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Lyta_Underhill · 11-22-2003, 10:46 PM

I think I liked Bethberry's theory the best! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Just think what kind of roosts there would have to be outside the Gamgees' house! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

As for why hobbits could resist the Ring longer, it is hard to say, but perhaps it is related to their smallness. The Ring gives power to each according to his measure, and the hobbits as a rule just didn't measure very high. Maybe, for this reason, they couldn't conceive of using it for the gaining of power. They just never needed it or even gave it a thought.

Another idea that is kicking around in the vastness of the empty space in my brain is that perhaps their separate and unique physical characteristics were concentrated by the relative isolation of the cultures and societies in Middle Earth in the Third Age. Simply, they interbred, perhaps with these three variations on a theme (Harfoot, Stoor and Fallohide) in close proximity, creating a pocket of Men of VERY different characteristics.

I believe Tolkien had said something to the effect that Smeagol and Deagol were ancestors of what became the Stoors, or something like that, so the Stoors had ancestors as recently as 500 years earlier. Perhaps they only had a limited gene pool and the hobbit variation on Men was the result of a few dominant strains concentrated in a certain geography.

Just a few thoughts! Now back to musing on big, hairy feet... :P

Cheers,
Lyta (who has little hairy feet)

[ November 22, 2003: Message edited by: Lyta_Underhill ]

[ November 23, 2003: Message edited by: Lyta_Underhill ]

11-22-2003, 10:46 PM	#45
Lyta_Underhill Haunted Halfling Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: an uncounted length of steps--floating between air molecules Posts: 841	I think I liked Bethberry's theory the best! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Just think what kind of roosts there would have to be outside the Gamgees' house! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] As for why hobbits could resist the Ring longer, it is hard to say, but perhaps it is related to their smallness. The Ring gives power to each according to his measure, and the hobbits as a rule just didn't measure very high. Maybe, for this reason, they couldn't conceive of using it for the gaining of power. They just never needed it or even gave it a thought. Another idea that is kicking around in the vastness of the empty space in my brain is that perhaps their separate and unique physical characteristics were concentrated by the relative isolation of the cultures and societies in Middle Earth in the Third Age. Simply, they interbred, perhaps with these three variations on a theme (Harfoot, Stoor and Fallohide) in close proximity, creating a pocket of Men of VERY different characteristics. I believe Tolkien had said something to the effect that Smeagol and Deagol were ancestors of what became the Stoors, or something like that, so the Stoors had ancestors as recently as 500 years earlier. Perhaps they only had a limited gene pool and the hobbit variation on Men was the result of a few dominant strains concentrated in a certain geography. Just a few thoughts! Now back to musing on big, hairy feet... :P Cheers, Lyta (who has little hairy feet) [ November 22, 2003: Message edited by: Lyta_Underhill ] [ November 23, 2003: Message edited by: Lyta_Underhill ] __________________ “…she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”