What if Bilbo has never taken Frodo in

[RunyadStouty]

Would Bilbo have been up for the task? He certainly wouldnt have trusted Gollum

[EstelUnderhill]

Ahh, good question. I really don't think Bilbo would have been up to it. He was already way too consumed by the ring. I don't think he would have even considered going to Mt. Doom in the first place. I think Frodo was the only one up for the task, so it's a good thing he did go to live with Bilbo.

[Vugar]

The coming of the Ring to Frodo seems more like fate or destined than anything else. Gandalf points out that there was something behind Bilbo finding the Ring. Eru Iluvatar seems to pop into the story a few times, and the Ring would most likely come to Frodo regardless of Bilbo taking him in or not.

[Fiwen Brandybuck]

I reckon that if Bilbo had never taken Frodo in, the Ring would have got to him anyway, as he was destined to take it. It would either be him, or another hobbit Bilbo knew, maybe.

[Morgoth]

I don't know if I agree with Vugar completely, as I feel Eru was less active in the story of the Ring than even the Valar were. However, I think that through some turn of events, Frodo would have ended up with the Ring somehow. What Gandalf pointed out was perhaps the will of the Ring, since it "wanted" to be found, taken out into the open, where it would be transferred to its next "host." But Bilbo most certainly could not have gotten rid of the ring by a more direct method. If we take the ring to represent absolute power, and as the saying goes, "absolute power corrupts absolutely," then there would have been no way in all of Arda that Bilbo would have even considered going on a quest to get rid of something that was rapidly becoming his "precious." While he wasn't in possession of the Ring nearly as long as Smeagol was, he was not immune to its power. You saw how hard it was for him to relinquish it to his nephew (or whatever Frodo was to him), imagine how hard it would be to risk your life and limb over an incredibly arduous journey, just to get rid of your most prized possession. Plus, he was getting on in his years, and I don't think he would have made it all the way to Orodruin, fate or no.