And that is literally almost everything of the What's It Like universe! The only reason why I say it's almost everything is because there are some story boarded things that only exist in images that have some captions on them that don't really fit into everything. There's lots of little tidbits that just...are seconds making up moments in an overall piece?
However, everything that this story is has now been delivered to the ones who loved to read it.
Thank you again and please be well!
Summary: The outline that covers the Return to Bag End arc, the "Middle-Aged" Bilbo arc, the Grandma Bilbo arc, The LoTR Arc, and then finally the Valinor section.
- Return to Bag End Section-
-Bilbo stays at Erebor during the aftermath of the battle for a few days while they prepare the funerals for Thorin and the brothers.
She is given a new set of knit clothes by the dwarves of the Iron Hills.
- The funeral of Thorin, Fili and Kili happens with as much grandeur as can be possible since it's post-war. During the funeral, Thranduil lies Orcist with Thorin and Bard gives back the Arkenstone. When it's Bilbo's turn to say her own goodbyes to each other them, she breaks down...especially with Thorin since he is the final one.
"I stood there, knowing that it was my turn to approach Thorin's stone tomb and for a moment I felt as if I were not even in my body. I watched everything from outside of myself, feeling the stares of everyone until Thranduil and Gandalf both urged me forward with kind gestures.
My feet began to move one step at a time and my eyes perceived the closing distance of the stone.
Beside him I stood and looked at the stone that he lay upon, so beautifully carved that it took me a moment to truly appreciate the details there. Thorin laid to rest in a beautiful place.
I knew I was supposed to lay something down in offering but I could not think of anything to give. I had already given Thorin everything.
I had given him everything and he was dead.
It happened so suddenly. I was strong for only a moment and then the great warriors that fought so bravely with Thorin saw my shoulders shake and my back crumble. The stone felt so cold as I collapsed against it, clutching it and sobbing because I wanted Thorin back. I wanted the brothers. I wanted them here beside me instead of somewhere so very far away where I could not go.
"Please, Thorin!" I sobbed, my voice breaking as I practically yelled it into the cold surface, "Come back so I can accept! I want to live here with you and Fili and Kili! Please! Come back!"
I felt hands against my back, gently easing me away from the cold casket. I didn't immediately follow but at the insistence of the hands, I was pulled away. I half expected to see Gandalf there to offer me his support but as I turned around, I saw Dwalin before he effortlessly picked me up. His hand stroked along my back firmly to let me understand that he was there for me and that it was alright to continue but that he did not want my pain to be shared with the public. This misery was a private affair that belonged only to myself and the rest of our company. Touched by this, I clung to him and cried, aware that he was carrying me outside and away from Thorin and the brothers and the dwarves that bowed their heads as we passed."
- Bilbo watches as Dain takes the throne of Erebor and elects to deal out the treasure as he deemed worthy and in honoring of their original contracts. The entire time Dwalin is by Bilbo's side. Bilbo herself in her grief almost feels dismissive towards this new king who she doesn't know. Such matters are not what hobbits care for. She almost feels a distant betrayal at how the other dwarves go to Dain's side.
- Dain and Bard wish wholeheartedly to give Bilbo her half of the treasure but she refuses much of it until she finally relents and allows some to go to her.
Bard and Bilbo give each other a heartfelt farewell where he says that she is always welcome to return to Dale where he will greet her as if she is Queen of Erebor.
- Thranduil informs the others that he is returning to Mirkwood and offers his company and protection to Bilbo and Gandalf should they wish to join him. Bilbo accepts and is happy to learn that Beorn will also be joining them.
- Bilbo says farewell to her dwarf company, tired and exhaustively sad. The company is sad to see her go.
"And finally I came before Dwalin where I smiled up at him sadly before he leaned down to take my hand and kiss the top of my mitten.
"Be safe, laddie."
I nodded and without releasing my hand, he helped me into the cart where a bundle of blankets waited for me. Gandalf offered me his hand but Dwalin waved him off and kept hold while I adjusted into the pile of soft wool. Only then did Dwalin release my hand and pull up the blankets so that he could tuck me in.
"Watch over her, wizard."
"I shall do my best, Master Fundin."
Along the way back to Mirkwood, Bilbo dozes lightly the entire time though she listens to Beorn's tales meant to keep her happy.
When the trio reaches Mirkwood, Thranduil and Legolas ask if Bilbo would stay with them for a time. She is welcome in their halls. There is also the matter of Tauriel's own funeral.
Though Bilbo is reluctant at first because she does not wish to enter the forest due to her previous visit, she accepts Thranduil's offer since she wanted to see Tauriel off properly. Beorn decides to take the cart and pony gifted to Bilbo and offers to bring it to his farm to lessen the burden. Bilbo thanks Beorn and promises she will be there in a few days time.
Before she and Beorn separate, Bilbo thinks of a gift to offer to Thranduil for his generosity and pulls out a ring from her pile of spoils.
- Bilbo goes to Eryn Lasgalen this time as a proper guest. She is given elven clothing and fabrics and a feast in the name of the ones who died in the war.
"And from time to time Thranduil would take note in the morning my eyes puffy from crying in the darkness of night, but kindly never mentioned it."
- A few days later, they give Tauriel a proper funeral under the stars.
At the funeral beast, Bilbo is nervous and gifts Thranduil the ring, unaware that the gesture is taken to mean that she wishes to court him.
Bilbo is unaware of his changed behavior or the fact that the elves whisper excitingly around them now. She merely thinks they are just in awe of the beautiful ring.
