Old Took

Old Took, the head of the Took clan and grandfather of Bilbo Baggins, is a legendary figure in Hobbiton whose adventurous reputation and connection to the wizard Gandalf set the stage for Bilbo's own unexpected journey, representing the wild, Tookish heritage that contrasts with the respectable Baggins side.

Identity and Background

Old Took was the head of the hobbits who lived across The Water, the small river that ran at the foot of The Hill. He had three remarkable daughters, one of whom was Belladonna Took, who became Bilbo's mother. It was often said in other families that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife, and while this was considered absurd, there was certainly something not entirely hobbitlike about the Tooks. Once in a while, members of the Took-clan would go and have adventures, discreetly disappearing while the family hushed it up. The Tooks were not as respectable as the Bagginses, though they were undoubtedly richer. Old Took himself was a friend of the wizard Gandalf, and it was during Old Took's lifetime that Gandalf had last been seen under The Hill, before the wizard went away on his own businesses.

Connection to Gandalf and Bilbo

Gandalf had not been down that way under The Hill for ages and ages, not since his friend the Old Took died. The hobbits had almost forgotten what Gandalf looked like. When Gandalf encountered Bilbo at his door, he invoked Old Took's memory, saying he was pleased to find Bilbo remembered something about him, and that for the sake of his old grandfather Took and for poor Belladonna, he would give Bilbo what he asked for—which turned out to be an adventure. Bilbo himself recalled that Gandalf was the wandering wizard who gave Old Took a pair of magic diamond studs that fastened themselves and never came undone till ordered, and who used to tell such wonderful tales at parties about dragons, goblins, giants, and the rescue of princesses. Gandalf also made particularly excellent fireworks for Old Took's Midsummer's Eve celebrations, which Bilbo remembered as splendid—great lilies, snapdragons, and laburnums of fire that hung in the twilight all evening.

Legacy and Thematic Significance

Old Took's legacy lived on in Bilbo, who, although he looked and behaved exactly like a second edition of his solid and comfortable father Bungo, got something a bit queer in his make-up from the Took side—something that only waited for a chance to come out. That chance never arrived until Bilbo was grown up, about fifty years old, and living in the beautiful hobbit-hole built by his father. The Tookish side of Bilbo was what woke inside him during the dwarves' song, making him wish to go and see the great mountains, hear the pine-trees and waterfalls, explore caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. Even after his adventure, Bilbo remained an elf-friend and had the honor of dwarves, wizards, and all such folk, but he was no longer quite respectable, held by all the hobbits of the neighborhood to be 'queer'—except by his nephews and nieces on the Took side, though even they were not encouraged in their friendship by their elders. Old Took thus represents the adventurous, unpredictable, and slightly magical strain in hobbit-kind that ultimately enabled Bilbo to become a burglar, a ring-finder, and a participant in the great events of his age.