[2Jedismom]

Hey All-Knowing-One! I have a question I brought up in the FR chat but got bugged by a disruptor before we could really discuss it. What do you think?

In the prologue, in the part "Ordering of the Shire" Bilbo doesn't reveal how much of his considerable wealth he actually has...not even to "Frodo, his favouite nephew". Then, at the beginning of Chapter One, A Long Expected Party, it says Bilbo had no close friends until some of his younger cousins began to grow up, the oldest and Bilbo's favourite was Frodo. Then later on in the first chapter, the Gaffer is at The Ivy Bush and is explaining how Frodo is Bilbo's first and second cousin. Then, during the speech at The Party, Bilbo refers to Frodo as his "heir and nephew".

Now I have tried to understand the family tree at the end of ROTK and can't figure it out. What do you think?

[2Jedismom]

And in the movie, Gandalf says "You don't think I'd miss your Uncle Bilbo's birthday?" Which is what got me to thinking about this. I was telling my mom that I thought they were cousins and she said no, Bilbo was Frodo's uncle. So I was stumped.

[JenB]

They are cousins (first and second cousins), but Frodo called Bilbo his uncle. Probably because Bilbo was so much older than Frodo - they were "once removed either way", you remember.