[greyhavener]

I'm glad Tolkien changed "Bingo" to "Frodo". I don't think I could have taken him seriously with that B-I-N-G-O dog song or the senior citizen's gambling pursuit going through my head as I read!

I agree with those who have Bilbo labelled as the rather offbeat somewhat disreputable batchelor-adventurer. I think Frodo, the hobbit we meed in FOTR has the potential for traditional hobbit life in the shire complete with wife & kids. There already seems to be a genetic predisposition to wandering beyond the shire, but he basically loves the shire and considers it his home. Perhaps he would have found a female hobbit among the Tooks or Brandybucks up for the occassional trek had it not fallen to him to bear the ring.

The Frodo who evolves from Rivendell on seems to me to be a character changed by his quest and his relationships with beings and places outside his realm. Even in Rivendell he seems ready to return to the shire and get on with his life. But by then it's too late. Bilbo, on the other hand, seems happy to be done with the shire and quite at home with the elves.

I see a transformation throughout the last two books into that monk/pilgrim so well described previously. As the ring grows heavier and he is impacted by each character he meets Frodo the hobbit seems to be in the process of becoming Frodo the ringbearer. By the time he leaves for the West Frodo is completely out of his element in the Shire.

I think the point at which he really owns his role as ringbearer and sets off for Mordor alone is when Frodo truly lets go of any dreams he may have entertained of a normal shire life. As he travels through Mordor more and more of his personality is stripped away. He struggles to remain Frodo. By the time he reunites with Gandalf another Frodo has emerged that is less hobbit and more simply the essence of his individualness as a being. What remains is the part of him that makes him Frodo on the inside, still hobbit but hobbit transformed.