After explaining why she wants to gift it to Thranduil, for his hospitality and such, the Elvenking accepts the ring though he is embarrassed all the same by how his court giggles at him. All the while Legolas almost cannot stop himself from chuckling.
"Manners, Legolas"
- Thranduil bids Bilbo leave and she and Gandalf travel by foot to Beorn's with Legolas as their guard.
- Bilbo and Gandalf stay with Beorn until spring since the passages of the mountain are known to be quite dangerous during these months. Beorn only too happily wishes for Bilbo's company.
Bilbo entertains hosts of men while at Beorn's who has become quite social.
- Gandalf escorts Bilbo back to the Shire, wishing to see her safely through.
- Finally a year later Bilbo makes it back to the Shire where she discovers that her cousins are trying to sell her house.
She is energetic as she bustles about getting her things back and kicking her cousins out of her home.
She goes to Otho and Lobelia's home who has most of her stuff and knocks to be let inside. She pushes Otho inside and picks up the nearest object and threatens to beat him with it. She wants her stuff back.
- When she finally gets inside Bag End though and hears how quiet it is and realizes that she'll be living alone again, she begins to cry.
"My journey was over and I settled down in my own bed that still smelled of me and I closed my eyes to try and sleep through what felt like the endless night..."
- The Life of "Middle-Aged" Bilbo Section–
-83 Years Old
-32 years later-
- Bilbo has been living a life of relative peace and has made efforts to keep her hobbies going. Depression still clings to her but she's living her life as well as she can.
"Truly I was fine when I kept active and focused on the joys of writing, map making, and just generally being active in my garden. I cooked with fervor and made an effort to keep in touch with my cousin Drogo and his lovely wife.
Truly I became fine in my daily life after my adventure to Erebor. I was so very different than when I originally began my adventure and I was stronger for everything that happened. And yet, when the night came and Bag End grew hushed, I remembered the little things about them that made me fall in love with them. The pain I felt at their memories were no weakness but they did make me feel weak at times.
I dreamt of them at the most unexpected of times. Sometimes very lucid, I would nap in my chair and startle from sleep as Thorin and Fili came into Bag End after a long day at the forge and Kili from the kitchen.
Other times across the fields of the Five Armies I would run trying to find them as I did so long ago. Always I couldn't find them. Sometimes the dreams so subtle that I could have sworn that I felt their physical touch on me.
Nevertheless in my waking moments, I continued and became content with my life. Life continued on despite everything."
- While recounting her years, Bilbo spots a Ranger and runs up to him.
"Oi! Ranger!"
"Yes? Is there something you need, Miss Hobbit?"
"Yes, would you be down for a spar? I can go get my sword right now."
The Ranger stares back at her confused and bewildered...
"Uhhh... If you wish?"
"Perfect! Stay right here and I'll be right back in a jiff!"
"...and that was pretty much how life went for a while. It became kind of amusing when rangers would enter the town and look for the fighting hobbit lass that could actually put up a pretty decent fight."
- At the end of chapter, have Bilbo being interrupted at dinner, this time to announce that her cousins Primula Brandybuck and Drogo Baggins drowned, leaving 5 year old Frodo alone.
- Bilbo is informed of the drowning of her cousins and how Frodo was left alone. She goes there and finds her relatives all there, including Otho and Lobelia as well as her cousins from the Brandybuck side.
She does not bother with many of them and instead goes to Frodo who is quietly sitting in the parlour.
Frodo doesn't say a word when she tries to talk to him. She's his favorite aunt though and when she offers to hold him, he crawls into her lap to be cuddled with.
When she goes to put him down for a nap since he needs to sleep, she hears the relatives asking who would need to take in Frodo.
They are discussing the in's and out's when Bilbo returns and says that she would like to take the lad.
Otho immediately protests since Frodo is a Brandybuck and he would interfere with Bilbo finally marrying and providing a closer heir.
As people already realize that Bilbo will not marry, Bilbo understands that this is a ploy to get her home. Otho offers Lothos -his own child - if Bilbo wants a child so badly.
Bilbo interrupts him and tells the head of the Brandybuck family that she would like Frodo so that he can be her heir. As she has Bag End and is currently the head of the Bagginses she would make a fine prospect.
Since Bilbo has been good to her relatives, the Brandybuck head gives their blessing to Bilbo.
- Frodo doesn't speak for months after Bilbo brings him to Bag End. She introduces him to Samwise to help him make friends.
- Bilbo goes to the market one day with Frodo and the ring falls out of her pocket and is discovered by whom she considers a shifty Tall-Folk who had been following her.
Bilbo, having been affected by the Ring retaliates in a rather violent way.
When she discovers the ring had been dropped, she notices that the Tall-Folk comes over to pick it up and she immediately turns and kicks in his knee to drop him. When he is down on his knees, she looms over him, "Is this yours?"
"Y-you crazed midget!"
"It's not. It's mine."
She kicks him again but finally notices how she has attracted a large amount of attention. She feels deeply ashamed for her display and picks up Frodo and goes back to her home. Inside, she cries against the back of the door, lamenting on how her soul feels.
- Balin sends a letter to Bilbo asking if he and a few fellow dwarves would be welcome to stop at her home on their way to Moria from Ered Luin. Bilbo accepts and invites them properly.
- Balin comes with a few other dwarves and speaks with Bilbo about joining him on their quest to Moria. He comments that she has not aged a day though she tries to reject the idea.
Though she rejects the offer to join them, Bilbo is a proper host to the accompanying dwarves. She spends time with Oin, Ori, and Balin.
