Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger was one of the small group of Hobbits who knew that Frodo had the One Ring. Fatty was a descendant of Hildibrand Took (TA 2849 - TA 2934), one of the many sons of the Gerontius Took. He was the son of Odovacar Bolger and Rosamunda Took.[1]
He had a younger sister, Estella (TA 2985 - ?), who would marry Meriadoc Brandybuck.
History
Fatty runs from a Nazgûl.
Fatty, along with Folco Boffin, Sam, Merry and Pippin is one of Frodo Baggins's friends, and helped move his things from Bag End to his new home at Crickhollow. There, he and Merry welcome Frodo, Sam and Pippin when those three arrive from Bucklebury.
When Frodo and the rest set out to take the Ring to Rivendell, Fredegar stayed behind at Crickhollow in an attempt to keep up appearances and delay news of their departure. He was frightened half out of his wits by the arrival of the Nazgûl but escaped unharmed. Fredegar could have gone with Frodo and his companions into the Old Forest, but was terrified of the stories about it. Though Merry tried to persuade him that the Old Forest would be nothing compared to meeting the Ringwraiths, Fatty was adamant, so the other Hobbits went into the forest with only the knowledge of Merry to aid them. Soon while Frodo and his other friends left Fatty stayed to make Frodo seem like he hadn't left.[2] Then on September the 30th Fredegar was attacked by Nazgûl and ran to the nearest house and raised the Horn-call of Buckland and so the Nazgûl left.[3]
During Saruman's rule of the Shire he led a group of partisans fighting against the Ruffians around the Hills of Scary, before eventually being captured. He and his sons were imprisoned in the Lockholes and starved, meaning that after his release nobody could call him Fatty any more.[4]
Behind the scenes
In earlier drafts of The Lord of the Rings Fatty Bolger played a much larger role, but this was later abandoned. His role survives as a minor anomaly in the book. When the Hobbits go into the Old Forest Bolger was originally supposed to go with them.
Fatty Bolger cheering when Bilbo screams “Bolgers!”
Translations
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Фредегар Болгер |
| Chinese | 佛瑞斯加·博哲 |
| Dutch | Fredegar Burger |
| French | Fredegar Bolgeurre |
| Georgian | ფრედეგარ "სქელო" ბოლჯერი |
| Greek | Φρέντεγκαρ Μπόλγκαρ |
| Italian | Fredegario "Grassotto" Bolgeri |
| Russian | Фредегар Болджер |
References
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C: Family Trees, Took of Great Smials
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter V: "A Conspiracy Unmasked"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter XI: "A Knife in the Dark"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings'", The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter IX: "The Grey Havens"