Where did Folco go??

[Kalimac]

Where have all the hobbits gone?
Gone to Lockholes, every one...

Sorry, that was bad. It is weird that Folco was introduced and then dropped for no discernable reason, though I'm betting that Tolkien just forgot to cut him (in HoME, the names of the hobbit extras, especially in the first few chapters, went through so many revisions that it's a wonder there aren't more incomplete cuts of characters like Folco). It seems like it would have been mentioned if Folco had been in the Lockholes or in the Took Rebellion, or anywhere in the Shire for that matter.

So Folco left the Shire somehow. Three possibilities I can think of (besides, of course, the heretical "Tolkien forgot to follow through on the cut" possibility [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]).

1) Folco, inspired by Bilbo's and Frodo's stories, also by a streak of Tookishness which he may have had in him, took off for parts unknown and was never seen again (though who knows, he may have become as big a name among the Wild Men as Merry and Pippin did among the Rohirrim and the men of Gondor).

2) Folco went boating and met with a tragic demise.

3) Folco bumped into Trotter the Ranger Hobbit while visiting kin in Bree and decided to go traveling with him. Later, disgusted at Trotter's exile from the book, he chose to accompany him instead of abandoning the forsaken character and flocking to the side of Strider.

OK, it's late and I'm silly. Enough for now [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].