While I would love to own The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series, I sadly have nothing and am currently penniless and have to beg my parents to buy me necessaries of life; things like chocolate, chick fil a, and books. I lead a sad life.

The Hobbit: A Truly Unexpected Adventure

"Common"

"Sindarin"

"Khuzdul"

"Black Speech"

Prologue

Bilbo Baggins-Took loved his life. His parents would wake him up early and his mother, Belladonna, would tell him stories of her adventures while his father taught him everything he thought a 'respectable hobbit' ought to know, like cooking, map reading, and sewing, although his mother managed to turn that around on him, when instead of hobbit clothes, they made tunics, and other clothes 'fit for adventures.'

Bilbo was an odd fauntling, with his fast thinking and his sharp tongue and wit. He was always practicing his fighting with his wooden sword, gifted to him by the wizard Gandalf the Grey. If that wasn't weird enough, he loved going on adventures, and his mother actually encouraged him to explore the world! She said that when the time comes for his own real adventure without him Ma holding his hand along the way, she wanted him to be as prepared as he could be. His father, although supportive of his family's weird ways, thought that adventures were foolish things that would make them late for dinner. Now that didn't mean that they didn't go on adventures anyway. In fact, on Bilbo's 17th birthday, Belladonna took him to meet her elf friends, Elrond and his family! The twins, Elladan and Elrohir, were the ones who gifted him his first real weapons, a short elven sword, a set of throwing knives, and a bow with a quiver full of arrows. For the months that he was in Rivendell, Bilbo worked towards mastering his weapons, along with all of the languages that Arwen insisted that he learn. He eventually did, exactly one year after they had first been gifted to him. It was on this night, the night of Bilbo's 18 birthday, that Lord Elrond received a letter from the Lady Galadriel, with astounding news. She spoke of a prophecy she had given just the day before of a young hobbit, the chosen of the Valor, that would save them all. It was foretold that the fauntling, half Baggins, half Took, would have powers previously unheard of on Middle Earth since the earliest days to help him on his journey.

The letter went on to explain how she thinks Bilbo is the one that is being spoken of, and that if they wanted him to succeed when his time came, that he would need training before he could return to the Shire, back home. That night, Bilbo awoke screaming. His body burned and it was all he could do to not let the tears in his eyes fall. His door busted open, and the others ran in, weapons drawn. Belladonna made to run to her son's side but Elrond held her back, pressing her to him.

"Wait, you must wait! Lady Galadriel said that he was to be marked somehow and that we mustn't interrupt the process!" His voice was calm and level, but Belladonna could hear the emotion hidden in his voice, which is why instead of fighting, she fell to the floor, pulling the elf lord down with her. Her eyes never left Bilbo as he continued to writhe in pain, and it felt as if hours had passed before he stilled, his breath coming out in heaves. He opened his eyes and saw his mother at his right, staring down at his arms. He looked down and gasped. On each arm, two tattoos circled his bicep each one centering on a certain element. On his right arm, there was earth and water, on his left, fire and air. He could feel his back throbbing and allowed Elrond to pull him up into a sitting position. He heard Arwen gasp.

"What is it?" He croaked, his voice hoarse from screaming. Elladan and Elrohir lifted him to his feet and guided him to a nearby mirror. Bilbo's mouth fell open. Across the top of his back, was the most intricate and detailed tattoo he had ever seen. Starting at the bottom of his neck, it's tail ending at the small of his back, was a bird that he had no idea what it was, with its wings spread out to his shoulder blades. Around the majestic bird were several animals, corresponding with the tattoos on his arms. To the left of the bird was a glorious lion surrounded by fire and underneath was an eagle with its wings slightly spread, as if she was gliding through the air. On the right of his back, starting just under his right shoulder blade was a wolf standing tall and proud, mountains faintly outlined behind him. The last tattoo was a sea otter with ocean water swirling around him. The craziest thing was that even as Bilbo stared at the tattoo, he could tell it was moving. The wolf shaking out its hair, the otter swimming through the water, and, if he concentrated hard enough, he swore he could hear the faint singing of a bird, that filled him with happiness and calmed his thoughts. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Does anyone want to tell me what this is about?" That was the day that Bilbo found out that he was different. That he was powerful. That he was to stay in Rivendell and say goodbye to his parents, who he wouldn't be seeing for however long it took him to train. No matter that he rarely ever acted his age, he was still only a fauntling, barely past the age of 7 in the years of men, and not being able to see his parents for any long period of time was always going to be hard. But Bilbo managed it and for 10 years he lived with the elves, growing close to Elrond and his children, even being considered kin. He grew his hair out, but kept it tied back at the nape of his neck, so to keep the golden curls out of his face when he used his bow.