Ori asks if he can draw Bilbo again since it has been so long. She accepts and he draws her and is...faintly saddened by the fact that it looks so much like her original drawing. She has Ori keep it since she doesn't like it for some reason.
The other dwarves who Bilbo doesn't know recognize who she is and her significance and is very respectful, taking off their hats and bowing their heads when they pass.
"I do not think I will ever be used to them bowing to me." I commented as I walked past a dwarf and saw the incline of his head. Distantly, I thought of the bowed heads of the dwarves from the Iron Hills as they offered me their gratitude and dwarven clothing.
"They're honored to bow to you."
"I'm not important. Thorin and the other dwarves who died deserve their respect, not me."
"Without you they would have been alive but still stuck down in the Elvenking's dungeon. You got us out of there, you snuck down to confront Smaug. Through your courage we regained our home. Never let a dwarf pass you without them bowing if they recognize you. Had we just said that Thorin and you were already married by the time of his death, they would be required to bend knee whenever you passed."
- Bilbo says her goodbye to the dwarves traveling to Moria, unaware that it is the last time she will see any of them.
- Dwalin sends a letter from Ered Luin saying that he will eventually travel to Erebor to help with the reconstruction efforts still going on there. He wishes for a place to stay and Bilbo allows it, happy with the idea of seeing Dwalin again.
- She is out in the market when she sees a dwarf in the distance. She recognizes from the shape alone that's Dwalin and she runs up to him, intending to hug him and he surprises her by picking her up and swinging her about. The reunion for them is more heartfelt than either of them expected.
"Mr. Dwalin! How you haven't aged a day!"
"You're the one who hasn't aged at all, laddie."
She tells Dwalin that she needs to pick up someone before they head back and he follows her to go pick up Frodo at her Samwise's place.
"I wasn't aware that you had children. I would not have imposed on you and -? Master Baggins?"
"No imposing. It's just Frodo and I anyway."
"Just the two of you? Is he...?"
"Even you know that he's far too young to be an heir of Durin. He's much too Hobbit like, anyway. He's my first AND second cousin from my second cousin, Drogo and my first
cousin Primula. They drowned a few years back and there was a lot of discussion for who could take in Frodo."
- They get back to Bag End where Bilbo immediately puts Frodo into bed and tucks him in for a nap.
"Why did no one else come forward?"
"I don't know. I do know that I stepped forward because I'm his aunt and while I hadn't thought of needing children, I knew I wanted him."
Bilbo offers to make Dwalin an easy lunch, sandwiches and such. She promises him that she'll make a fine dinner for him. Dwalin just keeps her company and Bilbo's grateful for the adult company.
Eventually she notices that he's staring at something, the broken cabinet handle.
"How long do you think you'll be staying?"
"I wouldn't want to wear out my welcome, laddie."
"My welcome for you couldn't be worn out, Dwalin. I was wondering because you look like you want to fix that. If you want to, I have some other things I can be helped with. It's been a while since I've had anyone here who could repair things."
Eventually Frodo can be heard fussing and Bilbo rushes off.
She brings a sleepy Frodo into the kitchen and makes him a sandwich too.
Frodo looks at Dwalin unabashed the way only a child can.
"You're not a hobbit."
"No, I'm not."
"Your head looks funny."
"Frodo!"
"Your head looks funny to me, lad."
"It does?" Frodo throws his foot out, "Do you have feet like these?"
"Off the table! What is going on with you?"
"No, but I do have these." He shows off his giant ears and Frodo shows his off too.
"I got big ears too!"
"Boys!"
"...Do you wanna know a secret?"
"Aye, I do."
"Auntie Bilbo has the biggest ears of them all."
"Frodo!"
- Later on that night after Frodo goes to bed and Bilbo is making Dwalin's bed for him, he comes into the room and smiles at her, "I want to see."
"See what?"
"You know what."
"I don't know what you mean." She is struggling not to smile but eventually does turn around and show off her ears. It's true... She does have rather large ears.
- Dwalin comes to live with Bilgo.
"The elder dwarf was always willing to assist in the kitchen or help tidy up around my home. He took to Frodo happily and I found my loneliness ebb away the longer he deigned to stay.
Soon... Soon I noticed that touches lingered too long, fingers that would brush up against mine during the cleaning and putting away of the dishes. I knew what he wanted of me and I knew what my heart was telling me but the comfort I felt while in his presence made me hesitate. I always wanted to be able to feel such ease. I knew that his hands were not the ones I felt when our fingers brushed along each other's.
I wanted to lie to myself but I couldn't. It was Thorin's hands that I felt when my fingers lingered along roughened palms, Fili's smile that I saw when he gazed down on me with love and respect in his eyes, and it was Kili's humor that I recognized when he played with Frodo and teased me.
I wanted to love Dwalin for himself but my heart couldn't recognize him as a separate entity from the Durin's.
Despite knowing how I saw him, Dwalin still stayed by my side. In that strange grey area, we found a fragile love that was our own."
- Bilbo notices Dwalin training outside in the field and asks to join him. He wonders if she's kept up her training at all and is astounded by how agile she has become.
"Laddie, I'm impressed. What's your secret?"
"Flagging down any Ranger brave enough to accept that they might be beaten by a little hobbit. Come now, let's find you on your back."
- More about how Dwalin and Bilbo bond and how she comes to start to separate him from the Durins. The two napping in bed with Frodo and how he has started to call the dwarf his Uncle Dwalin.
