Ok but do Merry and Pippin and Frodo have jobs? Or are they just? Chilling?? Like Sam is a gardener obviously, but what the fuck do the others do? I get that theyre Rich Kids(TM), but what do they do all day?
Merry and Pippin are the heirs of important political figures in the Shire, so they probably prepare for when they’ll take over those positions or something. But what does Frodo do?? Is he just the Professional Nerd Of Bag End?????
Frodo’s job is to be the Mysterious Bilbo Baggins’ Nephew, and just do weird shit, so that the other hobbits have something to gossip about while they do actual work
Do the bagginses have any political power, tho, or are they just rich??
Only the kind of political power that comes with being wealthy and related to everyone who matters (Frodo is related to both Merry and Pippin), which officially isn’t much, but unofficially is A Fair Amount
So what youre saying is that Frodo and Bilbo are kinda like the Kasdashians…….bc that seems fair enough tbh
That is exactly what I’m saying
Every time I think I don’t really care about lotr anymore I remember that it’s the story of Sam as he helps 3 trust fund babies do physical labor for the first time in their life
Aren’t they landed hobbit gentry or something?
Yeah, something like that. Pippin’s dad is the Thane, basically the patriarch of the whole Took clan, and Merry’s dad is the Master of Buckland, again the patriarch of a very large family (Brandybucks). Bibo came home from his adventure with a lot of money, so he was set for life, and then adopted his young cousin Frodo and left his entire estate (minus a few gifts to relatives) to Frodo, so Frodo was also technically set for life. What I find most amusing is that, in spite of wealth and influence, the Tooks and Brandybucks were seen by the Hobbiton hobbits as being kind of eccentric, and Bilbo’s admirers thought he’d done a very kind and noble thing by adopting Frodo. “Mr. Bilbo never did a kinder deed than when he brought the lad back to live among decent folk.”
I assume the Tooks and Brandybucks made most of their money from farming and animal husbandry, same as most other hobbits.
The Tooks and Brandybucks, despite being richer than the Bagginses, have a reputation of being adventurous and not very ”hobbit-like”, which is why I believe the people in Hobbiton thought it was noble of Bilbo to adopt Frodo from Brandy Hall, because he’s a ~nice Baggins~ and doesnt fit in among the crazy Bucklanders. Buckland is known to not be as peaceful as the rest of the Shire. But it’s strange as well, because at that point, Bilbo, despite being a Baggins, was known to be the most eccentric of them all, after he came home from his adventure, and was known amongst the locals as ”Mad Baggins”
This is literally a flawless character analysis and Im not joking
