#8: I was busily thinking of Frodo, who was temporarily mayor & wound up on an island, but that first part looked too cryptic...
And then I remembered that 'Tolman' is a Hobbitish name, and is Tol (-in-Gaurhoth) + man. Looked it up, and lo and behold, TOLMAN COTTON (a very good material) served as Sam's deputy mayor while Sam himself was off in Gondor.
(Which is deeply nepotistic - nepotic? - given that each of them had married the other's sister. But that's the Shire for you.)
hS
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