- Bilbo can't sleep one night and goes out to sit under the stars. She stares up at the stars and feels lonely. She lightly thinks of the story that Beorn told her years ago and how many times she's retold it to the neighborhood hobbit children.
She feels the ring on her waistchain and feels as if she wants to walk off into the night, always the endless night.
"I stood there, my eyes gazing into the darkness, and in my fingers was the ring. Heavy between my fingers, I nearly had it on when I heard the cries of my nephew."
Dwalin comes outside with a crying Frodo in his arms. Apparently the lad woke up from a nightmare and won't go back to bed, scared of the waters that took away his parents.
Even with the two of them there, she feels the endless darkness at her back. How easy it would be to simply turn and walk off.
She instead turns back to the house and accepts her nephew. She forgets about the ring and the endless night and allows Dwalin to take her back inside.
- Bilbo wakes one day and notices that her nails have become discolored and gross looking. Her skin as well seems to only be getting paler despite how often she is in the sun. Dwalin comes into the bedroom and finds Bilbo furiously polishing her nails so that they would shine pink again. He stares at her and it's become apparent that he's long noticed that she suffers from some sort of mental issue that he knows only she can rightfully deal with. Unknown to everyone though, it's all due to the One Ring remaining in her possession.
- Bilbo and Dwalin endure a time where they try to discuss her mental problems from the unknown influence of the ring.
"And then at times I would behave as Frodo himself mentioned quite strangely, staring off into nothing. It was quite strange in retrospect because when asked by Frodo or Dwalin what I was looking at, I would wonder for a moment because it felt like I was staring back at something rather than nothing.
Sometimes I felt as if I were not even myself. A shadow of what I knew I could be and yet I still clung to whatever it was that I was feeling like I was unable to escape it. I would clutch at my chest and try to stop the horrid feeling that arose and yet it couldn't be stopped.
Sometimes I just found myself staring at the ring that I picked up in Gollum's cave so long ago, thinking only of its beautiful color.
"I feel as if I were in a cloud... Like I'm not even myself. Like, there is a fog in front of my eyes. Most of the time, I want to see clearly but then there are moments where I want to disappear. Just close my eyes and drift away.
I feel like if I were to do that that I would wake up and see something in front of me. I feel like something is always staring at me."
"It's a dream, laddie."
Bilbo stared back at Dwalin and seemed to look through him. "Is it?" The question even to Dwalin's ears felt as if it were an answer to two questions.
- Bilbo randomly doing chores and coming under the influence of the ring.
- Despite having lived with Bilbo for eleven years, Dwalin and her realize that even though they love each other, they are not meant for one another. Dwalin understands where her heart is and does not blame her for it.
"And one day, no different than any other, I was interrupted by Dwalin coming into the parlour and bending knee before me. My face dropped because I knew what it meant. We had discussed it so many times before...
"My Queen."
I knew by his words alone that he was leaving me. That him acknowledging the title that Thorin wished for me was his way of finally moving on to Erebor. He would give up any claim he had to me and leave me to my own devices for as long as I wanted them to be my own.
We were finally ready for it to happen. I finally understood that we had been ready for a long time.
- The Life of Grandma Bilbo Section- 60 years later –
Bilbo is 111, Frodo is 33 and coming of age on the same day.
- Writing 'There and Back Again'.
She thinks back, remembering her adventure fondly.
She remembers the Durin men and how they made her feel.
She also comments on how while she cannot explain how her hearing has only gotten better as her sight has gotten worse. Soon enough she'll need to wear glasses for both far distances and close.
"As old as I became, whenever I thought of them, I was still at times prone to raw emotion. Suddenly, I was back in the tents. Suddenly, I wouldn't be able to breathe. In those moments - those horrid, heart racing moments - I felt myself ugly in appearance and hid my tears behind outstretched fingers. I hoped desperately that Frodo would not notice the change. Notice that I wasn't the Auntie Bilbo who seemed to lead a carefree Hobbit life."
- Bilbo eventually decides that life in the Shire is too claustrophobic and that she wants to live elsewhere. She also realizes that Frodo is coming of age soon and is beginning to want to be his own Hobbit. She decides that she should travel to satisfy both of them.
- Gandalf returns to the Shire for Bilbo's birthday.
They have their first meeting in many years and he comments that she has barely aged. A true enough fact, Bilbo brushes it off though she can't keep it from her mind. It has become a source of anxiety for her that she has not been aging like everyone else has around her. Her and Frodo look as if they are brother and sister rather than nephew and Aunt. She tries not to feel uncomfortable in her own skin, trying even to hide her hideous nails.
- She has her birthday party.
Bilbo pulls off her trick and Gandalf confronts her about the ring back at Bag End. Bilbo instantly grows defensive over it and becomes confrontational until Gandalf overwhelms her by shouting at her to tell him the truth about where she found it.
"I STOLE IT!" I fell to the ground and tried to defend myself as if Gandalf were to approach me at any moment like a demon. I realized that I was crying like a child, the years of darkness hovering around me ready to engulf me.
I was frightened for the first time in ages and ashamed for all the lying I had done to keep the ring's presence a secret for only me to know.
"I...I stole it. I tricked Gollum after our game and I took it with me. I took it and I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"Oh, Bilbo... My old friend..." Gandalf's voice was so kind then, a strong presence of comfort on my shoulder that made me understand that he was there to help me.
"Tell me, who else knew that you had such a thing?"
I thought back through my long years but only one person knew the secret of the ring and where I had acquired it.
"Just Thorin."
