Lotho Sackville-Baggins

After Lotho's father, Otho, died in Third Age 3012, Lotho inherited his pipe-weed plantations in the Southfarthing, ensuring his status as a wealthy Hobbit.

According to Tolman Cotton, Lotho had been quietly selling the best Pipe-weed for one or two years before the War of the Ring and he seemingly bought the Old Mill before Frodo Baggins sold Bag End to his family.

On 23 September Third Age 3018 Lotho and Lobelia arrived at Bag End after lunch to take stock of the property and to obtain the keys. Soon thereafter they moved into the residence, Lotho demolished the Old Mill and recruited outsiders to build a bigger mill and others like it in order to efficiently grind corn faster. By the end of that year, Lotho began buying an excessive amount of property as well as selling goods beyond Pipe-weed to many Men who came up from the south, mostly Ruffians. When folk began to complain about shortages that winter, Lotho had some Ruffians stay to assert his dominance over the Shire. At first, Lotho paid for all the stolen goods and damages that the Ruffians were responsible for. However, Lotho eventually stopped doing this. When Will Whitfoot, the Mayor of the Shire, set out to protest against Lotho's activities, he had his Men incarcerate him in the Lockholes.

Soon after New Year, with no Mayor of the Shire, Lotho began calling himself Chief Shirriff, and demanded to be acknowledged as the Chief, and did whatever he wanted with no one to stop one. He closed all of the inns and made his own version of The Rules, turning the Shire into a totalitarian regime. When Thain Paladin II refused to acknowledge Lotho as the Chief, Lotho sent his Men to Tookland, though the Tooks did not give in and resisted.

Lotho's regime within the Shire ended in September Third Age 3019 when Sharkey arrived at Bag End and took over the Shire from there. Soon Lotho was no longer seen in public and his mother, Lobelia, was taken to the Lockholes.

It was later revealed that Lotho was stabbed (and possibly also eaten) by Gríma in his sleep at the order of Saruman.

After Sharkey usurped the rule of the Shire from Lotho, he had the Ruffians industrialize the new mill in order to pollute the Water and the Brandywine, and life in the Shire became worse. Eventually however, when the Travellers returned, the Shire was retaken in the Battle of Bywater.

The name Lotho represents an original Hobbitish Westron name Lotha which was meaningless in contemporary speech.

Lotho was called Cosimo within two variants of an early draft of The Fellowship of the Ring, where he fought Sancho Proudfoot at Bag End being supported by his mother, Lobelia, whose umbrella broke upon Sancho's head. In a note to the draft, Christopher Tolkien stated that this was Lotho's first appearance, and that in both of these variants, he had an overshadowed wife named Miranda, though she was removed within the next draft of the text. In another early draft, Cosimo's epithet was sandy-haired rather than Pimple.

In an isolated outline foreseeing the scouring, it is only Cosimo rather than Saruman, who industrialized the Shire with factories and smoke. In a draft of The Mirror of Galadriel chapter, Frodo sees a very wealthy Cosimo buying a lot of land. In another outline of plot notes, Tolkien wrote that the Sackville-Bagginses are kicked out of the Shire to become pot-boys in Bree, presumably including Cosimo.

In an early version of The Land of Shadow chapter, Sam speculated that Cosimo may have made a mess in the Shire and that there would be trouble if they ever got back. In an outline of plot points, Tolkien wrote that when the Hobbits returned to the Shire, they drove out Cosimo.

In an early version of the Many Partings chapter, Saruman genuinely warned the Travellers about the Shire, directly mentioning Cosimo by name.

In an early draft where Tolkien mapped out a conversation, Cosimo was originally going to be the New Mayor before Tolkien immediately changed his mind and made him the Chief Shirriff. In another draft, Merry mentions that none of the Bucklanders would allow Cosimo to dictate them.

Lotho Sackville-Baggins in adaptations

2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game):

Lotho walks around in Bywater.

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

Lotho can be found ouside Bag End. His role in the game is minor and he only has a few lines during the main storyline.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 27/05/2026.