Bilbo Baggins is 111 years old when J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring begins. The novel opens with preparations for Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday party in Hobbiton.
Bilbo’s unusual longevity is important to the opening of the story. Hobbits generally live longer than Men, and Bilbo’s possession of the One Ring also contributes to his remarkably youthful appearance. He acquired the Ring during the events of The Hobbit, after finding it beneath the Misty Mountains and winning it from Gollum in the riddle contest.
At his birthday celebration, Bilbo gives a speech, uses the Ring to disappear, and leaves the Shire. He entrusts the Ring to Frodo Baggins, his younger cousin and adopted heir. Gandalf later determines that the object is the One Ring and begins the chain of events leading to Frodo’s quest.
Readers sometimes confuse Bilbo’s age with Frodo’s. Frodo is 33 at the start of The Lord of the Rings, the age at which Hobbits traditionally come of age.