Shire-hobbits

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"...It is a long tale..." — Aragorn
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The Shire-hobbits or Shire-folk were the Hobbits that lived in the Shire, as opposed to Bree-hobbits and Bucklanders. They represented the majority of the whole Hobbitish population of Middle-earth. Shire-hobbits called everyone else "Outsiders". Due to living in the Shire, the Shire-hobbits were largely sheltered from the rest Middle-earth and did not know what was going on outside of the Shire, nor did they pay attention to what was going on outside of the Shire.[source?]

The Hobbits of the Shire were considered the most rustic and pastoral of their kind. The most important family among the Shire-hobbits were the Tooks of the Westfarthing, who had held the hereditary, and largely honorary, title of Thain from T.A. 2340.

The Hobbits began keeping records only after the settlement of the Shire. The Shire-hobbits had a general interest in genealogy, and it was the only kind of history they were interested, although others were reading books and gathered news form Elves, Dwarves and Men.[1] After the War of the Ring the learned among them developed a wider interest in ancient history, were very interested in chronology and even drew up complicated tables showing the relations of the Shire Calendar with other systems, in the Red Book.[2]

Very few hobbits were golden-haired, but at the end of the Third Age many children were born like this, 3 daughters of Sam Gamgee (including Elanor) being notable examples.[3]

History

Originally the Shire-hobbits swore nominal allegiance to the last Kings of Arnor, being required only to acknowledge their lordship, speed their messengers, and keep the bridges and roads in repair. During the final fight against Angmar at the Battle of Fornost, the Hobbits maintain that they sent a company of archers to help but this is nowhere else recorded. After the battle the kingdom of Arnor was destroyed, and in absence of the king the Hobbits elected a Thain of the Shire from among their own chieftains.

The first Thain of the Shire was Bucca of the Marish, who founded the Oldbuck family. However, later on the Oldbuck family crossed the Brandywine River to create the separate land of Buckland and the family name changed to the familiar "Brandybuck". Their patriarch then became Master of Buckland. With the departure of the Oldbucks/Brandybucks, a new family was selected to have its chieftains be Thain, the Took family (Indeed, Pippin Took was son of the Thain and would later become Thain himself). The Thain was in charge of Shire-moot and Muster and the Hobbitry-in-arms, but as the Hobbits of the Shire led entirely peaceful, uneventful lives the office of Thain was seen as something more of a formality.

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue", "Concerning Hobbits"
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix D, "The Shire Calendar"
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Chief Days from the Fall of Barad-dûr to the End of the Third Age"