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Old 11-10-2008, 05:31 AM   #9
Selmo
Shade of Carn Dûm
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: The Shire (Staffordshire), United Kingdom
Posts: 273
Selmo has just left Hobbiton.
Another thought on the importance of Genealogies:

Perhaps Tolkien first created genealogies for the First Age and earlier simply as a writers tool to help him keep track of who was who among the large number of characters. Were they ever intended for publicatuion?

Having got into the habit he just carried on when he came to write LoTR.
Having the family trees avaiable, perhaps making Hobbits obsesive about family connections was just an afterthought on Tolkien's part, to add a little more colour to Hobbit society.
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