The Hobbit in July 2007?

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Elmo

Ummmmmmm didn't the harfoots have some kind of brown skin? I can't remember to save my life what word Tolkien used to describe them but I'm sure that's what he said. Maybe not black but I'm sure not all the hobbits in the Shire would have been white.

Originally Posted by Morwen

In the Prologue of LotR Tolkien describes the Harfoots as "browner of skin" and goes on to say that they were "the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous".
I'm hazarding a guess though that contrast in skin tones between Harfoots and the fairer Fallohides is not that marked - more of a Northern/Southern European contrast. IIRC no Hobbit is described as "swarthy" which seems to be Tolkien's word of choice to describe persons who are markedly darker than, say, the average person of Bree or Gondor.

I think the "browner of skin" thing came from maybe the Harfoots were more tan by nature that the two other types of hobbits that the names escape me now. I need to get my books out again.