A.) to Drogo Baggins and Primula Brandybuck. He spent most of his life in The Shire.
Background
In 2980 of the Third Age (T.A.), Frodo lost both his parents in a boating accident. Being a young minor of twelve he was taken in by his mother's family, the Brandybucks. In 2989, Frodo came under the guardianship of Bilbo Baggins, whom he thinks of as his uncle (though Frodo was actually his first and second cousin once removed, since his mother is Bilbo's first cousin, and his father is Bilbo's second cousin). Frodo was twenty-one years old at the time, still far short of his coming of adult age at thirty-three. The childless Bilbo chose Frodo as his adoptive heir, and brought him to live at Bag End.
The Lord of the Rings story
Bilbo and Frodo share a common birthday on 22 September, but Bilbo is seventy-eight years Frodo's senior. At the opening of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Bilbo are celebrating their Thirty-Third and Eleventy-First (111th) birthdays, respectively, on 22 September, T.A. 3001.
Frodo was entrusted with the keeping of the One Ring when Bilbo left for Rivendell after the celebration. Gandalf warned Frodo that the Ring must never be used and should be kept secret. (At the time, he was not yet certain that it was a Ring of Power.) Frodo kept the Ring hidden for 17 years, until T.A. 3018, when Gandalf returned to confirm that it was indeed the One Ring. Gandalf sent him away with Sam Gamgee, Frodo's gardener and eventually his dearest friend. Together with his cousins Peregrin "Pippin" Took and Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, and later the ranger Strider, they made it to the House of Elrond. There, at Elrond's Council, it was decided that the Ring must be destroyed by casting it into the Crack of Doom. A Fellowship was formed to protect Frodo as the Ring bearer. His quest to destroy the Ring forms a large portion of The Lord of the Rings.
Frodo carried a small Elven sword (actually a dagger, a short-sword to a hobbit) called Sting and wore a coat of Dwarven chainmail made of mithril under his clothes, both given to him by Bilbo. At Lothlórien, Galadriel gave him an Elven cloak and a phial carrying the light of the star Eärendil to aid him on his quest.
While waiting for Gandalf at the disused watchtower Weathertop, Frodo was stabbed by the Witch-king of Angmar, the chief of the Nazgul, with a Morgul blade. Without the assistance of Elrond, the wound would have turned him into a wraith. Even so the wound troubled him for years to come, never healing completely.
Among the Fellowship, Frodo was most affected by Gandalf's apparent death in Moria, having grown up with the old wizard as a kind of grandfather-figure. He was also the most relieved when Gandalf returned, seemingly from the dead.
The Fellowship separated at Amon Hen after one of its members, Boromir, was killed by Orcs while defending Pippin and Merry, an attempt at redemption after he tried to take the Ring for himself. Frodo and Sam headed toward Mount Doom. At about this time, the creature Gollum began to follow them, seeking to reclaim the Ring he had possessed for centuries. Frodo eventually captured and "tamed" Gollum, using him as their guide to Mordor. The two formed a sort of bond, as they both knew all too well what a heavy, seductive burden the Ring was.
Gollum eventually betrayed them, however, leading them to Cirith Ungol, the lair of Shelob, where he planned to take the Ring after the giant spider had eaten them. Shelob bit Frodo and put him in a coma, but he was saved from death when Sam fought her off. Sam could not save him from a pack of Orcs, however, who carried him off to their dungeon. Thankfully, Sam had pocketed the Ring before the Orcs arrived.
Sam rescued Frodo from the Orcs, and the two set off for Mount Doom. By this time, however, Frodo was considerably weakened by the Ring's influence; when they reached the volcano, Frodo finally gave in to its power and took it for himself. Moments later, however, Gollum attacked him and bit off his finger, taking the Ring. Gollum then lost his balance and fell into the waiting lava, taking the Ring with him and finally destroying it. Frodo and Sam were saved by a flock of Giant eagles as the volcano erupted and collapsed.
Upon his return to the Shire, Frodo cleared out the criminal mob, led by his cousin, Lotho Sackville-Baggins, and the fallen wizard Saruman, that had taken over the region during his absence. He never recovered from the physical and emotional wounds he suffered during the War of the Rings, and was in particular taken ill on the anniversaries of the days of his wounding on Weathertop and his poisoning by Shelob. He briefly served as Mayor, but had to resign due to his failing health. Two years after the Ring was destroyed, Frodo and Bilbo as Ring-bearers were given the right to travel to Tol Eressëa where, though remaining mortal, they might rest and be healed, together with Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel. They boarded a ship from the Grey Havens and passed over the sea on 29 September, T.A. 3021. Having no children of his own, Frodo left his estate and passed on the Red Book to Sam, who, according to Hobbit legend, followed Frodo across the sea sixty-one years later, following the death of his wife Rose (nee) Cotton.
Name
The name Frodo Baggins is an English translation of his Westron name Maura Labingi. The name Maura has the element maur- (wise, experienced), which Tolkien equivalated to the Germanic element frod- of the same meaning. Frodo's name in Sindarin was Iorhael ("old-wise").
In the German translation he is called Frodo Beutlin, in Spanish Frodo Bolsón, in French Frodon Sacquet, in Norwegian Frodo Lommelun, in Danish Frodo Sækker, in Faroese Fróði Pjøkin, in Finnish Frodo Reppuli, in Swedish Frodo Bagger, in Dutch Frodo Balings, and in Japanese Baginsu Furodo. In one of three Polish translations he is called Frodo Bagosz, but he keeps his original name in the other two.
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