Chapter Text
Bag End was the finest Hobbit smial to have ever been built, not only in Hobbiton but in the whole Shire. It was a large, comfortable home, with spacious corridors, many rooms, and luxuries such as windows and plumbing. The smial was greatly admired by all hobbits, though it also became a point of envy to many, as well as a source of pride for the one who constructed it, Bungo Baggins.
Bungo, the heir to the esteemed and rather rich Baggins family, gifted Bag End to his wife, Belladonna Took, the “remarkable daughter” of Gretonius Took, the Thain of the Shire. Belladonna was an exceptionally wild and curious spirit, known to have befriended a wandering wizard and even ventured outside the Shire in search of adventure. Her nature sat in stark opposition to her husband’s, who everyone regarded as perfectly respectable and home-dwelling, but overall unremarkable.
Indeed, Bungo and Belladonna seemed a mismatched pair. The idea of them marrying was thought to be brought about by little difference in station – and perhaps an attempt to temper Belladonna’s character with the influence Bungo’s – rather than genuine affection between the two. In truth, however, just as opposites attract, so Bungo and Belladonna were drawn to each other due to their contrasting natures. Yet, unlike complete opposites, Bungo and Belladonna turned out to have some core qualities in common: both were of bright and quick mind and enjoyed mental stimulation. These shared traits not only made their connection secure but also yielded the delight that they found in each other’s company. Soon into their courtship, the two discovered that they liked nothing better than to hold long and lively discussions during which they debated each other’s opinions and looked for ways to outwit one another, or to play a game of riddles together.
And so, against all odds, their marriage blossomed into a very happy union. After getting married, the couple lived in Tuckborough, a property owned by Belladonna’s father, but soon found the place too crowded and lacking in the privacy they desired as newlyweds. The issue became especially bothersome for Belladonna; fed up with being surrounded by nosy family members, she threatened to pack all her things and lead the life of a wanderer.
“Having a tent or even a bedroll for a home seems more appealing than living here,” she grumbled. “At least I’d be able to do whatever I want! I wouldn’t have to explain myself to anybody, how splendid would that be!”
“Then I shall build you a smial, my Bella,” Bungo told her in response. “I shall build you a smial where you’ll be the mistress and where they’ll be such comforts that you won’t want to sleep in a tent or a bedroll ever again.”
Belladonna laughed and kissed him sweetly. “I doubt the latter, my Bungo,” she said then, “But I’d dearly love to see you try.”
It seemed that Bungo took his wife’s remark as a challenge. Taking his wife’s sizeable dowry, he made very good use of it and brought Bag End into being. Belladonna received his gift with the deepest joy and did almost forget about tents and bedrolls. Admittedly, her not wanting adventures so much was in large part not due to Bag End itself but the fact that, a year after moving into their own smial, their love bore another fruit: they were blessed with a child. Belladonna, after a rather complicated pregnancy and labour, bore a healthy son, who she and her husband named Bilbo.
Bilbo was the talk of the Hobbiton and beyond since the very day he was born. Everyone wondered which parent Bilbo would take after. Would he be more of a Took or a Baggins? Would he share his mother’s love of the unexpected or his father’s dislike of it?
As a fauntling, Bilbo clearly showed to lean more toward his mother’s side, much to the disapproval of many in Hobbiton, including his own father. Bungo tried his best not to outright show it to his son, but he did argue with his wife about how she encouraged their son’s Tookish behaviour. Indeed, the issue of raising Bilbo was the most serious marriage strife they faced.
“You tell him all about adventures and elves,” Bungo said to Belladonna, one of those times he confronted her, “And then he comes back home after dawn all dirty. And that wooden sword you’ve given him! Not to mention you introduced him to Gandalf. He’ll end up hurting himself one day because of all this nonsense!”
“It’s not nonsense!” As she said this, her gaze was ablaze with deep, unshaken conviction. “It makes him happy! Can’t you see it brings him joy? How could I deny him stories of adventures when he asks for them?”
Bungo sighed heavily. “I do understand that, but be reasonable. He talks about looking for faeries all the time! Can’t you see that everyone thinks him odd? Other fauntlings won’t play with him!”
“My siblings’ little ones do!”
