(I've written a couple of more general hobbit gender posts (here and here), so I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to write about a couple specific hobbit ladies. Later I'll also write a post for Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, but let me know if you'd like to see a post for another hobbit lady as well.)
Belladonna Took is the only named female in The Hobbit (Dis wasn't given a name until Lord of the Rings.) So what do we know about this special lady? Let's start with the (pretty great) description she gets in The Hobbit:
The fabulous Belladonna Took, one of the three remarkable daughters of the Old Took. It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not entirely hobbit-like about them, - and once in a while members of the Took-clan would go and have adventures.
They discreetly disappeared, and the family hushed it up; but the fact remained that the Tooks were not as respectable as the Bagginses, though they were undoubtedly richer. Not that Belladonna Took ever had any adventures after she became Mrs. Bungo Baggins. Bungo, that was Bilbo's father, built the most luxurious hobbit-hole for her (and partly with her money) that was to be found, and there they remained to the end of their days.
So, Belladonna was actually the ninth of twelve children of Gerontious Took - more famously known as the Old Took. She had two younger sisters (and these three girls were known collectively as "the remarkable daughters of the Old Took", which certainly sparks the imagination.) Her father, the Old Took, was known to be a good friend of Gandalf's, which meant that Belladonna knew the wizard her whole life.
Gandalf's involvement in the Took family is pretty important here. Two of Belladonna's brothers were known to have gone on adventures with Gandalf. Isegar, Belladonna's youngest brother, was "said to have 'gone off to sea' in his youth" (I'm assuming this means the nearest coast, which would have been Lindon). Meanwhile, Belladonna's older brother Hildifons "went off on a journey and never returned." And the mention that Belladonna never went on any adventures after she married heavily implies that she went on a few before she was married.
These adventures would have had an important impact on Belladonna. Obviously, any adventures that she herself went on would have been important to her personal growth. But she also lost a brother to these adventures (we have absolutely no idea what happened to him, by the way.) Beyond that, these adventures had consequences at home. It's said that the Tooks were the subject of rumors, and that the family tried to "hush up" any adventures (or disappearances.) This means that Belladonna, from a young age, was very aware of the social politics of Shire life, and was probably under a fair amount of pressure to live up to more "conventional" standards.
And so in comes Mr. Bungo Baggins. We don't have any information on their relationship, so it's open to all sorts of interpretations. What we do know is that, by all accounts, Bungo and Belladonna had very different personalities. And we know that Bungo came from a very respectable, if not very wealthy, family. Meanwhile Belladonna's family had plenty of money, but not as much respectability as they might've wanted. I'm not saying that their marriage was arranged, but it was probably encouraged by many a well-meaning relative.
Together, Belladonna and Bungo did very well. By pooling their resources, they were able to build Bag End - the most luxurious hobbit-hole in history. Bungo spent the last 26 years of his life as head of the Baggins family. And, since Belladonna outlived him by eight years, she too spent some time as head of the Baggins family. I've no doubt she was up to the task - while it was customary for hobbit women to be named after flowers, you can't help but notice that Belladonna is named after a poisonous one.
So, here's to Belladonna Took. An adventurous lady hobbit who was the life-long friend of a wizard, the resident of the nicest home in the Shire, and who passed on a sense of adventure to her only son, Bilbo Baggins. Who later took that sense of adventure and did some pretty fantastic things himself.
SOURCES: The Hobbit, The Unfinished Tales ("The Quest of Erebor"), LOTR Appendices
