Post Sections ⇅
- When is Baggins’ Birthday 2023?
- How to Start Baggins Birthday
- Bilbo Baggins’ Birthday
- The Forgotten Birthday
I have now also added The Forgotten Birthday, which all players can do, so long as you take a little care!
When is Baggins’ Birthday 2023?
From 20th September from 2pm GMT (10am /servertime) to 26th September at 7am GMT (3am /servertime).
How to Start Baggins Birthday
As with many other LOTRO Events in the Calendar, Baggins’ Birthday is auto-bestowed. So, you need to look for the prompt on the right of the screen.
However, you’ll need to travel to Rivendell.
Travel Requirements
The Bilbo part takes place mostly in The Shire. However, Frodo is in the Last Homely House in Rivendell. If your character has not reached Imladris yet, you have a few options:
Ask for Travel
You may be able to ask in World Chat for a Hunter to port you there. They will invite you to Fellowship to make this possible. Be sure to thank the person who goes out their way to help you!
Trollshaws Stables
If you have made it to Ost Guruth in the Lone-Lands, then you’re not far from the border with the Trollshaws. Consider using LOTRO Plugins to help you, such as StableGuy to find the best route. Once you’ve got to a Trollshaws stable, use that to go to Rivendell and/or the Last Homely House.
Pay Mithril Coins
You can use the horse taxi to a Stables you have yet to unlock by paying 1 × Mithril Coin. To do this, you will need to convert LOTRO Points to Mithril Coins first.
Once you arrive at your destination, ensure you “discover” the Stable so you don’t have to pay MC again.
Run/Ride There
Trollshaws is a L35-40 region. If you have yet to visit Rivendell and you are under that level you can try to get there on foot or on a mount. This is technically achievable, as any Chicken players
will tell you. But beasts especially stray near to the paths, so reaching Rivendell this way is a last resort!
Travel Tips from Twitter
…once you reach lvl 20 you can pick up the Road to the Lonely Mountain
And then cancel the quest so you can talk to Gandalf again to repeat the free port.😁
Bilbo Baggins’ Birthday
The whole of this event takes place over various quests. It’s aim is not the reward, but the journey – to which I wholeheartedly approve! These are:
Most of your time will be spent on Gaffer’s List, which is where you collect stories about Bilbo.
Frodo’s Request
Reminiscent of the end of Shadows of Angmar where you have to keep going back to Elrond in Rivendell, Baggins’ Birthday starts with Frodo in Imladris. He sends you back to the Shire and you’ll need to return to the Last Homely House to complete the quest! Frodo’s Request is just the opener – like a summons I suppose. That Hobbit will then move you onto the main quest: Gaffer’s List.
Gaffer’s List
The 
Chronicler title deed has twelve parts, and apparently all the NPC Hobbits are active all of the time.
Don’t Rush
If this is your first time, please read the stories rather than racing yourself to complete the event. There are twelve and they’re all only a few short paragraphs each. There are some real gems in there, like the Riders of Roger!
Where Are All the NPCs?
Here is a map of the Shire, showing where all the Hobbits you need to speak to can be found.
1. Ted Sandyman
30.8S, 71.2W (near the water-wheel)
2. Robin Smallburrow
The Ivy Bush Inn (34.1S, 71.1W)
3. Dudo Chubb
31.3S, 71.2W (by the Task Board)
4. Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
Bag End: 29.4S, 71.3W
5 & 9: Storyteller and Child
Both the “Child” and “Storyteller” are round the corner in the Ivy Bush.
6. Hal Hornblower
31.5S, 71.2W
7. Bogo Chubb
Bogo changes his appearance, by the way. Something to do with a change they made to make Stablemasters roughly 50/50 Male/Female in Middle-Earth, I think.
31.5S, 71.2W (Stable-master)
8. Lotho Sackville-Baggins
Bag End, 29.4S, 71.3W
10. Hereward Loamsdown
The Ivy Bush Inn (34.1S, 71.1W)
11. Holly Hornblower
31.2S, 71.1W
12. Postman Grubb
31.2S, 71.3W
The Collected Stories
I’ve put screenshots of the collected stories into the next tab. They are spoilers if you’ve never run this event. If you’re on a larger screen just keep scrolling to avoid seeing them. On smaller and mobile devices, jump to Deliver the Stories to Frodo Baggins to skip past them!
