Frodo Brandybuck?!
 

"Baggins is his name, but he's more than half a Brandybuck, they say," Old Noakes of Bywater comments in The Ivy Bush at the beginning of LotR. Later, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins says, "You don't belong here; you're no Baggins - you - you're a Brandybuck!"

Rereading that got me thinking - Frodo's mother was a Brandybuck, and after the death of his parents he grew up among the Brandybucks in Buckland. That must have formed him more than we usually realize. What influence do you think his Brandybuck upbringing had on him? Was it a part of what prepared him to be the Ringbearer? Was the "mixed marriage" of his parents necessary to give him a balanced character? How did he become such an isolated person despite growing up in the abundance of family surrounding him there?

Interesting topic, Esty! Hmm... will have to look at it deeper and not now in the evening, but it will be definitely worth it. Now only one idea that occured to me...

I believe you actually hit the nail here - he was growing up among lots of hobbits, we even know he had a nice company of mushroom-robbers there (the ones who followed him - Farmer Maggot says Frodo was the worst one, and elsewhere it's said, I believe, that he organised the trips), yet maybe there was something in his personality that just did not fit. He was growing up in the abundance of family surrounding him there - but he was not a Brandybuck. He was a Baggins :smokin:

Aside from collecting him a bunch of rascally cousins? Not only wasn't he afraid of adventure-- from the tookish side-- but he's also unafraid of water, and less sheltered (Old Forest being nearby, and the road to Bree not so far off as all that.)

I sometimes wondered how Frodo managed to connect with all those travellers (dwarves, and others of a less than savory nature), and elves even, and the bounders, and learn all that he did learn about beyond the borders. Perhaps it was just a matter at being at the right Inn at the right time, but those mentions of him travelling alone on long walks make it seem otherwise.

Still around for one more thought...
 

That's actually what I was thinking of, whether the no fear of water did him any good on his journey. Well, both the episodes at Bucklebury Ferry and Bruinen were not that strong on the matter, but there was definitely one moment when I belive his Brandybuck heritage came very handy, and it was crucial moment in his life and in the quest: his choice to leave the Fellowship. Frodo had to cross Anduin, alone, using his own skills. Had he grown up in Hobbitton, I have no doubt he would have had one more reason to prevent him from splitting from the Fellowship. Imagine a person with Gaffer-like opinion on boats trying to escape across the river.

Nice topic idea!

I think it just may have been essential that Frodo had that Brandybuck in him - they seem to be the toughest hobbit race, in my opinion. I bet it came to good use when treading the path through Gorgoroth.

Did that come as a result of being orphaned, without any siblings? What do we know of hobbit psychology and early bereavement and grief? And what would it mean to be 'adopted' into a collateral part of the family? Would that actually estrange Frodo?