Here’s What Bilbo Did With His Treasure After ‘The Hobbit’

The treasure that Bilbo Baggins brought back from his adventure in ‘The Hobbit’ made him one of the richest hobbits in the Shire in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Bilbo’s family was wealthy even before his travels, so he didn’t need to work to support himself. However, he returned from his journey with even more riches, including a few treasures from a troll’s cave and chests of gold and silver from Smaug’s hoard.

A rare mithril shirt, which was so valuable that Gandalf once declared it was worth more than everything in the Shire, and the elf sword Sting were among the treasures Bilbo kept in his hoard. When Bilbo returned to Bag End, his lifestyle remained largely unchanged despite his newfound wealth. He spent his leisure time recording his exploits in the Red Book of Westmarch rather than living a life of luxury.

The majority of Bilbo’s fortune was used for gifts, which he distributed liberally to friends and family in the form of practical goods and amusing mementoes. 

Image Courtesy: Reddit

He presented a golden pen, for example, to a relative who never responded to his correspondence. Even though Elrond didn’t ask for anything in return, he also sent him little tokens as a thank you. Some of his possessions also wound up in the hobbit museum known as the Mathom-house, where he first kept his mithril shirt before giving it to Frodo to shield him from the perils of his own voyage.

Bilbo handed away a lot of expensive gifts on his 111th birthday, most of which went to the less fortunate hobbits, particularly those in Bagshot Row, who benefited much from his kindness. Any money that remained after his departure was inherited by Frodo, who then gave it to his devoted friend Sam Gamgee. Sam and his wife, Rosie, reared 13 children with the support of this inheritance. Tolkien contrasted the darker appeal of the One Ring with the virtue of giving, emphasizing the latter above avarice in Bilbo’s tale.

–Farheen Ali