Today, I will be writing about the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring, concerning hobbits. J.R.R. Tolkien tells us we could find more information about them in the Red Book of The Westmarch, published with the title The Hobbit. That story was taken from the first chapters of The Red Book, written by Bilbo himself, which he called There and Back Again, this books tells us the story of his journey to the East and his return.
Let me tell you what I learned about Hobbits:
Hobbits are a shy, but very ancient people. They love peace, quiet and good tilled earth, their favourite habitat was a well organized and cultivated area. These creatures weren't very fond of any objects more complicated than a bellows or a watermill. Hobbits had a good ear and eye and, even though they have a tendency for obesity, they are very agile and quick in movements. They can easily disappear fast and silentely when they feel threatened. Hobbits are, in fact, small creatures. Even smaller than Dwarves, meaning they are less robust and vigorous, even if they aren't really shorter.
Family of Hobbits
About the Hobbits from the Shire, back when they lived happily in peace and prosperity, they were a joyful people. They would dress colorful clothes, tending for yellow and green, but would rarely wear shoes, for their feet had hard soles and were covered in curly, usually brown hair. This is why the only job Hobbits wouldn't do that much was that of a shoemaker. However, they had long and able fingers and knew how to make many other useful and gracious things.
In general, their faces were more large cheeked than beautiful: large, shiny eyes, red cheeks and a mouthful of laughs, food and drinks. And they would laugh and eat and drink frequent and willingly, for they loved simple jokes and six meals per day. Hobbits were cozy and sighed at the vision of a party and presents, which they would glady recieve and give.
In ancient times, they spoke the languages of Men. Their origins have their inception in the Begining of Times, which memory has been lost and forgotten. Only Elves still keep any annals from that missing time, but their traditions are related entirely to their own history, in which Men rarely appear and Hobbits aren't even mentioned. However, it's very clear that Hobbits lived quietly in Middle Earth many years before the other peoples had conscience of their existence.
The Third Age of Middle Earth is long gone and many things have changed; but the regions where Hobbits lived back then were the same where they still live nowadays: Northwest of The Old World, east from the sea. The love for knowledge was far from a general caracteristic of Hobbits; but some would still study their own family books and colect information from ancient times and distant lands by intermediate of Elves, Dwarves and Men. Their own registers just began after their settling in the Shire. Their oldest legends and their peculiar acts make clear that Hobbits had, in a distant past, travelled to the West. Seems like Hobbits once lived in the high valleys of the Anduin, between the forest Greenwood The Great and the Misty Mountains. It is not known for sure why they decided to travel to Eriador.
Map of Eriador
Their annals speak of the multiplication of Men and of a shadow that fell upon the forest and darkened it so deeply that Men started to call it Mirkwood.
Before the crossing of the mountains, Hobbits were divided in three races: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides.
Harfoots: this race had a darker skin and were smaller and shorter; their hands and feet were perfect and agile and they prefered higher lands and hills. Harfoots got along well with Dwarves, in the old times, and lived for a long time in mountain foothills. They were the first to leave for the west and to wander through Eriador until they reached Weathertop. They consisted in the most common variety of hobbits and, by far, the most numerous. Also, Harfoots were the most expected to settle down on a place and they were the ones who kept the ancient habit of living in tunnels and holes.
Stoors: this variety of hobbit was stronger; they had bigger feet and hands and prefered plain lands and riversides. Stoors took themselves longer in the Vale of Anduin and were more fearless of Men. They set for the west after the Harfoots and took the Redhorn Pass south, where many of them stayed for a long time between Tharbad and Swanfleet, before they finally took off to the west.
Fallohides: this race had lighter skin and hair, were fairer than the others and none of them ever grew a beard; they loved trees and forests. Fallohides were the less common and in their earliest known history they lived in the forested region where later was the Eagles Eyrie near the High Pass to the north, in the Vale of Anduin.
They were known for making friendship with Elves and for their bigger hability to languages and songs than to physical work and, by far, would rather hunt than cultivate. They crossed the mountains north to Rivendell and descended the river Hoarwell. In Eriador they made haste to join the other races who had anticipated them, but, since they were the braver and the more fearless of all the three hobbit races, they were to be found in the front of Harfoot and Stoor's clans, as their leaders and commanders. Even during Bilbo's time it was to be found between the important families, such as the Tooks and the Brandybuck, the strong ancestry of Fallohides.
(Prologue Concerning Hobbits continues)
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