Took clan

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, the Took clan was the most famous Hobbit family.

The first recorded Took (Tûk of unknown meaning in Hobbitish Westron) was an Isumbras Took, who became the 13th Thain of the Shire after Gordenhad Oldbuck crossed into Buckland, becoming Master there.

After Isumbras, the Thain position became hereditary in the Took family, and at the end of the Third Age his descendant Peregrin "Pippin" Took became the 19th Thain of the Took line, the 32nd in the Shire.

The Tooks lived in the Great Smials of Tuckborough, ruling Tookland in the Westfarthing of the Shire. A smaller clan called the North-Tooks lived far up in the Northfarthing; these were descendants of the legendary hero Bullroarer Took.

Tooks were mainly of Fallohide Hobbit stock, and were more adventurous than the other Hobbits. They also had quite a reputation for unusual behavior, a quality not exactly valued by most hobbits. For this reason they were seen as less respectable, and for the same reason they were one of the richer clans. The Wizard Gandalf was a known, if disreputable, associate. Bilbo Baggins and Meriadoc Brandybuck both had Took mothers.

Important Tooks

• Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took (T.A. 2704–2806) led the defense against the Orcs led by Golfimbul at the Battle of Greenfields. He was known for his exceptionally large stature for a Hobbit (he could ride a horse), although he may eventually have been surprassed by Pippin and his friend Merry Brandybuck. He was the son of Thain Isumbras III (2666–2759). He was the younger of two sons, and his older brother Ferumbras succeeded to the Thainship.

• Gerontius Took, known as "The Old Took", was the second oldest Hobbit in the Shire's history. The 26th Thain of the Shire, he ruled for 72 years, and died at the age of 130. He was particular friends with Gandalf, and was a direct ancestor to the majority of the famous Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings. He married Adamanta Chubb and had twelve children; nine sons: Isengrim III, Hildigard, Isumbras IV, Hildigrim (great-grandfather to Peregrin Took & Meriadoc Brandybuck), Isembold, Hildifons, Isembard, Hildibrand (great-grandfather to Fredegar Bolger), and Isengar; and three daughters: Belladonna (mother to Bilbo Baggins), Donnamira, and Mirabella (grandmother to Frodo Baggins).

• Adalgrim Took (T.A. 2880–2982) was the grandfather of both Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took (making them first cousins), and a cousin of Bilbo Baggins. His father was Hildigrim Took and his mother was Rosa Baggins. He was Bilbo's first cousin on his father's side (and Bilbo's mother's side) and Bilbo's second cousin on his mother's side (and Bilbo's father's side), making him an excellent example of the complicated kinship relationships among Hobbits.

• Lalia Clayhanger-Took (T.A. 2883–3002) was the wife of Thain Fortinbras Took II. She married in 2914, and her son Ferumbras was born two years later. Ferumbras never married, reportedly because nobody wanted Lalia as a mother-in-law. Lalia was so fat she couldn't walk and was confined to a wheelchair: she was widely known as Lalia the Fat. In T.A. 3002, she fell out of her weelchair into her garden, and died. Some hobbits rumoured she was actually pushed, by her attendant Pearl Took. (Lalia isn't on the Took family tree published in The Lord of the Rings, but she is mentioned in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.)

• Peregrin "Pippin" Took (T.A. 2990—?) was actually known far outside of the Shire for his exploits as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring and in Gondor, but to the Hobbits he was probably best-known for his part in the Battle of Bywater. He became Thain in F.A. 13. His wife, Diamond of Long Cleave, was probably one of the North-Tooks.

Other Tooks

• Belladonna Took (T.A. 2852–2934) was the "remarkable" eldest daughter of the Old Took and Adamanta Chubb. She was also the wife of Bungo Baggins and the mother of Bilbo Baggins. She was also well known to the wizard Gandalf.

• Ferumbras Took III (T.A. 2916–3015), while not otherwise particularly famous, was Thain at the time of the Farewell party of Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. He was the son of Fortinbras Took II (2878–2980, a cousin of Bilbo) and Lalia Clayhanger. He never married because no one wanted Lalia for a mother-in-law.

• Pearl Took (T.A. 2975—?) was the eldest sister of Peregrin Took (Pippin). She also had two sisters named Pimpernel and Pervinca. Pearl probably died sometime before the year 63 of the Fourth Age when Pippin left the Shire to live in Gondor. In The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien it is mentioned that she was the caretaker of the Took matriarch Lalia Clayhanger-Took at the time of her "fatal fall", and might have been responsible for it, a feat for which she was lauded by the other Tooks.