Bilbo: Everyone's Inner Child?

[Lalwendë]

I think that Bilbo remaining a bachelor doesn't seem so odd put into the context of Hobbit society. He was probably quite eligible before he left for his adventures, but once he returned he would be immediately marked out as odd. The Shire is an insular society, and does not take kindly to strangers; it also seems very gossipy, and all kinds of tall tales about Bilbo would have rapidly grown up. Not even the rumour of all that gold and bling lurking in Bag End would have tempted a Hobbit lass to marry the by now very odd Bilbo.