The History of Hobbits

In Deep Geek - Insight and intelligent discussion on Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Witcher and more.


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[MichaelScheele]

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." - Thorin Oakenshield

[davidioanhedges]

“J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”
― Terry Pratchett

[TheForeignGamer]

Growing up is thinking you wish to be an Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, perhaps even a Gandalf, but eventually realizing all you really want is to be a Hobbit. Just reveling and enjoying the simple pleasures of life, as well as some peace & quiet, like we all deserve to have as people. And, of course - sharing in the love of good, tilled earth.

[MeanGene]

Friendships. Family. And doing the right thing regardless.

This brings me hope.

[iainballas]

So funny to think that the basis for all the modern fantasy games I play (dungeons and dragons chief among them) started with "In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit."
Sure elves, orcs, goblins, and whatnot existed in many different fables. But the way Tolkien mashed it together really set the stage for our modern fantasy settings.

It amuses me greatly to know that back then, his contemporaries considered Tolkien's stories as childish, low-brain-cell drivel, citing his purple prose as disguising a lack of imagination.

[resurgam_b]

It's curious that when Sauron set up his fortress in Mirkwood, he unknowingly did so at the doorstep of a race that a few thousand years later, he would desperately scour the world for and eventually fall to.

[annajacob]

Robert, thank you. Your extraordinary interpretations of the greatest volume of books ever written truly amaze me. Again, thank you.

[antoniodeodilonbrito]

Rest In Peace, Ian Holm 😢 You’ll forever be our Bilbo Baggins ❤

[andrewmurray]

It's marvelously ironic to think that it was Sauron's own malignantly oppressive usurpation of the original proto-halfling homelands on the Anduin that inadvertently brought the blessed realm of the Shire into being, that first kindled the noble simplicity of the hobbit's whole way of life, & unwittingly fostered those most wholesome & humble of heroes who would ultimately sow his final defeat...

[ratboygenius]

Evidently Hobbits also have a physical fortitude beyond a typical human, enduring great injury (Frodo stabbed by the Witch King's fell blade and not succumbing for at least 17 days), and harsh uninhabitable conditions (Frodo and Sam walking through Mordor and into a volcano) beyond what a typical human might endure.

[nautifella]

I truly believe that one of the best jobs in the entirety of western culture was that of a _second unit horseman_ for the _Hobbit_ and _LoR_ trilogies. Traipsing around New Zealand on horseback with nothing more to do than ride through some of the most magnificent geography on the planet.

[orrointhewise]

Hmmm interesting how the events of the lotr was started by a hobbit and ended by one as well
Also just realized the difference in Saurons ideology is made apparent in the physical world of middle earth, the Shire is literally on the other side from Mordor. Truly fascinating to think of these little guys. But I want to know who first came up with second breakfast and thank them haha

[dlxmarks]

However this sad note from _Unfinished Tales_ always stays with me: "The much later dwindling [physical size] of hobbits must be due to to a change in their state and way of life; they became a fugitive and secret people, driven as Men, the Big Folk, became more and more numerous, usurping the more fertile and habitable lands, to refuge in forest or wilderness: a wandering and poor folk, forgetful of their arts and living a precarious life absorbed in search for food and fearful of being seen."

[bob_btw]

I only found your channel a couple of weeks ago and subscribed rather quickly as I first began with the Hobbit back in 1963. You have done amazing research in detail, which I admire. Last night you fascinated me with the Elvish Economy. And today, this. You, yourself, must be a rather interesting person, to put so much intent and persistance into your channel. At a guess, you probably speak Elvish too. Thank you, from an old Tolkien reader.

[jasonrhome]

In regards to the humility of Hobbits, I always like the "Samwise, The Strong!" segment in the Rankin|Bass adaptation (don't recall how it went in the book, I'm overdue a reread of the series). Him coming back to "a small bit of earth for one small gardener is all I need..." after the visions of leading armies and transforming Mordor into a lush paradise is just great.

[dylanwalser]

Wow, I’ve been subbed for a while. Watched every LoTR video you’ve done, but your outro on this one was by far and away the best I’ve ever heard you do. Much respect 👌🏽

[JacktheRah]

Honestly I just love the Hobbits. They're special people. Not to be pitied or to be admired but to be respected. And I love that. I love how they're the only race that essentially came to be through evolution rather than creation yet they're arguably the most important people in the history of Middle Earth given that it were Hobbits who destroyed the ring. They came to be by chance, they were essentially selected by chance yet they've become part of Eru's plan. They're simple people who are known for loving the good things in life like food, dance, drink and (pipe) weed and I love that about them. They don't resist the ring because they're dumb but because they don't strive for power. They have no need for power because they're happy with simple things.

[DECODEDVFX]

Great video Robert. *A small but important correction. All of the Stoors crossed the Misty Mountains and settled in Northern Dunland. But some of them (including Smeagol's family) feared the rising kingdom of Angmar, and fled back across the Mountains to the Gladden fields.

[joshuakarr-BibleMan]

3:45
I bet Gandalf would have investigated Mirkwood much sooner if had known how inept Radagast had become.
I'm guessing he trusted the brown wizard to attend to Greenwood, and trusted poorly on this account.

[Pfhorrest]

In the Ainulindale, there are two times after Eru's first theme (for three altogether) where, as the Ainur sing and Melkor tries to pull focus to himself to the discord of the song as a whole, Eru himself introduces a new theme to the song, and pulls it all back together again. When I first read this, I interpreted the three themes as the three ages of the world, with the new additions by Eru as interventions by him in the history of the world. The intervention in the Second Age I took to be the Akallabeth, the violent and obvious one. But the intervention in the Third Age, to quote TolkienGateway's description of it, "began quietly amid the confusion of the Second Theme, and sounded like the rippling of soft and sweet notes...". I took this to be Eru's intervention into the world to create Hobbits, quietly, soft and sweet, yet the key to the resolution of the history of the Third Age.

TolkienGateway however reports that "The Children [of Illuvatar, i.e. Elves and Men] were sung into being by Ilúvatar during the Third Theme", though without citing that claim; but if it's true, then I guess my interpretation above is not, though that interpretation that the whole of the history since the creation of even Elves was only in the Third Theme of the Music then means that the First and Second Themes were entirely the ancient, ancient prehistory of Arda, like, the period before the First War, and the Spring of Arda, punctuated respectively by the building and destruction of the Lamps.