Bandobras ‘Bullroarer’ Took

We're not told where Bandobras lived within the Shire, but as a descendant of the line of the Shire-thains, he was presumably raised at Great Smials in the Tookland. Our later references to his life, however, tend to associate him with the Northfarthing. He fought the Battle of Greenfields there, and also founded a family known as the North-tooks. On this basis, we might speculate that Bandobras removed to the Northfarthing at some point (probably to Long Cleeve, the home of the North-tooks).

The various names of the Tooks ending in -bras derive from Old French, in which that ending means 'arm' (so, for example, Bandobras' father Isumbras had a name meaning 'iron arm'). The Bando- element of Bandobras' name is less clear, but assuming the same source language it might either means 'band' (in the sense of a troop of soldiers), or 'band' in the sense of a band around the arm (so that Bandobras in full would mean 'arm-band'). Another possible source might conceivably be Middle French bander, 'to strike', which would certainly suit Bandobras' martial reputation.

Many editions of The Lord of the Rings contain a statement in the Prologue that Bandobras was the son of Thain Isengrim II, rather than Isumbras III. This was an error, corrected in the 50th anniversary edition of 2004.