Sauron doesn't know where the Shire is?

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

1) Morsul and Eomer have said pretty much all I was about to say, but I'd like to underline the fact that the hobbits really didn't make a fuss of their doings.

When diving on a highway one passes many towns and parishes but if one isn't already familiar with those places, he or she seldom pays attention to the names of the places ergo one doesn't remember them afterwards. But if some sort of celebrity comes from the certain place you drive by, you might remember the place's name later. This may be a bad example but I think you get what I'm trying to say

2) Sauron probably knew that Galadriel, Elrond and Cirdan would stick around quite long and since they were the only elves he should really worry about, he maybe woudn't be so interested in, who were leaving and by witch road.

3) Well, I don't know very much about the map culture of M-E, but was the Shire even on the maps the nazgul owned? Like the maps of the hobbits were white outside the borders of the Shire, would the map makers had marked such a small splotch on their map, I wonder.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I've always thought how Sauron's ignorance of the Shire was so very Elvish of him. Men are aware of the Shire (some of them even protect it!) as are Dwarves, but Elves don't pay it any heed. Even Gildor, who lives in the Shire, doesn't think of himself as living in the Shire, but in his own place -- he openly explains to the hobbits that it was another land long before it became the Shire, and so for him and the rest of the Elves, it's not 'really' the Shire at all.

In this regard, I think that Sauron and the Elves are still very much trapped in the past. The Elves want only to preserve the past and not let it change, Sauron wants a return to the 'glory days' when Melkor was around and only the Valar could stop him.

The hobbits, as relative newcomers, are simply not on the radar for Sauron and the Elves, who are both essentially backward looking. That's why I think I sometimes side with the Dwarves and non-Numenorean men who are wary of the Elves: I mean, the War of the Ring is really an Elvish fight that everyone else is getting caught up in!

[Vanya]

Well, war betwen Arnor and Angmar lasted through Third Age, mostly around 1500. Shire was founded app.2340. when Tooks came to Buckland. So, nazguls knew Arnor, but not the Shire.

[PaleStar]

-hangs head-
See? Toldya I didn't know much. Ah well, at least there are much more knowledgable people than me at the Barrowdowns who can answer your questions.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Don't be too hard on yourself Palestar. I thought your post was helpful too. I remember the days when I had about 30 posts to my name and let me tell you, I posted some useless stuff back then!

[PaleStar]

it's okay...I'm not THAT down about it. I'm basicly a newbie here, so i post what I know, and if that isn't right, it gets corrected. That's what's nice about this forum.

Thanks for the ideas!

[Tuor of Gondolin]

It seems to me the strongest argument above that Sauron should have known about hobbits is the existence of the East-West Road and its importance to travel and intel gathering. However, there are (from Sauron's point of view) numerous enemies along it (various strongholds of elves, men, skinchangers), and after Angmar either little of strategic interest or what there is too strong to immediately attack (ex. Rivendell or Erebor).

Also, one way Tolkien makes Middle-earth work is to have various levels of detail, some deeply gone into, others barely alluded to. Therefore it seems to me the theoretical geography and political geography of Middle-earth could be conceived as much larger then actually discussed in print and seen on maps. Not only to the East and South are there areas where creatures like hobbits might dwell, but to some extent the areas depicted on maps are those that were visited in LOTR. There could be unexplored areas, peoples, polities in such areas as Andrast and the forest around the Sea of Rhun. It's conceivable "Shire" might have been there, in some valleys around the Ered Mithrin, or even in South Gondor. (Sauron might even think the nassty, tricksy Gondorians deliberately created vague legends of halflings living somewhere in the north to dupe him)?