The sprawling world of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth is rich with lore; the Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Men and all the other races have their own traditions, mythologies and backstories, all intricately woven together. Their richly-detailed history has been divided into different time periods, based on the major events that took place during that age. The First Age involves the wars waged against Morgoth; the Second Age marks the reappearance of the Dark Lord Sauron, who also crafts the One Ring in this era; and the Third Age is when the events of The Lord of the Rings and its prequel, The Hobbit, take place.
Several notable events occur in-between, including the rise of Sauron, the capture of Gollum, and the failed expedition of the Dwarves to the abandoned Mines of Moria — which makes one wonder, how long exactly is the gap between the two trilogies?
When Does The Hobbit Take Place?
In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf talks to Frodo Baggins about his tendency to enlist Hobbits for important missions, as he had also approached his uncle Bilbo Baggins decades ago regarding “the incident with the dragon”. The Hobbit essentially centers around that particular adventure; it follows the journey of Bilbo when he leaves the Shire and, accompanied by a party of 13 Dwarves, travels to the Lonely Mountain to recover the hoard of gold that has been stolen by the dragon Smaug.
The Hobbit is set in the year 2941, and concludes when the Dwarves, Elves and Men win the Battle of the Five Armies in 2942 — about 60 years before Frodo’s exploits in The Lord of the Rings.
How Old Is Bilbo in The Hobbit vs. LOTR?
Born in 2890, Bilbo is 50 years old when Gandalf invites him to join the quest of Thorin Oakenshield and his company of Dwarves. This is confirmed later on when Bilbo tells Kíli, another member of Thorin and Company, in Lake-town that it is his 51st birthday. Since a Hobbit comes of age when he or she is 33 years old, Bilbo is considerably young when he leaves to defeat Smaug. By the end of The Hobbit, Bilbo returns to his home in the Shire to discover that his belongings are being sold off at an auction (as the law states that an individual will be officially declared dead if they have been missing for 13 months). This indicates that Bilbo has been away for a little over a year — meaning he is still 51 at that time.
In the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo is seen celebrating his ‘eleventy-first’ (or 111th) birthday in 3001. He leaves his home of Bag End and heads to Rivendell. 17 more years pass before Frodo and his friend Samwise Gamgee leave the Shire with the One Ring — a time jump that is corroborated when Gandalf remarks at their departure how Bilbo left “nearly 80 years before” on his expedition to the Lonely Mountain. This means that The Lord of the Rings is mostly set in 3018-3019 (77 years after The Hobbit), when Bilbo is 128 years old.
At the end of the trilogy — 4 years after Sauron is defeated — Frodo departs Middle-earth for the Undying Lands with Bilbo, who is 131 years old at that time. Since he has not been the ring-bearer for decades at that point, he looks much older and frailer.
How Long Does Bilbo Have the One Ring?
Caught in the midst of a battle between three stone giants in The Hobbit, Bilbo and his companions seek shelter in a cave in the Misty Mountains, where they end up being captured by Goblins. In the ongoing struggle between the two parties, Bilbo loses consciousness and is left behind. He wakes up to see Gollum killing a stray Goblin to feed on, and unknowingly dropping the One Ring. Bilbo picks up the Ring and puts it in his pocket. The two then engage in a game of riddles, with the condition that Gollum will show Bilbo the way out of the cave if he loses, or he will eat the Hobbit if he wins. After he fails to guess the answer to Bilbo’s last question, he discovers that the Ring is gone and realizes that it is in Bilbo’s possession now. He moves to attack him, but Bilbo manages to escape after finding out that the Ring can make him invisible.
When he reunites with the group, he does not mention the Ring when recounting his tale to Gandalf and the others. Much later, when he reveals that he ‘won’ it, Gandalf is suspicious that he is not telling the truth and pesters him until he gives him the actual account of what had happened.
After the Quest of Erebor ends, Bilbo continues to keep the Ring in his custody for the next few decades. Even though it does not affect him like it had overpowered Gollum, it does take a toll on him. He looks like he has barely aged, but he feels weak on the inside. Noticing his friend’s rather odd behavior over the years, Gandalf finally learns that the Ring belongs to Sauron after all. He tracks down Gollum, who discloses that Sauron is now aware that someone with the name of Baggins has it.
Gandalf confronts Bilbo at his 111th birthday party, and tries to persuade him to leave the Ring with Frodo. Although he agrees at first, he becomes hostile in the next moment and declares that he would not part with his “precious” — even going as far as to accuse Gandalf for wanting it for himself. Gandalf makes him come back to his senses and, after some visible hesitation, Bilbo gives up the Ring after 60 years.