Following Thorin’s passing at the end of the Battle of The Five Armies, Bilbo Baggins was reminded of the fact that he is entitled to one-fourteenth of Smaug’s hoard of treasure. Facing the numerous logistical and safety issues that travelling with a large mound of treasure brought, he would choose to bring home just two small chests–one laden with gold and the other silver. Historically, Bilbo Baggins’ reasoning for taking just a minor amount of treasure makes sense as he would have undoubtedly faced “war and murder along the way” (The Hobbit, The Return Journey) if laden with mounds of treasure. However, Baggins’ choice to only claim two small chests and release the rest of his rightful treasure to the competing parties is an exceptionally selfless act; Bilbo Baggins, now beyond affluent with Smaug’s hoard, could have paid to transport his treasure anywhere in Middle Earth. Bilbo Baggins’ choice to leave the vast majority of his treasure in the hoard enriched the society of Esgaroth greatly and allowed the Dwarves to further enhance their re-commandeering of the Lonely Mountain.
Flying down the river in a rage, Smaug’s desolation of the Lake-town was immense and catastrophic. The raging dragon methodically destroyed the town’s buildings, setting each ablaze with terrible force – leaving Esgaroth a smouldering pile of rubble. The cost to rebuild its buildings was not the only expense facing Bard’s people as they would also have to contend with the importation of food until their livestock could be replenished, the re-tilling of farmland and the retraining of those who perished protecting the town. The effort to rebuild the lives of the townspeople was long and difficult, but the treasure left for them by Bilbo Baggins allowed them to pick away at the process without agonizing over the cost of recreating their beloved town.
As with the people of Esgaroth, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain would make great use of the treasure allotted to them from Bilbo Baggins’ share. Flush with their own treasure from recapturing Smaug’s Hoard, the Dwarves made use of Baggins’ claim to invest in the manufacturing of Dwarven weapons and armour in an effort to reclaim the skills of ages past. Particularly, they created an entire (small) hold of modern Dwarven armour specially designed to fit a hobbit’s small form and odd proportions – enabling future Dwarve-aligned Hobbits to battle with confidence in their armourings.
Upon his arrival at Bag End following the Battle of The Five Armies, Bilbo Baggins was immediately bombarded with curiosity about what lay within the small chests he had returned with. Unsurprisingly, he would spend the rest of his time in Bag End giving away the treasure he had returned with. As the years passed and Bilbo Baggins’ energy waned, he became less discerning about who he gifted the gold and silver to – a letter containing two golden coins arriving unexpectedly at Lobelia Sackville-Baggins’ residence a couple of days after he vanished from Bag End. Seeing as Bilbo Baggins saw no use for wealth, the majority of his treasure was left to the residents of Bag End. Bilbo Baggins’ generosity entitled many of his neighbours in Bagshot Row to luxuries beyond anything they would have seen otherwise and for this reason, the Baggins family name carries great respect in and around the area of Bag End.
Bilbo Baggins would give away both chests that had held his treasure; the remainder of his fortune was donated -inside the chest that had contained the silver- to Samwise Gamgee and Rosie Cotton to celebrate their marriage, and the empty chest which had contained the gold was generously donated to the Mathom House’s Permanent Collection. The Chest of Treasure now resides with other “ordinary” mathoms of known use and was recently sketched by museum artist Hector Vives to allow visitors a chance to see the which treasure would have filled it upon Bilbo Baggins’ departure from the Lonely Mountain. The Chest of Golden Treasures offers a view into the reality and humble choices of Bilbo Baggins following his victory at the Lonely Mountain.
Works Cited:
- Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. HarperCollins, 2012.
- Vives, Hector. “Bilbo’s gold treasure chest after the Quest of Erebor.” 2019. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3q38N2