# What did Bilbo Baggins do for a living? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426 "2012-04-11T01:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/21 "2012-04-12T18:21:37Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > [This reference piece](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFoytXbjjWI) may have the answer. “The video you requested is not available.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/22 "2012-04-12T18:35:46Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > “The video you requested is not available.” Well, thank Eru for that. It was Leonard Nimoy’s repulsively upbeat rendition of “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/23 "2012-04-12T18:56:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Well, thank Eru for that. It was Leonard Nimoy’s repulsively upbeat rendition of “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” Thanks! I expected it to be that, but I wasn’t sure. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/24 "2012-04-12T18:59:34Z")
He was a writer of popular, albeit highly implausible travelogues. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/25 "2012-04-12T20:27:19Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > [This reference piece](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFoytXbjjWI) may have the answer. We’ve been Nim-rolled. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/26 "2012-04-12T20:29:05Z")
I thought he got rich from inventing a marital aid, but maybe I’m thinking of Daggins of Dag End. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/27 "2012-04-12T21:02:10Z")
An English Gentleman is not a Gentleman if he has to “do something for a living”. One of the necessary qualites is not fortune, but idleness. An impoverished Gentleman will earn his living by marrying into money. Bilbo Baggins was an English Gentleman transplanted to the world of Hobbits. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/28 "2012-04-12T21:43:55Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > an English Gentleman transplanted to the world of Hobbits. There’s your sequel right there. Cha-ching! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/29 "2012-04-12T23:58:10Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > An English Gentleman is not a Gentleman if he has to “do something for a living”. One of the necessary qualites is not fortune, but idleness. An impoverished Gentleman will earn his living by marrying into money. > Bilbo Baggins was an English Gentleman transplanted to the world of Hobbits. Except that Bilbo wasn’t married. So either he wasn’t impoverished or he wasn’t a Gentleman. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/30 "2012-04-13T00:25:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Except that Bilbo wasn’t married. So either he wasn’t impoverished or he wasn’t a Gentleman. Sorry, I should have been more explicit in my post. Bilbo Baggins wasn’t impoverished. He inherited his wealth. For a living, he collected the interest from his investments, and the rents from his tenants. Of course, afterwards, he brought back a nice little bag of gold from his adventure, as you mentioned in the OP. If he _had_ been impoverished, his options would have been: invest his money better encourage his tenants to make the farms produce more and therefore get more money in rents (in a supervisory fashion of course, a Gentleman wouldn’t actually dirty his hands) marry a wealthy woman ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/31 "2012-04-13T00:37:05Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > (in a supervisory fashion of course, a Gentleman wouldn’t actually dirty his hands) You mean he wouldn’t beat the serfs, he’d pay Sam to do that? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/32 "2012-04-13T01:07:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > You mean he wouldn’t beat the serfs, he’d pay Sam to do that? 🙂 I think beating the serfs is more Russian style than English. English Gentleman landlord: turn out that peasant and send him and his family to the workhouse! Russian Nobleman landlord: Flog that man and fling his body on the dungheap! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/33 "2012-04-13T01:23:34Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > English Gentleman landlord: turn out that peasant and send him and his family to the workhouse! > Russian Nobleman landlord: Flog that man and fling his body on the dungheap! Middle Earth Gentleman: Kill those peasants and then raise them back up as zombies. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/34 "2012-04-13T01:25:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Middle Earth Gentleman: Kill those peasants and then raise them back up as zombies. WTF??? I don’t recall any Tolkien zombies. Cite! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/35 "2012-04-13T01:28:01Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I think beating the serfs is more Russian style than English. That was a generalization, Sir. My seconds shall call upon you in the morning. And some of them, are Hobbits. No, no, wait, dammit! Elves! Some of them are elves! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/36 "2012-04-13T01:37:45Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > … > > And **Chronos** is correct, I’m sure. as always. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/37 "2012-04-13T13:11:38Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I thought he got rich from inventing a marital aid, but maybe I’m thinking of Daggins of Dag End. Different book - I believe you’re referring to Mr. Bugger of Bag Eye, in the Stye. Of course, he made his living in the dwarf protection rackets. “A little Scrabble, a little pederasty.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/38 "2012-04-13T14:34:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > WTF??? > I don’t recall any Tolkien zombies. > > Cite! They didn’t call them zombies (the local term apparently was dwimerlaik). But they had things that had died but were still moving around. The barrow-wights for example. That’s close enough to a zombie for me. I think the Nazgul were also at least halfway to being zombies as well. And I recall that Saruman was making some kind of artificial life-forms in the movie. I’m sketchy on the details but I’m betting it involved dead bodies at some stage in the process. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/39 "2012-04-13T15:44:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And I recall that Saruman was making some kind of artificial life-forms in the movie. He “made” the orcs in cocoons of goo in the films as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426/40 "2012-04-13T16:56:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > He “made” the orcs in cocoons of goo in the films as I recall. But we didn’t see what that “goo” was made out of, did we? Like I said, I’m betting there were dead bodies added in somewhere. When it comes to black magic, dead bodies are like high fructose corn syrup. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-bilbo-baggins-do-for-a-living/618426.md?page=3)