Bilbo learned how to shoot as good as anyone and could move quieter than even the most experienced of trackers. Leaves and roots would move out of his way, allowing him to move invisibly when ever he wished. He could beat most elves in a fair fight, and all of them in an unfair one. He was well versed in all languages that weren't secret, including iglishmek, sindarin, and even most forms of black speech (Bilbo had hated learning that one). He was tall for a hobbit, resting at the average height of a dwarf, and lacked the potbelly that was a tell tale sign of shire-folk. While he was lean, his body was layered with muscles from his training.

The first few years after his mother left him with the elves, Bilbo worked towards mastering any and all weapons that the elves had available to him, which were a lot. He was uncannily good with weapons at his young age, impressing even the mighty Glorfindel with his skills. He mastered the bow, sword, throwing knives, spear, and even small axes along with several other weapons! While Bungo, his father will always be his da, Lord Elrond grew to become an ada, so that is what Bilbo called him. Adar insisted that he learned meditation, saying that it would help when he decided to begin training with the elements. And it did.

The training with his powers took much longer, starting out with him only being able to lift small pebbles or control small fires that had already been created. Eventually Bilbo mastered each of the four elements, but found that he did have limits of large amounts of power he could use, and he had learned not to push the boundaries, lest he want to pass out for days on end.

Arwen wouldn't allow him to just train all day, doing nothing fun. She always said that even though he was a warrior, he was still just a fauntling who deserved to have fun. So Adar taught Bilbo tricks on his black pony, Kex, Elrohir and Elladan taught him how to prank anyone and everyone, and get away with it, too, while Arwen taught him the one thing that he loves even more than riding his pony. Music.

She taught him how to sing hundreds of different songs, and play dozens of different instruments, his favorite being the fiddle, because it was the instrument that his father used to play when it was his turn to go to bed. Eventually, it was time for him to go back to the Shire, leaving with several large trunks, one filled with his clothes, two full of his weapons, and three of everything else his second family thought he would need until whenever it was that he returned to Rivendell. Bilbo had told himself that he wasn't going to cry when he saw his parents again, but he couldn't help it when he finally saw them sitting on the bench outside Bag-End, his Da using his pipe to make smoke rings and his Ma sewing (something that he thought looked like elven clothes) and simply stared at them for a few seconds before leaping off of Kex and over the fence, ending with a roll before launching himself into his mother's waiting arms. If a few tears were shed, he thought that he could be forgiven, he was still a faunt after all. The next year was full of him telling stories to his parents about all of his adventures. They developed into a similar routine they had had before he left, with Bilbo and Belladonna practicing their fighting in the morning before breakfast. Afterwards Bilbo would listen to Bungo tell stories of their ancestors, mixing in lessons of how to be a lord (the Baggins' were a very respectable family after all. Not quite as well known as the Took's but then again, the head of that family was also the Thain. As Bilbo was the direct heir to one and about the fourth heir to the other, he did need to know somethings,) within them. He told many stories of goblins, and how it was important that Bilbo avoided them as much as he could while on his adventures, for they would love to get their hands on him, especially. During the afternoon, Bilbo would spend the rest of the time before dinner with the younger fauntlings telling them stories and teaching them swordplay with wooden swords, all the while trying to ignore the many whispers of that mad Baggins-Took and how all of his adventuring was unnatural. The adults got crueler in their comments until finally, the kids who had grown to adore their "big brother" told them off, saying that they've really been wanting to try their sword skills against an adult and asked if they knew anyone that would be willing to try. That shut them up, and made Bilbo laugh hysterically.