"Just he?" Gandalf honestly looked surprised then before sadness overcame his features and he offered his arm for me to hug him. I gratefully accepted since he suddenly seemed to make it all make sense.
"Oh, sweet little Bilbo... How you have suffered alone."
"But, you do not need it where you're going now. It wouldn't be welcome in Erebor."
Gandalf has Bilbo abandon the ring at the door though she initially forgets she has it. Once Gandalf reminds her that she still needs to leave the ring behind, she stares at it, almost unwilling to let it go.
The color of the ring makes her think of Fili's golden hair and she sees a flash of his face crystal clear and finds the strength to let it fall onto the ground.
Bilbo already feels better, like a weight has been lifted from her chest, but before she goes she tells Gandalf.
"Don't listen to it."
"Listen to it, dear Bilbo?"
"Just...don't listen to it. I do not know if you'll hear it the way I do, but...it hurts."
"I won't listen to it, I promise. Now, in exchange for that advice I will say that as you walk down this path and out of the Shire, you will begin to feel better. Each step across pebble, grass, and dirt path will make you feel lighter and make you smile the smile I have so missed.
If you ever feel as if you want to turn around for the ring, just remember that any distance between the two of you will make you feel better. You will feel the fog lift."
- Bilbo meets up with some dwarves on their way to Dale. They all agree to travel together and stop over in Rivendell and stay for only a little bit before heading onward to Erebor.
- Bilbo finally returns to Erebor after sixty years.
While there, she is finally starting to feel her age and is starting to like her greying hair. She rests along Thorin's tomb and visits the brothers as well.
"I do not know how I have come to live so long but… But maybe if you had survived, we would have found out that we could have died together?"
She finally meets Dis there.
The two women go together to see the brothers before taking tea.
Her and Dis discuss the brothers and Thorin and their lives back in Ered Luin. Her life in Erebor since arriving. How Dis had come to know of Bilbo through letters sent from Rivendell and Laketown.
Dis asks how long Bilbo is going to stay as she would like to teach her an embroidery pattern that she used to sew onto all the clothes of her brothers and children. She has always wanted a daughter and a sister to be able to pass things onto and thinks it would look just grand on her garments.
- She also meets Dwalin again.
While she is taking tea with Dis, Dwalin comes in (hearing that she is there) and he has aged visibly. Bilbo herself knows that she has aged as well and he says that she looks just as lovely as ever.
Friendship is all they have and she happily replies that he too looks magnificent.
- Dwalin brings her some tea at night, wanting to keep her company. She sits by the fire, old and content. They talk lightly before Dwalin asks her how she feels lately. He understands from living with her what her mind is like.
"...How have you been, laddie?"
I stared at him out of the corner of my eye, irrationally wanting to growl at him to leave me be to my business. At once I stomped down the feeling and knew that he only asked because he knew what living with me had been like.
"Do you still think something is watching you?"
I didn't want to be truthful because I felt crazy if I admitted that I did still perceive someone staring at me though it was noticeably more faint since giving up my ring. My mind whirled thinking up lies to tell but in the end, my face told Dwalin all he needed to know.
"I wish the wizard were able to help you."
I wished, as I had been wishing for years, that Gandalf were truly able to help me in more than just giving away a silly ring but also that my head were clear and I could remember the faces of the Durins as clearly as I knew Dwalin and Dis could remember them."
- Bilbo stays in Erebor for a few years and decides to visit with Bard who informs her of Beorn's death some years before and his son taking over the old home back in the woods.
Bilbo sees that Bard has become so old in the passing years. He is almost unrecognizable in comparison to her and Dwalin. Nevertheless, she comments that Bard has aged wonderfully and that his voice has become so rich with time.
- Feeling that sense of restlessness again, Bilbo decides to return to the elves of Rivendell since they are her favorite race in Middle-Earth. She tells Dis and Dwalin who always tell her that she is welcome there. She promises that she will return and not to worry though she has aged more.
- Bilbo travels with merchants to Rivendell.
While there Lindir and Erestor help her renew her grasp on the language of the elves since she has grown quite rusty.
Glorfindel and Elrond tell Bilbo of the history of their kind since she is such a good student and she translates their works as "homework."
- Bilbo meets Estel and feeling that he reminds her of Thorin, composes the poem 'All That is Gold Does not Glitter'.
- After a year in Rivendell, Bilbo feels lonely and thinking of Dis, decides for good that she wants to stay in Erebor with Dis, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Dwalin.
- She makes her preparations to leave and along the path, Bilbo who has aged more and more in the past year, finds that she cannot make the trip to the mountain on her own due to her old age. Suddenly, she feels so much older than she used to feel. She turns back from the mountain pass and sees the twins there. They had been following her on Lindir's orders since he was worried for her. She did not seem well enough to go alone. She agrees that she may not be able to make it on her own.
- When she returns to Rivendell, she begins to help out around the home. She even helps when there are dwarves stopping there. She also helps Elladan and Elrohir with their pranks as well as Lindir to clean them up. Naturally, her presence brings life and happiness to their own lives.
When Elrond begins to notice that Bilbo feels bad about her continued residence without moving on to Erebor, Elrond offers to have Elrohir and Elladan take her to Erebor this time around...or, she could live with them.
"Mistress Baggins, you have been so very helpful lately and your presence here makes our days brighter... If you truly do wish to move on, we can help you. Erebor isn't so far for my twins who would only be too eager to assist you in your journey."
"To Erebor, really?" I was happy that Elrond offered but suddenly Erebor seemed so far...
"Yes, though if you do not mind my meddling, I would love for you to live here with us."
