Editing Bilbo Baggins (section)

===Character===
{{further|Tolkien's modern sources}}

[[File:William Morris on Pony in Iceland 1870 cartoon by Edward Burne-Jones.jpg|thumb|{{center|Bilbo's character and adventures match many details of [[William Morris]]'s expedition in Iceland.<ref name="Burns 2005"/> Cartoon of Morris riding a pony by his travelling companion [[Edward Burne-Jones]] (1870)}}]]

[[Marjorie Burns]], a [[medievalist]], writes that Bilbo's character and adventures match the fantasy writer and designer [[William Morris]]'s account of his travels in [[Iceland]] in the early 1870s in numerous details. Like Bilbo's, Morris's party set off enjoyably into the wild on [[Pony|ponies]]. He meets a "boisterous" man called "Biorn the boaster" who lives in a hall beside Eyja-fell, and who tells Morris, tapping him on the belly, "...&nbsp;besides, you know you are so fat", just as Beorn pokes Bilbo "most disrespectfully" and [[Hobbit#Rabbit|compares him to a plump rabbit]].<ref name="Burns 2005"/> Burns notes that Morris was "relatively short, a little rotund, and affectionately called 'Topsy', for his curly mop of hair", all somewhat hobbit-like characteristics. Further, she writes, "Morris in Iceland often chooses to place himself in a comic light and to exaggerate his own ineptitude", just as Morris's companion, the painter [[Edward Burne-Jones]], gently teased his friend by depicting him as very fat in his Iceland cartoons.<ref name="Burns 2005"/> Burns suggests that these images "make excellent models" for the Bilbo who runs puffing to the Green Dragon inn or "jogs along behind Gandalf and the dwarves" on his quest.<ref name="Burns 2005"/> Another definite resemblance is the emphasis on home comforts: Morris enjoyed a pipe, a bath, and "regular, well-cooked meals"; Morris looked as out of place in Iceland as Bilbo did "over the Edge of the Wild"; both are afraid of dark caves; and both grow through their adventures.<ref name="Burns 2005">{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Burns |year=2005 |title=Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth |title-link=Perilous Realms |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |isbn=978-0-8020-3806-7 |pages=86–92}}</ref>