Frodo Baggins: Book VS. Movie

book!Frodo would NEVER-

I’m also on Substack! Go there to read the story for free.

It is no lie that the LoTR movies have greatly influenced our conception of Tolkien’s work. So much so, that when you go back to the books, you’re surprised by everything they changed.

For starters , there aren’t nearly as many songs (the book has enough to make an actual musical!), the focus on mundane things such as food and logistics is rather lost, and not all the characters are done justice.

I could go on for hours about all the changes they made, but for now I want to talk mainly about the protagonist.

Frodo’s Age

Ok, so, how shall I put this? Frodo is fifty-one!

He’s a grown man, and honestly he acts like it. In the film, it’s heavily implied that he goes on his Journey just a few days after Bilbo’s disappearance, but this actually takes him about seventeen years in the source material.

Look, you could make a point about Hobbits aging differently and the Ring having a way to kinda ‘freeze people in time’, but the general perception of Frodo being very young is mainly due to Peter Jackson’s adaptation. After all, Elijah Wood was just becoming an adult (18–19) when he played Frodo. In terms of age alone, the actor would…