- The Lord of the Rings section - 13 years later – Bilbo Age 131
- Bilbo is in Rivendell when Frodo is brought there because of his Nazgul attack. She asks how it happened and Gandalf explains that Frodo is on a quest to destroy the One Ring.
"The one ring? My ring?"
"Yes, Bilbo, the One Ring."
"I don't understand..."
"You will soon enough, brave hobbit."
Elrond calls a council from the Free peoples of Middle-Earth to decide the fate of the ring.
- Legolas arrives in Rivendell and greets Bilbo like an old friend. Bilbo asks how his father is and he presents her with a gift from Thranduil, one of his rings and a necklace.
"Oh, speaking of which, I finally have a reply to your courting gift."
My cheeks flushed with the long forgotten blunder of my giving Thranduil a ring and how it was being brought up so casually.
"I still am deeply sorry for any misunderstanding that arose from that…"
"No worries, Bilbo, we enjoyed teasing my father over it."
I was about to ask what kind of things they teased Thranduil with when Legolas offered a bundle of cloth and unwrapped it. Inside was a beautiful silver necklace with jewels embedded into the hollowed out spaces that sparkled like starlight. Beside the necklace was something that I found very familiar, one of Thranduil's own rings that I suspected would never fit me even if I tried to wear it.
I looked at Legolas who himself was grinning from ear to ear. I had never known that Thranduil had such a sense of humor.
"Well, I didn't think I was still eligible for such a fine husband. However I suppose we will have to cope, you having such a young stepmother and people thinking I'm a grave-robber."
"Ha! I'll be sure to send word to him of your answer to the marriage." Legolas replied back jokingly, his tone jovial and carefree.
"We can plan for something in the winter to compliment your hair."
"Oh, considering how Thranduil knew me when I had beautiful honey colored hair, I doubt this white mess would entice him now."
"No, it reminds me of starlight. It's beautiful. Though in all seriousness, my father wouldn't even know how to court a hobbit that enthralled such a wild dwarf as Thorin Oakenshield."
"Do not forget that I "enthralled" his heirs Fili and Kili as well. We were all to be married if you'll recall. I know in your old age that you can become forgetful."
"Oh yes, of course. I am forgetful in my old age, indeed. Now, I have a particularly horrendous stink bomb I made that I must show to the twins."
"And just what do you three plan to do with it?" It was surprising to learn that Legolas seemed to be just as bad as the twins when it came to mischief.
"Why, Stepmother, I do not like what that tone implies. We merely seek to give it a better home in the rooms of someone worthy of its talents. I personally have my eye currently set on Glorfindel."
"Kindly do not, dear son of mine. His room is right next to mine."
"Lindir it is then." Legolas smiled then, turned to face me and leaned down so that he could kiss my cheek, "Stepmother." He gave me as a farewell and used his elven grace and speed to race along soundlessly down the hallway until he turned and could be seen no more.
- Gloin and Gimli arrive in Rivendell shortly after and Bilbo is so humbled and ecstatic to see Gloin again. She asks why Dwalin did not come and he replies that Dwalin has been helping with the Lonely Mountain's defense ever since the Nazgul appeared and Erebor means to prepare for any war.
She is also happy to finally meet Gimli at last.
"On a lighter note, who is this fine specimen of a dwarf? Is this the famed Gimli?"
"Aye, lass, this is my wee lad, Gimli."
"Mistress Baggins, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. From what I've heard, it would have been my greatest honor to have traveled alongside you to the Lonely Mountain."
"The honor is mine, Master Gimli. I feel like I've heard so much about you that you are like a grown son before me now. Your father has always been very proud of you and it's infectious to say the least."
Gimli blushes, "You honor and flatter me, Mistress."
- Bilbo sits in on the Council of Elrond so to as to offer insight on what to do about the ring.
She learns there that Nazgul had gone to Dale and Erebor looking for Bilbo and the Ring since she was to be married to Thorin and the brothers.
Gloin had come because of his brother's disappearance after going with Ori and Balin to Moria. None of them have ever been heard from again. Dwalin informed him of the Nazgul in Dale and Erebor and sent him to Rivendell to warn Bilbo personally since it endangered her life.
Legolas explains that Gollum had also escaped their realm and was currently hunting Bilbo for the ring. Thranduil and Legolas both agreed that Elrond needed to know since he was currently housing the hobbit.
Boromir tells the council of his dream. Bilbo notes that as Boromir tells the tale that his voice is a strange one, not pleasant or painful. His was a stressed and strained one, making her realize that his soul was a troubled one.
Gandalf explains that Saruman had turned to the side of evil to take the ring for himself. He imprisoned Gandalf in Orthanc when he suspected that the wizard knew of its location.
Bilbo finally comes to understand that her ring was not such a careless prize but something very dangerous that she had kept hidden for a long time on her own.
- Bilbo gives Frodo her sword, Sting, the mithril shirt that protected her, and a chain since the ring had a nasty habit of slipping away.
When Frodo is changing, Bilbo catches a glimpse of the ring and hears the ring calling out for her. She is despaired because the ring actually wants her to own it meaning that she has become so tainted by it that it knows she can be turned to evil with it.
"Can I…see the ring I gave you, Frodo?"
"I can't."
She tries to attack Frodo but soon finds herself aching and tired and coughing from old age.
"Bilbo…you're bleeding!"
She notices that her fingernails have begun to bleed again and sighs.
"Old age, Frodo."
She laments that she never had told Frodo about her ability to hear voices the way she could.
