by David Day
It is said that Hobbits were of three strains. These three were named the Harfoots, the Fallohides and the Stoors. The Harfoots, the most numerous of Hobbit strains, were also the smallest. They had nut-brown skin and hair. They loved hill lands and often enjoyed the company of Dwarves. These Harfoots were the first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.
Nearly a century later, in the year 1150 of the Third Age of the Sun, the Fallohides followed their kindred Harfoots and crossed the mountains. They entered Eriador by way of the passes north of Rivendell. The Fallohides were the least numerous of Hobbit strains. They were taller, thinner and were thought to be more adventurous than their kin. Their skin and hair were fairer, and they preferred woodlands and the company of Elves. They preferred hunting to ploughing, and of all Hobbits demonstrated the greatest traits of leadership.
The Stoors were the last of the Hobbits to enter Eriador. The most Mannish of their race, they were bulkier than the other strains and could actually grow beards. They were the most southerly of the Hobbits in the Vales of Anduin and they chose to live on flat river lands; again in a very un-Hobbit-like fashion they knew the arts of boating, fishing and swimming. They were the only Hobbits to use footwear; in muddy weather, it was claimed, they wore boots. It is said that the Stoors did not begin their western migration until the year 1300, when many passed over the Redhorn Pass; yet small settlements remained in such areas as the Gladden Fields as many as twelve centuries later.
For the most part the Hobbits of Eriador moved into the Mannish lands near the town of Bree. In the year 1601 most of the Hobbits of Bree marched westwards again to the fertile lands beyond the Brandywine River. There they founded the Shire, the land that was recognized thereafter as the homeland of Hobbits. Hobbits reckon time from this date. By nature the Hobbits had peace-living temperaments and by great luck they had discovered a land that was as peaceful as it was fertile. So, except for the Great Plague of 1636 which devastated all the peoples of Eriador, it was not until the year 2747 that an armed encounter took place in the Shire. This was a minor Orc raid which the Hobbits rather grandly named the Battle of Greenfields. More serious by far was the Long Winter of 2758 and the two famine years that followed. Yet, compared to the other peoples of Middle-earth, they lived in peace for a long time. Other races, when they saw them, believed them to be of little worth, and in return the Hobbits had no ambitions towards the great wealth or power of others. Their limitations proved their strength, for, while greater and more powerful races fell about them, the Hobbits lived on in the Shire quietly tending their crops. Throughout the Shire lands their little townships and settlements expanded: Hobbiton, Tuckborough, Michel Delving, Oatbarton, Frogmorton and a dozen more; and after their fashion Hobbits prospered.
Of famous Hobbits little can be said before the thirtieth century of the Third Age of the Sun, for before that time the entire race was almost totally unknown to the World at large. Yet, of course, the Hobbits themselves had their own sense of the famous. In the lore of the Shire the first Hobbits to be named were the Fallohide brothers, Marcho and Blanco, who led the Hobbits out of Bree over the Bridge of Stonebows into the Shire. This land had been ceded by the Dúnedain of Arnor, to whose king the Hobbits paid nominal allegiance in return. In the year 1979 the last king of Arnor vanished from the North and the office of the Thain of the Shire was set up. The first Thain was the Hobbit Bucca of the Marish from whom all the Thains descended.
A giant among Hobbits was Bandobras Took, who stood four feet and five inches tall, and, astride a horse, he had led his people valiantly against the Orcs in the Battle of Greenfields. With a club, it is claimed, he slew their chieftain Golfimbul. For his size and deeds he was called Bullroarer Took. Another Hobbit notable for his deeds within the small lands of the Shire was Isengrim Took, who was named Isengrim II, the twenty-second Thain of the Shire, architect of the Great Smials of Michel Delving and grandfather of Bandobras Took.
Yet, typically among Hobbits, perhaps the most honoured of heroes before the War of the Ring was a humble farmer named Tobold Hornblower of Longbottom, who in the twenty-seventh century first cultivated the plant Galenas, also called Pipe-weed. For this deed he was praised, and delighted Hobbit smokers named one superior strain “Old Toby” in his memory.
In the thirtieth century of the Third Age, however, fame in a very real sense came to the Hobbit folk. For, by chance, a great and evil power fell into Hobbit hands with which the fate of all Hobbits became entwined.
