Bilbo Baggins is the central character of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Bilbo begins the story as a comfort-loving hobbit living at Bag End in Hobbiton. Gandalf persuades him to join Thorin Oakenshield and a company of dwarves on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug. During the journey, Bilbo finds a mysterious ring in the Misty Mountains and outwits the creature Gollum.
Bilbo later becomes important to The Lord of the Rings because the ring he found is the One Ring. Readers sometimes confuse Bilbo with Frodo because both are Bagginses and both possess the Ring. Frodo is Bilbo’s younger cousin and heir, and he becomes the principal Ring-bearer in the later story. Bilbo’s adventure is therefore both a complete tale and a direct foundation for Tolkien’s larger narrative.