Return to Gaffer Gamgee
Don’t forget this part! The Gaffer has the follow-on quest you need to be able to complete the event.
Deliver the Stories to Bilbo Baggins
Once you’ve completed your task and spoken with Gaffer Gamgee, go to Bilbo in Rivendell to complete this stage of Baggins Birthday.
Bilbo’s Present
That said, his speech-bubble comments could be different between characters. LOTRO-Wiki has a list of all the reactions he could have here.
Chronicler Title Deed
By completing the following, you can earn the Chronicler title:
(Bilbo) Baggins’ Birthday Rewards
Legendary Item XP- Decoration: Scribe’s Bookstand
See this decoration on Déco du Milieu.
The Forgotten Birthday
It was only last year that I realised there was a second part to Baggins’ Birthday. But it’s not obvious unless you’ve visited the location already. The Forgotten Birthday quest starts in Lake-Town in Eryn Lasgalen. While the enemies around the paths are Level 115, they are avoidable and anyone of any level can complete this quest, if you can get there. I’ll try to summarise the journey points and leave the storytelling up to the NPCs.
The Premise
Unlike the Baggins Birthday main quest where you are collecting random stories, The Forgotten Birthday is specific. You’re asking about the events around the death of Smaug the Dragon and Thorin Oakenshield’s company. There is a fair amount of travelling for this one – and that is a good thing! This is especially true if you’ve never been to this area before, which was the case for me.
Getting to Lake-Town
By far the easiest way to reach Lake-Town is to get the Swift-Travel horse taxi from South Bree, which goes directly there. You may have to acquire some
Mithril Coins and pay 1× to get there. Once you have arrived, head South down the road away from Lake-town.From Twitter:
…grab a ride to Annâk-khurfu* War Room at any of the dwarf stable masters in Bree, Celondim, Michel Delving or Thorin’s Gate. Get outside and ride from Erebor to Lake Town, which is just down the road.
* Annâk-Khurfu is the location for the Gabil’akka Missions.
Find the Thoughts of Bilbo
The Thoughts of Bilbo is a translucent version of the Hobbit himself and is the quest “NPC”. Start the storyline through him. The coordinates are (13.4N, 29.4W) and here’s the location on what I could extract from the map.
Talk to the Guard
Head back North to the Gate of Lake-town and speak with a guard called Várthrek. In case it helps, he is at 17.1N, 27.8W, but he’s hard to miss! After a chat with him, he tells you to find the “oldest resident” in Lake-town who has a chance of remembering the days around Smaug’s demise.
Find the Oldest Resident
The man in question is Lóskarl and can be found in the back room of The Dragonbone Inn
. Because I can be dumb, I found the backdoor first at 17.5N, 26.5W.While he’s worse for wear, he hasn’t lost it and directs you to Raft Elves (Elfsh *hic*). 
Visit the Raft-Elves
She tells you her tale the redirects you to the Dungeons of Felegoth.
The Dungeons of Felegoth
Where is Celethros?
Your final NPC storyteller is Celethros at Felegoth. Thankfully, Felegoth is not only in big friendly letters on your map, but also has a stablemaster symbol you can aim for. Be wary of enemies if you’re under L115 though. The entrance is at 21.0N, 36.8W. From there, head North-East. Click/tap the map below.
Back Again
Finally, you can return to Bilbo and recount all the tales and tidbits of information you garnered about his time with the Dwarves. Make the old Hobbit chuckle, then pick up your title reward.
The Forgotten Birthday – Quest Rewards
As well as whatever standard XP you receive, there are two additional rewards:
- Legendary Item XP
- Title: either
- Birthday Girl, or
- Birthday Boy
TL;DR Which Baggins Birthday is it? Why, both of course!
Even if you’re a low-level character you can at least run the part for Frodo about Bilbo Baggins’ birthday. If you can make it to Lake-town then you can enjoy The Forgotten Birthday too. Either way, this is about celebrating someone else’s birthday, so enjoy it for the story and quest writing. Bilbo is Eleventy-One again, so have fun in Middle-Earth!
About the Author
I have been playing MMOs for about ten years and began writing guides to The Lord of the Rings Online in 2017. I've only been creating content about Final Fantasy XIV since 2022, but I am glad for the mix. My current games include LOTRO, FFXIV and the occasional Palia session too.
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