Lord Of The Rings' Forgotten Fifth Hobbit (And Why The Films Cut Him), Explained

Adapting any portion of J.R.R. Tolkien's world is an intimidating task. The fantasy realm is brimming with characters, events, and places, and inevitably, key elements are left on the cutting room floor. The Scouring of the Shire at the end of "The Return of the King" is famously missing from Peter Jackson's trilogy, for example, but "The Rings of Power" Season 2 finally brought Tom Bombadil to life after everyone else left him out (even if Jackson did hint at Bombadil's existence in "The Two Towers.")

Amazon's Second Age show has actually been a bit more willing to tackle previously unadapted elements of Tolkien's famous trilogy — including one small detail in Episode 2 of Season 2, where Nori (Markella Kavenagh) tries to come up with a name for The Stranger (Daniel Weyman). One of her suggestions is "Fredegar," which is a direct callback to a forgotten Hobbit from the "Lord of the Rings" story — and not just any Hobbit. We're talking about the oft-forgotten fifth member of Frodo Baggin's Halfling posse, a half-pint fella (wait, it comes in pints?) named Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger.

Frodo's other companions are famously Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, and Peregrin "Pippin" Took. While these are the Hobbits that go with him on his Middle-earth-spanning journey, Fatty Bolger is also fully in on the details of the quest — and plays a small yet critical role in the proceedings. At least, that's the case in the books.

In Jackson's movies, though, Fatty Bolger only appears on screen briefly and only in a deleted scene at Bilbo Baggin's party. The audio commentary revealed that he was played by writer Fran Walsh's uncle Tom. His general absence in a movie makes some sense. Tolkien himself cut back Fredegar's role, which was larger in earlier versions of "The Lord of the Rings" manuscripts. He's also involved in parts of the story that are very easy to trim from the primary narrative, including the Scouring of the Shire, which Jackson cut completely at the end of "The Return of the King." Still, Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger is a fun part of the original books. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Fredegar Bolger's father goes by the rather fantastic name of Odovacar Bolger, which is obviously where he gets his family name. His mother, though, is Rosamunda Took, and it's through this Tookish lineage that Fredegar is distantly related not just to Pippin but also to Merry and Frodo (who are all distant cousins within that family tree). While the blood connection is fun, though, that isn't what makes Fredegar so important in the original story.

In the books, Fatty is one of the original group of four "conspirators." These are Frodo's four Hobbit friends who proactively figure out that he has the One Ring and lay the groundwork to help him on his quest (without his initially even being aware of that fact). Yeah, that's right. The Jackson movies make it look like Merry and Pippin just bump into Frodo and Sam and join in the world-saving, Nazgûl-defying fun. In reality, Tolkien writes that they are well aware of things beforehand and even make thorough plans for how they can help Frodo. Fatty Bolger is one of the members of this beneficent plot.

While Fatty Bolger does want to help his friend, though, he doesn't actually go on the journey. "The Fellowship of the Ring" book explains, "Fond as he was of Frodo, Fatty Bolger had no desire to leave the Shire, nor to see what lay outside it." It goes on to add, "His task, according to the original plans of the conspirators, was to stay behind and deal with inquisitive folk, and to keep up as long as possible the pretence that Mr. Baggins was still living at Crickhollow." In the books, Crickhollow is a house that Frodo buys after selling Bag End to make it look like he's moving across the Shire (when, really, he's heading out on his quest). The books also say that Fatty brings along some of Frodo's clothes to pretend to play the part of Mr. Baggins in his new home and maintain the lie that Frodo is quietly living in the Shire. Then we get the foreboding line, "They little thought how dangerous that part might prove."

The meaningful part of Fredegar Bolger's role in "The Lord of the Rings" ends early in the story — but not until Frodo and his friends are in Bree. As the other four Hobbits are connecting with Aragorn and spending the night in the Prancing Pony, Fatty faces not one but three Black Riders who show up at Crickhollow looking for a Mr. Baggins. The terrified but clever Hobbit runs out the backdoor and then sounds the alarm as the Nazgûl break into the house. While Fatty survives the encounter, the ringwraiths do finally figure out that Frodo is gone, at which point they leave the Shire to take off for Bree, Weathertop, and the chase back to Rivendell.

After that, you'd think Fredegar could lie low and wait out the distant horrors of war, but nope. In "The Return of the King" book, Tolkien has Saruman's ruffians invade the Shire, turning it into an industrial house of horrors. They enslave the Hobbits, and it isn't until Frodo and Company return after the War of the Ring that the Halflings rise up, defeat, and cast out their oppressors (all of which was cut from Jackson's films). Before the Hobbit heroes return, though, there is some scattered resistance, including a group led by none other than Fatty Bolger.

The book explains that after the fight to reclaim the Shire, Fredegar is found in "the Lockholes" — a sort of prison where many Hobbits are kept if they get too rebellious. The text explains, "One of the first that they found was poor Fredegar Bolger, Fatty no longer. He had been taken when the ruffians smoked out a band of rebels that he led from their hidings up in the Brockenbores by the hills of Scary." By this time, Fredegar is too weak even to walk, and Pippin unhelpfully comments, "You would have done better to come with us after all, poor old Fredegar!"

We don't really get a satisfactory ending to Fredegar's story, but there's no bad news after this point. In fact, his sister, Estella, even ends up married to Merry! Our guess is that he lived happily ever after, along with the rest of the Shire inhabitants, as everyone enjoyed the peace that followed in the wake of the War of the Ring. Without Fatty's help in planning the conspiracy and distracting the Black Riders, the entire "The Lord of the Rings" story could have gone very differently. Hopefully, Frodo's cousin and hobbit companion will make it into a movie or streaming adaptation at some point soon. Heaven knows this conspiring halfling hero deserves to make the cut.