o h i just realized that one of the trees cut down near bag end was the acorn from the last movie. o h n o

welp, it could have been? But we don’t know for sure. 

In a cut scene, Bilbo buries the acorn in Dale. And it is the most perfectly Bilbo scene in the history of Bilbo Bagginsness. Hope in the face of utter death, the possibility of replanting and rebuilding. I’m still a bit pouty that it was cut.

Here it is. 

At the end of this clip, you hear PJ saying that because they cut the scene Bilbo would still have the acorn in his pocket when he gets home. 

We know that it isn’t the tree over Bag End, because that is already there when Bilbo leaves the Shire. 

(shitty MS paint circle to show Bag End and Tree in the background)

Anyway, we dunno for sure, it’s not confirmed where it is, or even if Bilbo planted it at all. It could have been the Party Tree. 80 year old oaks can sometimes get big enough to be the sort of size Tolkien describes – the Party Tree was massive, apparently. 

But hey, Sam replaces it with an actual mallorn after the Scouring – the only mallorn west of the Misty Mountains. Which imo is a fitting and appropriate successor, and Bilbo would 1000% approve because he is rather fond of elves himself. 

(it would have given Thorin the EPIC sulks)

idk I now and again toy with the idea that Bilbo never planted it at all. Because he can’t bear to put it into the cold dark ground, never to be seen or held again.. 

just like