- After Frodo and the others leave for their journey, Bilbo is sitting alone in one of the gardens.
She is feeling guilty over attacking Frodo when Lindir and Elrond come up to her and ask to join her for some tea. She allows this and Lindir gives her some tea that soothes her aging bones.
Elrond asks what bothers her and she explains what happened between her and Frodo.
She's a bit ashamed so she doesn't really want to open up about it.
"Frodo's going on his own quest... It was said to be dangerous so I gave him Sting and my mithril shirt..."
"That is generous of you. The little hobbit will definitely need it."
"I don't know what good my shirt can do for him. I mean, he has to go to a mountain and throw something inside."
"Yes, that is the simple of it. Eventually though, the owner of that ring will start to move to take over the cities that do not join him. The fellowship will hopefully pass through all of it but if they are not lucky, wars will begin around them."
"War..." Bilbo's thoughts are taken away to the Battle of the Five Armies where she saw so much bloodshed. Where her lovers and Tauriel died. She starts to cry.
"I never even knew. I spent the entire trip to Erebor just thinking that I was going mad when I heard whispers, that I was stressed when I lashed out. All those times where I hurt others because of it... I never thought that my entire life up until now was dictated by the shadow of that thing."
Lindir makes sure that Bilbo understands that the ring did not become the person she was. It bought her the years but her heart stayed clear of the ring's poison for the most part.
Elrond confirms this by saying that the ring will try harder now more than ever to get away from Frodo. It will pull on him hard... He hopes that he has a support system as she did to convince him to stay where the light can protect him.
Bilbo thinks of all the moments she has thought of the ring after she left it in Bag End. She looks at her nails that have grown permanently discolored from what she has learned recently are the effects of the ring. She feels as if it is her obsession even now.
"...Does light truly do such a thing?" I whispered to myself, knowing even then that Frodo would need to want to do good to stay away from evil.
I felt pity for him because it would be hard.
"It does, Mistress Baggins. However, there will always be a part of your soul that is bound to the One Ring. For that part, you must remain strong for it will always whisper to you to try and follow it."
- Bilbo wakes in the middle of the night. She does not know why but she rolls over and finds herself thinking of the ring. She gets up to occupy herself and embroiders while thinking of the Durin's.
Bilbo is informed a few days later that Frodo has been taken to Gondor where he recovers from his journey. Bilbo is proud of her nephew.
- Bilbo dreams of Smaug in reference to the "Scouring of the Shire." She wakes on a pile of gold sand and Smaug appears as a pile of gold sand that transforms from the form of a man to that of his dragon self. He teases Bilbo and tells her of the happenings in the Shire.
Bilbo asks how she knows of these events since she knows she is dreaming and Smaug tells her that she can hear it on the wind.
The Ring may have been gone from her side but she'll always hear it even after its destruction. The magic of the evil that fueled the ring is in the air around the Shire, burning it to the ground with glorious fire.
"Smaug? How can you be here now? I know you to be dead."
"The physicality of what I was may be gone but I am as I will forever be to you: fire and death."
So it was a manifestation of my mind, fire made real by the imagery of Smaug. Except that in my age, I had lost the clarity of what Smaug once was, reduced now to a gold dust. His voice though remained clear, still rolling over me in waves just as it had done before.
"Why are you here then?"
The gold dust of his form was fluid yet solid enough to last for a few moments at a time. His giant serpent head turned and collapsed under its own weight, his body falling down into the giant piles of gold dust that littered the dream Erebor. A second later, he was crawling towards me from underneath another gold hill, his wings showering gold everywhere as they moved.
"It's in the very air. You can feel it. You can hear it, a beautiful ode to death." I watched as his form fluidly collapsed into the pile of gold dust, disappearing entirely with a soft puff that exumed up. As soon as his form disappeared underneath the dust though, wings were spreading from the surface and his long neck stretched upwards, "Glorious and profane, the fire sings to the night sky! It's magnificent!"
His outstretched wings looked as amazing as I once knew as I saw his body leap up to take flight before collapsing into the gold in a giant burst of dust. I closed my eyes to shield myself from most of it and didn't open my eyes again until I felt fingers graze my chin.
"What does it sing of?"
Smaug's golden face smiled at me, its human features twisting in a way that made his expression just as sharp as it was in dragon form.
"The scouring of the Shire."
- Gandalf speaks with Bilbo. He is in Rivendell following everything that has happened. Bilbo remarks how interesting it is to see that he has changed so much, being the White Wizard now.
"Peace exists throughout the lands. The elves are returning to their homelands and the realm of men is united. Yet, you dream of evil even now, do you not?"
"I do. Elrond once told me that I'd always know evil in my body even without the Ring near me."
"What do you know then?"
I stared at Gandalf, our eyes linking and even though the wizard had changed in some ways, it seemed that his insistence on riddles had not.
"I can hear evil on the wind, the same as you. Smaug-"
"Smaug, dear Bilbo? Smaug has been dead for-"
"I understand that, but Smaug came to me in a dream. He spoke of fire engulfing the Shire. As soon as I woke, I could feel the evil of Sauron in the air from the direction of Hobbiton..."
Gandalf stared at me closely before nodding slowly. "It is true. There is a battle going on there, one that they can handle themselves. Your nephew truly is remarkable."
I nodded distractedly to the compliment.
"He will miss you." ((technically they both go together 2 years later))
Gandalf's statement caught me off guard, my head turning to face him with a look of confusion on my face. "Miss me? Am I going somewhere?"