The first Hobbit to become famous in the World was Bilbo Baggins of Hobbiton, who was tempted into a leading role in the Quest of Erebor by the Wizard Gandalf and the Dwarf-king Thorin Oakenshield. This is the adventure that is told in the first part of the “Red Book of Westmarch”. It is the memoir that Bilbo himself called “There and Back Again”, wherein Trolls, Orcs, Wolves, Spiders and a Dragon are slain. In that adventure, Bilbo Baggins achieved many deeds that those of stronger and wiser races in Middle-earth could not, and unexpected strength and bravery were revealed in the Hobbit character.
Part of that adventure tells how Bilbo Baggins acquired a magic ring, and, though this seemed of little importance at the time, it was an act that imperilled all who inhabited Middle-earth. For Bilbo Baggins, gentleman Hobbit of the Shire, had unknowingly become possessor of the One Ring.
In time, the identity of the One Ring was discovered and it was passed on to Bilbo’s heir, Frodo Baggins. Bilbo then went to the Elven refuge of Rivendell, where he indulged his literary pursuits. For besides his memoirs in “There and Back Again” he composed a good number of original poems and a major work of scholarship, the three-volume “Translations from the Elvish”.
Frodo Baggins had become the Ringbearer at the time that Sauron the Ring Lord was preparing to make war on all the World. In the year 3018 the Wizard Gandalf came to Frodo and set him on the road to Rivendell on the Quest of the Ring. If the mission was successful the One Ring would be destroyed and the World would be saved from the domination of Sauron.
So, in Rivendell the Fellowship of the Ring was formed, wherein eight others were chosen as companions of Frodo Baggins, the Ringbearer, in his Quest. Three of that fellowship were also Hobbits destined for fame nearly as great as the Ringbearer himself. Samwise Gamgee, Frodo’s man-servant, was one of these. A simple and loyal soul, Samwise more than once saved both his master and the Quest itself, and for a time was a Ringbearer.
Peregrin Took, the heir to the Thain of the Shire, and Meriadoc Brandybuck, were the other two Hobbits of the Fellowship. In the course of the Quest both Pippin and Merry (as they were most often called) were made Knights of Gondor. Merry was also made the squire of King Théoden of Rohan, and, to the amazement of all, with the shield-maiden Éowyn he slew the Witch-king of Morgul at the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Pippin, as a Guard of Gondor, fought with the Captains of the West and in the last Battle before the Black Gate he slew a mighty Troll.
Merry and Pippin were the tallest of all Hobbits in the history of their race, for upon their journeys they drank Ent-draughts, the food of the giant Ents. So they towered above their people and by Mannish measure were four and a half feet tall. Further, Merry was a Hobbit scholar of note and compiled the “Herblore of the Shire”, the “Reckoning of the Years”, and the treatise “Old Words and Names in the Shire”.
Frodo Baggins, champion of the Quest of the Ring, was also the chief historian of the War, for he wrote the greater part of the “Red Book of Westmarch”. He named that history “The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings and the Return of the King”. Yet though this humble and valiant Hobbit was heralded the noblest of his race, in the end it was not Frodo but another Hobbit who destroyed the One Ring in a way both unexpected and unintentional.
This was Sméagol Gollum, the only Hobbit ever to have succumbed to truly evil ways. Of all his race, the tale of Sméagol Gollum is the strangest. For, as is told in the histories of the One Ring, he was once a Stoorish Hobbit who in th
e twenty-fifth century of the Third Age lived near the Gladden Fields. There Sméagol and his cousin Déagol first discovered the lost Ring, but Sméagol murdered Déagol and took the Ring for himself. By the power of the Ring his life was lengthened, yet by it as well he was twisted beyond recognition. His form became ghoulish; he lived by dark deeds of murder, on unclean meats and the dark influence of the Ring made him shun light. He lived by dark pools and in deep caverns. His skin became hairless, black and clammy, and his body thin and gaunt. His head was like a skull, yet his eyes grew great like those of fish that flourish far beneath the seas; they bulged yet were pale and his vision was poor. His teeth grew long, like Orc fangs, and his Hobbit feet grew flat and webbed. His arms became long and his hands larger and filled with evil grasping strength.