The day he turned 29, Bilbo got the best present he had ever been given. Now while it is true that hobbits care not for gold or jewels or the like, but all of them got a gold necklace when they turned 29 that they treasured above all else and seldom took off. On his birthday, his Ma allowed him to sleep in, while Da made him his favorite breakfast. When Bilbo finally awoke it was to the smell of sausage and sweet cakes. He made his way sleepily into the dining room, bumping into several walls as he went. But when he saw what was in front of his chair at the table, he was instantly awake. After a nod from his mother, he ran to the small pile of presents and grabbed the top one. From his elven family he got a new set of throwing knives from Ada, several quivers of arrows from the twins, and, his best present so far in his opinion, a wooden fiddle lined with golden designs from Arwen. He received several homemade necklaces and bracelets from the other kids in the shire, which made him laugh. They were simple, yet elegant and beautiful at the same time, with beads weaved into the leather making them sparkle in the morning sun.

Finally he reached the present from his parents and slowly opened the velvet-lined box. What he saw made him gasp. On a simple golden chain laid the most beautiful pendants he had ever seen. While most hobbit's necklaces only had a single pendant, Bilbo's had four. The first two were what he had expected, the Took and Baggins family crest, not that that made them any less important. The Baggins had the words 'The most important things in life are good family, good friends, and good food', surrounded by a skunk, sparrow, and fox. The Took crest on the second pendant had words saying 'if adventure is knocking on your door, invite it in' with a wolf, snake, and a robin with two swords crossing over the whole thing. The third one made him smile manically, because he knew that only his family would understand it's significance. It was a replica of the tattoo on his back down to the last detail and he had to stop himself from throwing his arms around his parents. The last one though had him just barely holding back tears. It was Elrond's crest, etched into the golden disk like the others. A gorgeous bow and arrow sat in the middle, the edges lined with silver with words like family, strength and perseverance, all in Sindarin. He knew that his Adar thought of him as kin, as did his kids, but for Bilbo to wear this with his other crests meant that the elven lord claimed him as his own, that he was under his protection, that he loved him. He was family. This time, Bilbo did throw his arms around his parents before allowing his da to fasten the necklace around his neck. He leaned into his mother as she weaved small braids into his hair before pulling it back and fastening it with one of the bracelets from the fauntlings.

Yes, Bilbo Baggins-Took loved his life.

Which meant that it didn't last.

He remembered the scarcity of food, the screams, the blood, oh yavanna, the blood. He remembered the glint of a sword, pain, falling, and then… nothing. He woke up two days later with a blood soaked bandage around his torso and his grandfather sitting at his bedside, tears in his eyes. His parents were gone, murdered and Bilbo himself almost killed, would've died if it hadn't been for the ranger that had found him in the snow. For the first time since he was 17, Bilbo really cried. He sobbed for his parents, of the knowledge that his ma would never run her hand through his hair again, his da wouldn't read him stories by the fire ever again because they were gone. He couldn't save them. He fell into a restless sleep as his grandfather rocked him in his arms. Bilbo's dreams were plagued with nightmares.

When spring came, Bilbo, much to his Uncle Isengrim's dismay, moved back to Bag End. While his greedy cousins tried to say that Bilbo was to young to live on his own - c'mon he was only 4 years from his majority - and that they should live with him, his grandfather put a stop to it, saying that the next person who tried to steal Bag-End from his grandson would have to answer to him, and no one wanted to cross the Thain. The time Bilbo spent with his mother's family allowed him to understand that there was nothing he could've done to save his parents, and he had begun to heal. Elrond had wanted him to come live in Rivendell, but Bilbo couldn't leave Bag-End until his 50th birthday, (that's when most hobbits build/buy their own houses to settle down in) lest he wanted to lose it forever. When he got back home and all of the fauntlings ran up to him, each making sure that he was alright, he healed even more, and spent the rest of the afternoon chasing them through the town and making up stories about heroic hobbits that defeat dragons and battles orcs.

That night, Bilbo decided that his parents wouldn't want him to stop training or linger on their deaths forever. They would want him to walk away from this stronger, not broken. That night, Bilbo Baggins-Took went to sleep without nightmares for the first time in months.