the shire is heavily based on the area around sarehole mill, hall green in birmingham where tolkien lived as a child not oxfordshire. Before the creation of the west midlands in the 70s this was pretty much on the worcestershire/ warwickshire border.
Actually, the spirits of Men do go to the Halls of Mandos, but only for a brief time. From there their spirits depart to a place that not even the Valar know, with the exception of Mandos himself...and he is forbidden to speak of it to anyone else. Clearly, since it's called the Gift of Men, they're not just sent out to the Void. So, if not to the Void and not remaining in the Earthly realm, the only real option left is Eru's realm. So, death is the Gift of Men, because unlike every other creature in existence (including the Valar), they are able to experience life on Earth, but they are not bound by it. Upon their deaths, their spirits travel to Eru's realm to live with their creator. As for the Valar, they were told that if they chose to descend to the Earthly realm that they would be bound to it, unable to return. Elves are eternal, but also bound to the Earth. So, while they can experience the wonder of Valinor, they can never experience the wonder of the realm on the Creator.
Caradhras is also known as Redhorn, so you were correct about it being the Redhorn Pass. If you're interested, Caradhras is Barazinbar in Khuzdul and the other two peaks of Khazad-dûm, or Mountains of Moria, are Celebdil (Zirakzigil or Silvertine) and Fanuidhol (Bundushathûr or Cloudyhead).
Ask any pipe smoker and they will tell you it's very relaxing. Totally different from cigarettes. Plus a pipe full of strong pipe tobacco can last up to an hour and the nicotine absorbs through the mouth and gums so it is slow acting. A ot of times I have to lay down after a strong pipe full. Tolkien would have been very familiar with this calming effect haha. I also notice that if you look into the pipe bowl after taking a few puffs you see a smoldering red ring surrounded by darkness. Whether this was the inspiration for the eye of Sauron I don't know, but maybe it was on a subconscious level.
39:50 -- Just a slight correction: Bilbo and the other Ringbearers never go to Valinor proper. They get a nice retirement home at Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle, that marks the border between the Undying Lands and the mortal world. It contains the city of Avallónë, and is indeed meant to be the mythical isle of Avalon from the Arthurian myth. The sheer divine splendour of Aman proper would flat-out kill any mortal trying to spend a longer span of time there. And subsequently, the Ringbearers also don't receive eternal life, since that's not something that the Valar can bestow. The Undying Lands don't make anyone immortal, they're called Undying Lands just because immortals happen to live there. Of all the mortals of Middle-Earth only Tuor managed to turn from a human into an elf, and the way that happened was a pretty different case from the fates of the Ringbearers.
+Arachîr Galudirithon I never got much into Tolkien, but you've inspired me to dust off some of my parents old books. These videos are really terrific, sir!
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Well thank you very much. :) I am glad to see more people take up the sword [books] of LOTR!
You overstate Hobbit isolationism a bit. Yes, on the whole, they certainly weren't all that eager to interact with other people. That being said, I'm sure there were Hobbits who actually enjoyed it. Within any group, there are always individuals who break the mold. Either way, they did engage in some trade with the outside world, with their most notable export being pipe weed. As for allowing visitors, Gandalf visited the Shire on a number of occasions. Also, I don't remember the Shirrifs being called when a group of wandering dwarves marched through the Shire, all the way to Bag End itself, and spent the night there. On the flip side, when the Hobbits showed up in Bree, it didn't seem to shock anyone. The innkeeper even pointed out specific rooms that would feel more comfortable to them. The way Mr. Butterbur spoke, it seemed pretty clear that they weren't his first Hobbit patrons by any stretch. Certainly outsiders weren't frequently wandering through the Shire, and if the numbers ever picked up the locals would probably consider it a nuisance. There's no mention of any ban on outsiders, however. Additionally, why most would seem to prefer to remain at home, clearly some did travel around a bit...at least within the region. If you want to say they're a bit insular, that's fair, but I wouldn't say that they were aggressively isolationist like the Japanese at certain points in history.
the gift of Mortality is the only way to return in the presence of Eru Eluvitar, and since he is the source of life what else could you desire after a lifetime of struggle but to be in the presence of the creator of everything.