The “Red Book of Westmarch” records that Gollum (for so he became named in this form because of the ugly guttural sound he made) resided for nearly five centuries hidden in caverns beneath the Misty Mountains, until the year 2941. Then, guided no doubt by a destiny beyond his understanding, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins came to Gollum’s cavern and took the One Ring. From Bilbo it passed to Frodo Baggins and in all the eighty years that the Ring was out of his groping hands, Gollum never ceased his searching for it. At last he came upon the Ringbearer himself. For a time Frodo Baggins almost seemed able to tame Gollum, but Gollum’s soul was entirely given over to evil and he still lived by treachery. So it was that in the moment of decision, when the power of the Ring overcame the good Frodo Baggins upon Mount Doom, Gollum came upon him and fought him upon the edge of Doom. By his evil strength Gollum won the Ring, but he toppled backwards with his precious prize down into the fiery bowels of the Earth and the One Ring was destroyed. The World was thus saved from the horror of eternal darkness, and though Hobbits now are few, for many centuries of the Fourth Age they dwelt in honour and peace because of the deeds of their people in that mighty conflict.
Hobgoblins
The evil beings to whom Men now give the name Goblin were in the days of Middle-earth called Orcs, and there were many kinds. Most powerful of these were the Uruk-hai: Man-sized creatures of great strength and endurance; like the smaller breeds in wickedness, but stronger and unafraid of light. Often these were the cruel leaders of the lesser Goblin folk, and they formed élite fighting units within a larger army. They are sometimes called Great Goblins, or Hobgoblins, even though they could wreak far greater evil in ancient times than now.
Holbytlan
The “Red Book of Westmarch” tells much of the history of the Halfling people called Hobbits. In one part is explained how that name was derived from the name Holbytlan, which means “hole-dwellers” in the tongue of the Rohirrim.
Hornburg
The massive fortress of Hornburg was built by the Men of Gondor in the first millennium of the Third Age on the Hornrock in Helm’s Deep, a gorge in the White Mountains. Hornburg was the centrepiece of a huge defence system in the Helm’s Deep that included the Deeping Wall, and the great cavern refuge of Aglarond, the “glittering caves”. In 2758, the Rohan King Helm Hammerhand and his people defended the Hornburg against the might of the Dunlendings. However, the greatest conflict fought here was the Battle of Hornburg, one of the decisive battles in the War of the Ring. Here the army of the White Hand of Saruman the Wizard set against the Rohirrim defenders of the Hornburg. The army was made up of Dunlendings, Orcs, Half-orcs and Uruk-hai, and although the invaders succeeded in storming the earthwork defences of the Deeping Wall and smashing the gates of the fortress itself, the force of the Rohirrim cavalry drove them from the high walls out onto the battleground of Deeping-comb where the enemy was trapped by a second army of Rohirrim supported by a legion of giant Huorn tree-spirits. Here the battle ended and Saruman’s army was destroyed.
Horses
How Horses were first made is not told in the histories of Arda, but it is known that Nahar, the steed of Oromë, the Huntsman of the Valar, was the first such being to enter the World. And though all Horses take from Nahar their form, he is the mightiest and most beautiful of the race. Golden are his hooves and his coat is white by day and silver by night. Tireless, Nahar travels over the Earth as easily as the swiftest Eagle speeds through the air.
Men and Elves bred Horses to their needs, but it is said that the nobler breeds were descended from Nahar, and these were the Elven Horses of Eldamar and those named the Mearas that lived in Rhovanion. These noble breeds were for the most part white or silver-grey. They were long-lived and fleet, and they understood the language of Elves and Men.
Most famous of the High Elven Horses in the histories that have come to Men are those that the Noldor brought to Middle-earth, and best known of those Horses was one named Rochallor. This was the warhorse that Fingolfin, most valiant of the Noldor kings, rode in his great ill-fated duel with Morgoth the Enemy.
In the Third Age of the Sun, the noblest Horses of Middle-earth were those wild steeds of Rhovanion that were named the Mearas. In the twenty-sixth century of the Age, Eorl, the first king of the Riders of the Mark, tamed the Mearas, and for many centuries only the king of the Mark and his sons could ride these Horses.
