Release the plot bunnies!!
Or, A Very Interesting Article On The Migration of Hobbits....
I don't know how many of you follow Michael Martinez' blog, Middle-earth and JRR Tolkien Blog, but he always writes very interesting articles. Back in December, he posted this one, Charting The Shire Lines.
I just discovered the post yesterday and haven't read the entire thing yet, in large part because the following paragraph sparked my imagination and has temporarily stopped me in my tracks:
"Let us suppose that the Harfoots, who were the largest group, first migrated west from the Vales of Anduin because of war in their former lands. They had been accustomed to living with Edainic Men who, in exchange for food and trade, helped to defend them. [my emphasis] The population may have suffered a decline. Then, when Rhudaur came under attack 250 years later, the Harfoots may have suffered great losses again. Although Rhudaur was not overrun, the sudden Hobbit migration out of Rhudaur seems rather alarming. The departure of the Harfoots and Fallohides may imply they suffered grievous losses in the initial war with Angmar."
I confess I haven't given any thought, really, to the hobbits' role in the war against Angmar, but what a picture, imagining them living and trading alongside the Edain and then perhaps even a few doughty Fallohides fighting side by side with the Dúnedain.
Reading articles like this reminds me that I too often fall in the bad habit of thinking only of my "preferred" race when I write my stories. I forget that the Dúnedain of the North didn't live in a cultural or historic vacuum, nor do the Hobbits or the Elves or the Dwarves. Even the more reclusive races like Hobbits had interactions with other races. I'm going to try to keep that thought in mind as I write stories, in the hopes that they reflect more of the marvelous depth that the Professor created in his world.
I don't know how many of you follow Michael Martinez' blog, Middle-earth and JRR Tolkien Blog, but he always writes very interesting articles. Back in December, he posted this one, Charting The Shire Lines.
I just discovered the post yesterday and haven't read the entire thing yet, in large part because the following paragraph sparked my imagination and has temporarily stopped me in my tracks:
"Let us suppose that the Harfoots, who were the largest group, first migrated west from the Vales of Anduin because of war in their former lands. They had been accustomed to living with Edainic Men who, in exchange for food and trade, helped to defend them. [my emphasis] The population may have suffered a decline. Then, when Rhudaur came under attack 250 years later, the Harfoots may have suffered great losses again. Although Rhudaur was not overrun, the sudden Hobbit migration out of Rhudaur seems rather alarming. The departure of the Harfoots and Fallohides may imply they suffered grievous losses in the initial war with Angmar."
I confess I haven't given any thought, really, to the hobbits' role in the war against Angmar, but what a picture, imagining them living and trading alongside the Edain and then perhaps even a few doughty Fallohides fighting side by side with the Dúnedain.
Reading articles like this reminds me that I too often fall in the bad habit of thinking only of my "preferred" race when I write my stories. I forget that the Dúnedain of the North didn't live in a cultural or historic vacuum, nor do the Hobbits or the Elves or the Dwarves. Even the more reclusive races like Hobbits had interactions with other races. I'm going to try to keep that thought in mind as I write stories, in the hopes that they reflect more of the marvelous depth that the Professor created in his world.