"Bilbo, do you realize that the magic of Elrond keeps you healthier than you would be otherwise? Do you realize that Rivendell's charms keep your mind safe?"
"What do you mean? I feel mostly fine."
"My dear Bilbo, Frodo feels as if he will be devoured by the shadow of the Ring every moment of every day. He has been with it only half the time as compared to you who has had it for 60 years."
"But Elrond said-"
"I'm aware, but the Ring had tried hard on you as well. I do not think you nor Elrond understand just how immovable you are. However, once Elrond returns to the Western Lands, you will be without his protection. You will begin to feel it consume you even more."
I thought of Smaug then, how the evil inside that Ring was like a fire. He would appreciate how I considered it like a glorious blaze that would consume everything.
"You are a Ring-bearer though. That fight is not for you to fight alone."
"I don't understand."
"The Undying Lands of Valinor are enveloped in a light that will heal and protect your souls. The Valar have offered Tol Eressea, the land outside of Valinor. It is repayment for what the evil of Sauron has done to your souls. Bilbo, when Elrond and I leave for these Undying lands, we want to know if you will join us?"
"...W-what about Frodo?"
"He will eventually come too as is his right as a Ring-bearer, same as Samwise."
"Why are you asking me this?"
He smiled then, a smile so familiar and so like his old self that I had to instantly relax at the gesture and smile, "I am looking for someone to share in an adventure."
- Bilbo makes preparations to go to Valinor with the elves and Gandalf.
"I've been allowed to live a good, full life. Much fuller than I would have imagined when I was younger and sitting in my study with my books.
...Every so often I would be surprised when Frodo came by randomly to visit me in Rivendell. Nearly two years after his own journey to correct a mistake I made so many decades ago and it still was written so plainly on his face. His agony made permanent from the ring was a whisper speaking from his eyes every time he looked at me. The ring tormented me as it had Frodo but love for the line of Durin, Dwalin and Frodo kept me strong. The ring never fully took me as it had Frodo.
Looking at him now made me regret everything because I could see the accusation there, could see from the very depths of him that he wanted to hate me for even bringing the ring out of the cave.
I knew in my heart that I wronged Frodo but I knew Gandalf would understand if I ever said aloud that I wouldn't change anything. The ring had saved my life many times throughout my own journey.
Bilbo notices that Frodo is missing a finger from his hand.
"I truly am not like you, Aunt."
I waited for him to elaborate but noticing that his eyes were on his finger made me realize just what he was saying. The ring had taken him in the end, the claim made aloud and somehow removed through physical detachment. I pulled him close and hugged him, making him understand that Frodo didn't have to be anything like me for me to love him and that his failure was better than my success.
- Bilbo discusses with Frodo about when they will be leaving for the Undying lands together. Elrond is almost ready himself.
- Thranduil and Legolas visit Rivendell to say their farewells to Bilbo and she asks why the two are not going like many of the other elves are.
"We in the forest stay with Middle-Earth. It is our destiny to want to fade there."
Too old to ride on her own, Thranduil offers her a place on his elk and she accepts all the while Legolas teases them.
- Elrond introduces Bilbo to Galadriel and Celeborn before offering his own hand to help her into the boat.
"I think... I am quite ready for the attentions of a handsome young looking man."
- Valinor Section -
- Bilbo sails with Frodo, Elrond, Gandalf, and Galadriel to Tol Eressea. As they sail closer to the lands, Bilbo can feel herself grow stronger and her skin return to its youthful appearance.
- She wakes one day to discover that her hair has returned to its original honey color. When she goes to ask Gandalf about it, she discovers that it is only her and Gandalf on the boat.
"Where is Frodo? The others?"
"They have continued on their way to the Grey Havens. We are to go elsewhere."
"Elsewhere? What do you mean?"
"As I said Bilbo, an adventure."
- Bilbo and Gandalf sail together and she is nervous about where he is taking her. She is worried over Frodo since she could not say goodbye.
Near the afternoon she sees a beach ahead of them and calls Gandalf over. As they get closer, she sees on the shoreline the members of the company of Thorin Oakenshield on the beach.
Not wanting to wait for the boat to fully dock close to the shore, Bilbo jumps off when it is shallow enough and Fili and Kili run out into the water to greet her.
She hugs and kisses Fili deeply and peppers Kili with many kisses over his entire face.
Kili notices her gown and looks on appreciatively, noting how well she fills it out now. "Damn Bilbo, you look great!"
Thorin is waiting on the beach and she runs to him. Excited that she's so close to him again, he rushes out himself in the end and picks her up and holds her tightly, running his large hand over the top of her head and missing her scent that he longed for.
"Hey, you."
"Finally I felt that I was where I belonged. Finally, I was home."
- Epilogue Section -
- Bilbo is lying with the company in a field of flowers and it seems like they have been napping on and off. While everything looks to be peaceful and perfect, Bilbo's nails are still discolored, the only evidence of her time as Ring-bearer.
"In flower fields, we slept and waited for our beloved companion..."
All of us were nervous.
We were waiting for our last one, our very last companion to come back home to us so we all could continue our adventure together.
We saw that boat coming. We saw it and could barely contain ourselves.
Dwalin was there.
Dwalin was finally coming home. We all stayed back to wait for him.
And as we saw him jump off the boat and stalk towards us, his old gait becoming more and more youthful as he neared, the excitement thrummed so heavily between us.
When he saw who it was on the shore, he laughed triumphantly and we responded back in unison.
Our family was finally together again, and when we embraced our brother and longtime friend, the company knew that we would never part again. The company of Thorin Oakenshield would forever be together.