Throughout Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Frodo had three main hobbit friends: his loyal gardener Sam and trouble-making cousins, Merry and Pippin. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, these three hobbits accompanied Frodo from the Shire to Rivendell, and they joined the Fellowship at the Council of Elrond. Though the circumstances surrounding Merry and Pippin’s entrance into the story differed, this was also true in J. R. R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings novel. However, in Tolkien’s writing, there was a fifth member of their friend group whom Jackson’s films all but ignored: Fredegar “Fatty” Bolger.

Fredegar came from the Bridgefields, a region in the Eastfarthing of the Shire near the Brandywine River. He was a distant relative of the Baggins family and one of Frodo’s closest friends. Fredegar was one of the 144 esteemed guests who attended Bilbo‘s 111th birthday party at the start of The Fellowship of the Ring. In Jackson’s film, his only appearance was a brief cameo in the extended edition of the birthday party scene, but in the novel, he played a larger role. Though he did not travel to Rivendell or join the Fellowship like the other hobbits, he was one of a select few who knew about the One Ring, and he aided Frodo in the early stages of his quest.

Fredegar Bolger Was One of Merry’s Most Trusted Confidants

Name
Birthdate (Third Age)

Frodo Baggins
September 22, 2968

Samwise “Sam” Gamgee
April 6, 2980

Fredegar “Fatty” Bolger

Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck
2982

Peregrin “Pippin” Took
2990

In the film, Sam joined Frodo on his quest after Gandalf caught him eavesdropping on a conversation about the One Ring in Bag End, and Merry and Pippin did so because they were coincidentally running away from Farmer Maggot and his dogs when Frodo and Sam left. In the novel version of The Lord of the Rings, their involvement was more deliberate and more complicated. It all started with Merry; roughly a year before Bilbo’s birthday party, Merry saw him using the One Ring to turn invisible so that he could avoid the Sackville-Bagginses. He told three trusted friends about this: Sam, Pippin, and Fredegar. They came to be known as the conspirators, and in the chapter “A Conspiracy Unmasked” from The Fellowship of the Ring, Merry called Sam their “chief investigator.” Since he was the closest to Frodo, Sam tried to learn some information they could use to unravel the mystery, which was why he listened in on Gandalf and Frodo in the novel. Following Bilbo’s disappearance at the party, they grew even more curious, and they worried that Frodo might disappear as well.

When it came time for Frodo to embark on his journey, he pretended that he was simply moving to Crickhollow, a remote house near the eastern edge of the Shire. The conspirators helped Frodo move out of Bag End and prepared Crickhollow for his arrival. Once Frodo reached Crickhollow, he revealed to his friends the true purpose of leaving, and they told him that they already knew. At first, Frodo felt betrayed that his friends had spied on him and schemed behind his back: “Good heavens above! Is nothing safe?… It does not seem that I can trust anyone.” However, he was also relieved that he did not need to bear the burden of secrecy any longer, and he quickly came to appreciate all that the conspirators had done to help him. After spending a night at Crickhollow, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out towards Rivendell. Fredegar stayed behind because he did not want to leave the Shire, especially since Frodo planned to travel through the ominous Old Forest. This was beneficial, as he was able to help Frodo while remaining in the Shire.

The Nazgûl Nearly Killed Fredegar Bolger

Fredegar’s parents were named Odovacar Bolger and Rosamunda Took.
Tom Walsh, who portrayed Fredegar in Jackson’s film, was the uncle of screenwriter Fran Walsh.
In Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Mrs. Bolger buys Bilbo’s footstool, and the auctioneer calls it “somewhere for Fatty to put his feet on.”

The conspirators decided that Fredegar should temporarily move into Crickhollow to cover for Frodo’s absence: “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 pretense that Mr. Baggins was still living at Crickhollow.” He sometimes dressed as Frodo to trick others into thinking that he was still in the Shire. He also kept an eye out for Gandalf in case he returned so that he could inform him of what Frodo was doing. But most importantly — and dangerously — he served as a distraction for the Nazgûl, who hunted for Frodo and the One Ring throughout The Lord of the Rings. In the chapter “A Knife in the Dark” from The Fellowship of the Ring, they made their move.

While some Nazgûl attacked The Prancing Pony Inn, as shown in Jackson’s film, three others came to Crickhollow. A Nazgûl knocked on the door, rasping, “Open, in the name of Mordor!” When Fredegar did not answer, the Nazgûl broke down the door. They spread out through the house but found it empty, for Fredegar had snuck away as soon as he saw the Nazgûl in the distance. Terrified, he spread the news that there were evil strangers in town. Merry’s family, the Brandybucks, sounded the horn call of Buckland, which rang out through the Shire and warned all its inhabitants of the danger. Though the hobbits posed little threat to Sauron’s deadliest servants, the Nazgûl did not want to waste time-fighting, so they fled. They deduced that Frodo had left the Shire, but thanks to Fredegar raising the alarm, they were unable to question anyone about his potential whereabouts.

Fredegar Bolger Tried to Fight Saruman the White

The Nazgûl were not the only villains whom Fredegar faced in The Lord of the Rings. When Saruman took over the Shire, Fredegar was one of the few hobbits who fought back against the Wizard’s tyranny. He led a small band of rebels from the Eastfarthing, but Saruman’s ruffians defeated and captured him. They imprisoned Fredegar in the Lockholes, a series of underground storage tunnels that Saruman converted into a dungeon. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin rescued him and the other prisoners during the Scouring of the Shire. In the chapter “The Grey Havens,” Tolkien wrote that he was “Fatty no longer,” as the ruffians had starved him. Despite this, he did not lose his spirit. When his friends freed him, he “tried gallantly to smile” and pointed out how much Pippin had grown.

Tolkien did not write about what Fredegar did after the War of the Ring, but he surely remained close to his old co-conspirators. His sister, Estella Bolger, ended up marrying Merry. Jackson’s choice to gloss over Fredegar was sensible; after his close call with the Nazgûl, he did not reappear until the Scouring of the Shire, which Jackson cut from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, so his role would have been minor. The Fellowship of the Ring instead focused on establishing Sam, Merry, and Pippin, who were consistently important throughout the rest of the trilogy. But this does not diminish Fredegar’s importance to the novel or his strong friendship with his fellow hobbits. Though Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin displayed more impressive feats of strength and heroism, Fredegar and countless other individuals made small contributions that added up to the Fellowship’s ultimate success.