There were other breeds of Horses in various parts of Middle-earth, where Men, Elves and some other races – both good and evil – took them into service. Many of the people that came out of Rhûn and Harad came to war mounted on Horses or in Horse-drawn chariots. The Horses of the Ringwraiths were fearsome indeed, but more terrible still were the Horses that were taken into the domain of Sauron in Mordor. The Orcs of Mordor often came to the Horses of the Rohirrim in the night and took them to their master, Sauron, and he twisted their noble form to evil purpose. Such a steed was the mount of the lieutenant of Barad-dûr, the Black Númenórean who was called the Mouth of Sauron. This beast was huge and black, but its tortured head was like a great skull and from its nostrils and eyes came forth red flames.
Huan
Wolfhound of the Valar. Hound of Oromë the Huntsman, Huan was given to the Noldor prince, Celegorm. Huan went with his new master to Beleriand. Because of his love for the Elven princess Lúthien, he became fatefully caught up in the Quest of the Silmaril. One by one, he slew the Werewolves of Tol Sirion, including their sire, the mighty Draugluin, and even managed to defeat Sauron in Wolf form. Finally, he took on Carcharoth, the largest and mightiest Wolf of all time who was hand-reared by Morgoth. In the ensuing battle Huan prevailed, but he was also fatally wounded by Carcharoth’s poisonous fangs.
Hummerhorns
According to a Hobbit rhyme, a race of winged insects called Hummerhorns was said to have battled a questing knight. Whether these ferocious insects were of giant size, or the knight was of some diminutive race, or whether the tale was the product of Hobbit humour cannot now be learned.
Huorns
Among the most ancient of the Olvar that lived within Arda were the trees of the Great Forests that came from the seeds that Yavanna devised in the Ages of the Lamps. For many Ages they grew peacefully, but in Middle-earth at the beginning of the Ages of Starlight there came among the trees great spirits, which were called Ents, the Shepherds of the Trees. These protectors appeared because many other races in that time came into the World and Yavanna feared that the forests would be destroyed. So through the Ages of Starlight and the Sun the Ents walked the forests, and in time it is said some Ents became more tree-like than they were before, and some of the ancient trees became more Ent-like and limb-lithe. Like the Ents, they learned the art of speech. Whether tree or Ent in the beginning, by the Third Age of the Sun there was a race apart from either, that was named the Huorns. Mostly, the Huorns stood like dark trees in the deepest forests, gnarled and unmoving, yet watchful. When aroused in wrath they moved swiftly as if wrapped in shadows, falling on foes with deadly and merciless strength.
The tale of the War of the Ring tells how with the Ents of the Huorns, like a great forest, marched on Isengard, and how under the direction of the Ents of Fangorn they exterminated the
entire Orc legion at the Battle of the Hornburg.
Yet these were wild wood spirits bent on the destruction of all who threatened the forests. They were dangerous to all who went on two legs unless the travellers were protected by the Ents and the wrath of these Huorns was rightly feared.
Huorns were ancient and long-brooding, and some were black-hearted and rotten. Once such sentient tree spirit inhabited the Old Forest by the banks of the Withywindle. He was the Willow Man who some called Old Man Willow. The Old Forest was but the remnant of the most ancient forest of Middle-earth, and Old Man Willow wished to prevent any further inroads into his realm. He held all the Old Forest in an enchantment by the power of his song and led all travellers to him, where with limb-lithe roots and branches he ended them.
Húrin
Edain lord of Dorthonian. Born in the middle of the fourth century of the First Age, Húrin was son of Galdor, lord of the Edain. He married Morwen, a lady of the First House, and fathered three children: Túrin, Lalaith and Nienor. He was a short, but powerfully built man. In 462, Húrin’s father was slain breaking the siege of the Elven tower of Barad Eithel. During the Battle of Unnumbered Tears in 473, Húrin’s brother Huor was killed, along with all the Edain of the rearguard, except Húrin, who slew seventy Trolls before being captured and taken to Angband. Withstanding terrible tortures and deceptions, he was imprisoned on a crag of Thangodrim for twenty-eight years. A year after the death of his son Túrin, Húrin unwittingly helped Morgoth find the location of Gondolin. Living a cursed existence, he found his wife only on the day of her death. He then went to Nargothrond where he killed the Petty-dwarf Mîm for betraying his son, then retrieved the necklace, the Nauglamír, and took it to Thingol in Menegroth. There, in 503, Melian the Maia cleared his mind of the tormenting deceptions of Morgoth, before Húrin wandered away to die.
