Frodo Baggins is the nephew of Bilbo Baggins. Not only every Middle-earth fan knows these names. But Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings” should actually be called something completely different.
The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King: The Gray Havens, Frodo travels west to Valinor. (Source: Warner Bros. / YouTube screenshots: Netzwelt)
- Can you imagine another name for Frodo Baggins? Tolkien himself could once do it.
- In the first version of “The Lord of the Rings”, Bilbo Baggins’ nephew had a name that would make you giggle today.
- What is the name? Imagine you have all five numbers in a row, whether horizontal or vertical: Bingo!
Frodo Baggins from the Shire, portrayed by Elijah Wood in the “Lord of the Rings” films, is now an integral part of pop culture, as is his uncle, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm/Martin Freeman). But fantasy author JRR Tolkien actually came up with a different name in the first version of The Lord of the Rings.
Initially, “The Lord of the Rings”, similar to “The Hobbit”, was intended as an episodic children’s book in which Bilbo’s young nephew, bingo, experienced adventure. What ultimately motivated Tolkien to change the name to Frodo is unclear. Maybe this is due to the strange nature of the name!
Bingo Baggins, at your service! Inglourious Basterds: “That’s a bingo!” says Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) happily. (Source: Netflix screenshot: Netzwelt)
When we found out what Frodo was supposed to be called, we were as happy as Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”: “That’s a bingo!” That’s right, Frodo Baggins should actually be called Bingo – and the tongue twister gets even better: – Bolger-Baggins (English: Bingo Bolger-Baggins).
And not only Bingo – er: Frodo – initially had a different name. Sam’s actual name was, drum roll please… Frodo. Merry stayed with Merry and Pippin was actually called Odo. It was probably a good decision that Tolkien came up with new names again.
Today we only know Odo as the grumpy Proudfoot or by name from the “Star Trek” universe, played by Rene Auberjonois, and Frodo, Bilbo, Merry, Pippin and Sam are also firmly etched into pop culture. Would that have been the case with other names? Let’s wait and see what names Amazon comes up with for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
| The Lord of the Rings: Reviewing the Rings of Power | |
| genre | Drama, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy |
| First broadcast | September 1, 2022 |
| First broadcast in Germany | September 2, 2022 |
| Homepage | amazon.com |
| Other sources | |
| network | Amazon |
production | Amazon Studios, New Line Cinema, Harper Collins Publishers, Tolkien Enterprises |
| Squadrons |
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