Who on middle-earth is Lotho?

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Let's not forget that Tolkien was entirely capable of winging it, without much regard for what he might or might not have written before. Most of the "lore" of Middle-earth was ret-conned afterwards, after all. And sometimes he didn't bother; Lotho suddenly became an intermediate villain at the end of the book because the biook demanded an intermediate villain (entirely offstage- Lotho of course is never met, being dead and all). At least Lotho made an appearance in the opening chapters, whereas Rose Cotton is never mentioned at all until the Scouring (I will very grudgingly give Jackson a brownie point for working Rosie into the beginning of FR, which T should have but didn't).

Actually I forgot to include Rose Cotton (and her family), she confuses the heck out of me as well, and for the exact same reasons as Lotho.

On a different note, it also wondered why the returning Hobbits did not go and consult Farmer Maggot when they discovered that mischief was afoot... How lucky they found a somewhat similar character in Farmer Cotton.