor.
I like how there are stacks of books next to the fireplace, implying Bilbo and Frodo are used to reading next to the fire. I also like the little detail that the shelves above the fireplace (where the books should be) are half-empty, and all the books are on the floor instead, where they’re easier to reach.
I also really love the into where the camera pans across a map of the Shire as if Bilbo is carefully observing it..........
but then the camera slowly zooms out to reveal the map is actually lying on the floor among a scattered heap of random papers in a random room, while Bilbo is writing in another room.
And we see a collection of walking sticks, and books! So many books! Books everywhere, in huge disordered stacks that look ready to fall over at any moment!
You can also see food and half-empty cups lying around among all the scraps of maps and papers on all the tables, and in the windowsills:
Another little character moment I like is when Bilbo takes Gandalf’s hat and staff and puts it away for him. I don’t think it’s just Bilbo being courteous-- I think it’s also that the house is so cluttered that only he would know where to put things.
I also like the moment where Bilbo thinks he’s lost the Ring and PANICS....I get that it’s because the Ring is having an effect on his mind, but I think it’s also because “oh no how am I gonna find anything in here?????”
(Another thing I like about that scene: we see that when Bilbo doesn’t like the things he writes, he just rips the pages up, crumples them, and throws them on the floor. Like a drama queen.)
And then there’s the very important framed map of the Lonely Mountain, which Gandalf finds lying on a table under a bunch of papers:
Because of this, you get the feeling that Bilbo is eccentric and excitable but extremely absentminded.
He loves books and writing....but he leaves books and scraps of writing scattered all over the house because he can’t focus. He’s chronically disorganized, and even Important Things with Deep Histories like the map of the Lonely Mountain are half-lost in the clutter.
And if Bilbo’s mind is as disorganized as his house...no wonder it’s taking him so long to finish his book, lol.
But that’s what I mean by the environment feeling “lived-in.” A lot of fantasy films have cool CGI sets that look so perfect and new that you don’t feel like anyone actually lives there. They’re like a new house that no one has moved into yet. But Bag End isn’t just a cool-looking set, it’s designed to make you feel like this specific character has made this place their own....like it’s existed for a while, different characters have made their marks on it, and it has a clear specific story and history.
