LOTRO: A Trip to Bag End

Bag End is perhaps one of the most iconic fantasy homes of all time.  In LOTR and The Hobbit, it functions much like taverns do in many a D&D tale: a launching point for a greater story, a meeting place for a party of adventurers, a place of exposition and groundwork.

I’m a bit ashamed that I never knew before a couple weeks ago that you could enter Bag End in LOTRO, although perhaps you could forgive me this.  There’s no quest directing you inside, no NPCs indoors, just a little green door among a whole zone of little green doors.

So before Syp the Burglar left the Shire for good, I thought I’d pay homage to Bilbo and Frodo by giving Bag End a tour.  The current owner, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, didn’t seem to mind as I slipped past her.

Here’s a map from the book version of Bag End:

What’s interesting is just how faithful LOTRO is to this map.  Although you can’t explore ALL of Bag End (there are crates and piles of furniture in the middle of the hallway halfway through), you can peruse the first half to your heart’s delight, and that’s where anything of note already is.

The front of Bag End, including the little round green door that was one of the first things described in The Hobbit.

The front hallway. Bag End as a whole is dimly lit and gives off a feeling of abandonment. At this point in the story, Frodo has sold it off to his relatives, but odds and ends remain.

A certain open book in Bilbo's study looks VERY familiar...

The kitchen. Like most of the rooms, it's cold and quiet, although I love the little blue glow of the hobbit window.

Either the parlor or the drawing room -- in either case, the most cozy room of the house, with a fire still crackling. It's here, most likely, that Gandalf threw the One Ring into the fire to reveal its lettering.

The same room, looking at it from the fireplace. I love the shadows cast here, and the books spread everywhere.