“And how often are they in Hobbiton? A few times a year? It’s not enough, Bella! He plays alone most of the time. He has no friends around here, and I... I just worry! A fauntling should have other fauntlings to play with!”
The last remark reopened a wound of theirs that had never fully healed. In the decade of their son’s life, there had been three times so far when they were justified in thinking that Belladonna was in the family way once more, only to have these hopes crushed. After such immense heartbreaks, they found themselves at the point of giving up trying for more children. Instead, they were left with the unbearable ache of failure to provide Bilbo with a sibling (which some of the unkind hobbits claimed to be proof of their incompatibility).
Bungo could see that his words caused his wife great pain, so he gathered her into his arms and murmured apologies and reassurances to her in a comforting tone. “I neglected to mention that our Bilbo already has a playmate in you, didn’t I?” he said. “The finest playmate any little one could ask for, indeed. The finest mother, too.”
Belladonna stayed in her husband’s embrace, letting his closeness and words soothe her, and spoke once she stepped away from his arms. “I do know your worry, Bungo. I wonder what will happen soon when he grows up and would rather have his peers for company than me, but we must have faith in him. I’m certain that he’ll have people who will love him just as much as we do.”
“I pray that you’re right,” he replied. “But I fear that love of adventure won’t endear him to many.”
“Then it will endear him to the right ones! He should never change himself just to be accepted.”
“About that, at least, I’m not worried. He seems as spirited and stubborn as you, I don’t think he’ll ever change just to bend to the wishes of others.”
“Stubborn as me?!” Belladonna exclaimed. “He gets the stubbornness from you! There’s no creature under the sun more stubbornly set in their ways than a Baggins!”
The origin of Bilbo’s stubbornness was, at least, only ever a point of good-natured bickering between his parents.
As Bilbo grew, his behaviour did change – he no longer sought out his mother, just as she had predicted. However, contrary to her assumptions, Bilbo preferred to spend time on his own rather than among his peers. He would stay inside more and more and took a lively interest in books. When he entered the age of seventeen, his father taught him reading, writing and calculations, which he all grasped in no time, and afterwards, Bilbo could only be found sitting with his books, genealogy trees and maps, or enjoying tea in the armchair by the fire together with his father. It overall seemed that his unruly Tookish spirit quietened considerably, much to the relief of his father and the dismay of his mother. It did seem Bilbo’s fate that when he did something that gained him one parent’s approval, he simultaneously displeased the other. Now, it was Belladonna who was not happy, for Bungo expressed approval at the change in Bilbo’s behaviour, but she suspected that Bilbo didn’t choose books as his most frequent companions of his own volition. Rather, she feared that it stemmed from Bilbo’s general unpopularity among his peers (although some of the children of his aunts and uncles on both sides of the family did like him). However Belladonna tried to encourage her son to go outside, he either refused or left only for a short while, set on doing solely what he wished with the stubbornness his parents loved him for.
When Bilbo began approaching adulthood, it became clear that he had taken more after his father in the end. He matured into a well-mannered lad, if a touch aloof, but his reserve did not taint his emerging spotless reputation. He was still as respectable as any hobbit should be, and was an heir not only to the esteemed Baggins name but to Bag End as well. Indeed, his standing and wealth made him a most eligible bachelor, as there was many a lass who wished to call herself Mrs. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End. Bilbo himself, however, showed no interest in marital affairs; once he reached the age of thirty-three and could officially enter a courtship, he rejected all matchmaking attempts. Such dismissal was met with a lot dismay, and more than one matron swore to find Bilbo a wife. Unfortunately for them, they soon had to abandon their efforts, for a tragedy struck – Bungo Baggins passed away only in the third year of his son’s maturity. It was a very early age for a hobbit to lose a parent and Bilbo went into deep mourning together with his mother.
Bilbo and Belladonna could not come to terms with Bungo’s early death for a long time. Overcoming their grief was not made easy by the fact life went on despite their loss. Bilbo had to adjust to the new role as the head of the Baggins family and the Master of Bag End, which was a challenge for him, as his father had not yet managed to teach him many ways of his business. Belladonna, though she tried to support her son as much as she could, was so stricken with sorrow that she struggled with merely carrying on from day to day.
