Ages of the Hobbits when they left the Shire

Merrydey

New Member
There was a lot of discussion about the relative ages of the four hobbits, so I used the genealogical tables and did some math. In 3018, the year Frodo left the Shire with the Ring, he was 50. Sam was 38. Merry was 36. And Pippin was 28, not quite "of age".
 
Listening to the recording of Mythgard Academy a couple of weeks ago on Nature of ME and all the math regarding elvish aging, I read this and immediately thought "but did the rate of aging of Hobbits change when they left the Shire?"
 
In class 21 or 22, it came up about when Frodo came to live at Bag End. His parents died when he was 12, but Bilbo didn't invite him to live at Bag End until much later. In chapter one, it says Bilbo asked Frodo to live with him (and made Frodo his heir) on Bilbo's 99th birthday, so Frodo would have been 21. So when Frodo left Hobbiton he had lived there about 29 years.
 
There was a lot of discussion about the relative ages of the four hobbits, so I used the genealogical tables and did some math. In 3018, the year Frodo left the Shire with the Ring, he was 50. Sam was 38. Merry was 36. And Pippin was 28, not quite "of age".

Hi Merrydey,

You are generally correct as to the ages of the Hobbits. However, absolute precision is not possible for three of them in 3018. We know that Frodo was 50 when he left Bag End on the evening of the 23rd of September, 3018, because we know that his birthday was 22 September and he was born in 1368 (Shire reckoning - 2968 Third Age). I don't think we know the birthdays of Sam, Merry, or Pippin. So, we don't know exactly how old they were at the time of any given event in 3018. Sam was born in 1380. Merry in 1382, and Pippin in 1390 (Shire reckonings - 2980, 2982, and 2990 Third Age). At some time in 3018 they turned 38, 36, and 28, respectively. However, depending on when their birthdays fell, they could have been 37, 35, and 27 when they left the Shire (for example).
 
I doubt their birthdays were after September 23 - wouldn't someone have mentioned it?

You could just as easily wonder, if their birthdays were before September 23 - wouldn't someone have mentioned it? However, their birthdays never are mentioned.
 
Yes, but we don't get time with them before. When they are all together as we see them after, it's different. We are with them through the trip through the Shire, and if Merry's birthday happened in those days, somebody would have mentioned it when the others got to Crickhollow.
 
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