Redditors Pick The Scariest Lord Of The Rings Character & It's Not Who You Think

There are plenty of dangerous and intimidating characters in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, from the resurrected Dark Lord Sauron (Alan Howard) to the duplicitous wizard Saruman the White (Christopher Lee) to the sniveling creep Gríma Wormtongue (Brad Dourif). Still, according to Reddit users, none of them takes the top spot as the scariest villain in the books or movies.

On the r/lotr subreddit, u/SIGINT_SANTA asked who is the most frightening character in JRR Tolkien's fantasy masterwork, and the top-voted answer may come as a surprise to fans. u/Electronic-Source368 responded that Lobelia Sackville-Baggins (Elizabeth Moody) is the scariest person in "The Lord of the Rings," and their response was upvoted nearly 450 times, showing a clear consensus.

Though many fans may be drawing a blank on who Lobelia is in "The Lord of the Rings," you may recall Bilbo's (Ian Holm) long-simmering feud with the Sackville-Baggins branch of his family. Lobelia is the matriarch of the Sackville-Bagginses and may be the only character who is even greedier than Smeagol (Andy Serkis) in "The Fellowship of the Ring." As such, she is a terror to both Bilbo and Frodo (Elijah Wood) and a menace to the Shire for over 100 years. 

When Bilbo Baggins goes on his adventure in "The Hobbit," as far as the hobbits of the Shire are concerned, he has simply disappeared and is inevitably presumed dead. While this might sound like something that could occur almost anywhere after a person has vanished for a long period of time, the presumption upon Bilbo's life in "The Hobbit" has a more sinister motivation. In fact, the greedy Lobelia Sackville-Baggins hopes Bilbo will never return so that she can seize his home, Bag End, for herself. Not only has she already stolen some items from the home by the time the wily hobbit returns, but she is actually in the process of selling off many of his possessions.

It was likely this nasty scheming and avarice that Redditors had in mind when they crowned her the scariest person in "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit." Though the replies suggested that the choice was definitely a bit tongue-in-cheek, it might be Lobelia's similarity to real-life people who squabble over the wills of their loved ones that makes her such a frightful creature.

However, as is often the case in Middle-earth, even the worst people are capable of doing some good in the end. During the Scouring of the Shire, Lobelia fights back bitterly against Saruman and is hailed by her fellow hobbits as a hero. Unfortunately, this part of "The Lord of the Rings" didn't make it to the screen, and as such, there's no redemption arc for Lobelia for viewers of Peter Jackson's trilogy.