In the end, Belladonna never managed to heal from the grief. Year by year, her once strong spirit faded, and so did her health. She fought her progressing weakness for years, wanting to be with her son for longer and wishing to see him settle into a happy life. Bilbo always assured her that he was perfectly content but she never believed him.
"But Bilbo,” she would say, "You surely can’t be happy with having only your old mother for company! There must be someone else you like to spend time with!”
"I’ve always liked your company the most,” he would reply. One time, he then argued, "Why does there have to be someone to like anyway? Why can’t I just like myself and let it be enough for me?”
"If you like yourself, that is very good, but... you might think so only because you don’t feel like the need for companionship right now. When I’m not here anymore, are you sure you will be happy on your own?” Bilbo did not reply right away, so she said to him, "Bilbo, I promise that life is lived so much better with a friend. By that I mean a good friend, someone with whom you can talk about much more than daily affairs and the weather. Someone who you can open your heart to, someone you can grow with. It’s worth having someone like this.”
"You say that but I see you suffer because you lost papa. You suffer and you still say that.”
"Because I know what I’m saying, my dearest flower. It was worth it because he gifted me with so many good things. He gave me joy, and this smial, and you! Oh, Bilbo, I wish you to know the same happiness. I wish you to have someone who makes you smile brighter than the Sun.”
"What if there isn’t someone like that for me?”
"There is, I know it. I’ve always known it.”
Bilbo did not seem convinced but he once again reassured her that he was happy. She did not end up ever believing him. After all, his current situation could hardly be a source of joy: when he managed to reconcile with the passing of his father, it became evident that his mother would not live for long.
And so it happened that Bilbo became an orphan and the sole Master of Bag End at the age of forty-four. Grieving his mother took him a few more difficult years and once he went out of mourning at last, Bilbo was close to the age of fifty. At this point, the matchmaking matrons had written him off as a lost cause and his continued disinterest in matrimony gained him the status of a confirmed bachelor.
Belladonna did not think that her son could be happy with such a life but Bilbo did seem quite content. He lived in good relations with everybody, though he upheld few close connections, and was overall a highly respectable hobbit. It was decided that he was a Baggins to boot in the end: a hobbit who never did or said anything unexpected. The only surprise that anyone anticipated coming from him was who he would name as his heir, which would have to happen eventually.
That is why the whole Shire was flabbergasted when one day, Master Baggins showed to be more of a Took by storming out of his smial, running off and vanishing. He hadn’t written any letter to explain his sudden disappearance before or send any after leaving. Everyone could only scratch their heads and wonder what on earth had happened. There remained no explanation as to why, where, and with whom Master Baggins had left, while his absence extended from a fortnight to a month, then to many months. Eventually, as the one-year mark of his vanishing approached, it was agreed by most that Master Baggins should be presumed dead.
What emerged even before that was the question of what to do with Bag End. Master Baggins had no heir, so it was unclear who was to inherit the smial. Since all hobbits were knowledgeable about genealogy and because one could always prove relatedness to someone at some point in the past if they tried hard enough, everybody believed that they were entitled to Bag End to some extent. With so many hobbits staking their claim, the issue of Bag End’s ownership gave rise to so many bitter disputes that an extreme measure had to be taken to settle them: there was to be an auction so that all claimants could have something of Bag End to themselves.
When the eagerly-awaited day of the auction finally came, it naturally caused quite a stir. A large crowd gathered before the front door of Bag End, the shouts of the bidders could be heard in half of Hobbiton, and those who already won were carrying out their prizes happily. Then, there was another reason for a commotion: a hobbit claiming to be the deceased Bilbo Baggins appeared right then. No one could say for sure if it was Bilbo Baggins, however: the hobbit, dressed in some odd and foreign clothing, looked very different from what one would expect any hobbit to look like. Yet, when the auctioneer asked for a document that would confirm his identity, he did produce one - a contract between one Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshied.
“Who’s this person you pledged your service to?” the auctioneer asked. “Thorin Oakenshield?”
“He... ” Bilbo found himself unable to say more, for hearing the name of Thorin Oakenshield had him overwhelmed by a heartache so painful that it took away his ability to speak. When he finally regained his voice, he said little but revealed a lot, if only to himself.
“He was my friend.”
With that, Master Baggins entered Bag End. The grand smial was desolate, just like the heart of its owner.