The creation of golf was also included in the Hobbit Video game back in the early 2000’s I remember it well because I played that game a lot as a kid. I was surprised to see in it in the movie and rather happy to see them make the joke.
On sam's 13 children: my Grandmother (born 1910) had ten children and her eldest daughter had 12, you don't need fertility drugs you need a low infant mortality. It's only slightly marvelous as long as they all lived to adulthood.
Both my paternal grandfather and his father were youngest of twelve, and all of the former, at least, reached adulthood. The limit is not child mortality, but maternal mortality. Pre modern medecine, most women suffered serious (and ofyen fatal) complications because of the number of children they had. Changes in child mortality, combined with compulsury schooling, meant that the pressure to have lots of children faded away and maternity-related deaths (both peri-natall and as a result of long term internal damage and strains) were reduced to their current, historically extremely low, levels. In fact, I suspect that until recently, men had longer life expectances than women as a result of the high maternity related death-toll. And Hobbits do (as far as I remember) live longer than we do, so they may be able to "spread out" the births more than our ancestoras could, which would probably have helped too.
To be fair, he does say **probably** a strain of Nicotiana. But yeah, it is most likely, Tolkien was a lifelong smoker who loved it and probably just attributed a few mystical qualities to it in his books because he enjoyed it so much.
These lore video’s are amazing! An incredible amount of history in every video! It’s sad we won’t get new episodes! At least we rewatch the crap out of the ones we have!
Arachir, I am writing this during the video, so I know not if you corrected yourself later, but the passes they crossed during the wandering days were Caradhras (Or something like that) and High Pass, north of Imladris, the same one Bilbo would crossed centuries later. The Stoors took the southern route and over Redhorn Pass and the Fallohides (or something like that) took the High Pass; I forgot of Hartfoot (or something like that) travel.
Btw, very early in the fellowship of the ring, Sam is talking to others in the green dragon, and talks about his cousin seeing a huge walking tree, do you think that could be one of the ent wives? Seems likely to me.
I believe you made a slight error at 39:52. When the Hobbits (and Gimli?) sail to Valinor, they are not bestowed with immortality. The land cannot remove the Gift of Illuvatar, and it is called The Undying Land because it is where The Undying reside. The Gift has been granted/lifted before (Luthien/Tuor), so it is possible that perhaps mortals that sailed West did live forever (maybe Bilbo's songs were so loved that he was allowed to continue writing for the Valar), it's more likely that they simply died of old age. Perhaps they were allowed to live until fully healed, and chose their time of death like Numenoreans.
It's been greatly debated over the years. Some say that the mortal hobbits die apon reaching the shores of Valinor. Some, that they go to sleep, to rest in the garden of Lorien, until the ending of the world. Others, that they are freed of the pain and burden of the ring, to live their remaining years in peace.
The patronymic naming convention was also present in Sweden. That's probably where it came from. I think they did away with it in the 20th century. I have been working on a friend's genealogy, and it has been interesting dealing with changing surnames every generation. On the other hand, you know exactly who the father was supposed to be.
I am thoroughly enjoying these lore series, I am wondering if you will make a video on the specific ages, once you are finished with the topics you are planning to do. I am mildly interested in the war of wrath and the destruction of beleriand. thank you for the videos and keep up the good work
While it's true that The Hobbit was the first _published_ book of the Legendarium, it's totally incorrect to state that Hobbits were the thing that started everything. Tolkien began writing parts of the Silmarillion and started to develop his languages long before he even thought of the word 'hobbit'. If anything, the world was created to house his languages and his love for mythologies. What's more is that at first The Hobbit was not even part of the same world. It wasn't until years into the writing process of LotR that first LotR and after that The Hobbit were sucked into the same world as the Silmarillion. He tried to rewrite it much closer to LotR in the 60's, but quit after a few chapters because a friend told him it wasn't The Hobbit anymore (however, it was still much closer to the original than PJ's abominations ever were, so unlike he likes to claim, PJ did most definitely not made The Hobbit that Tolkien wanted). It should also noted that the Hobbits are absent from the Silmarillion, which really shows that Middle-Earth was not created for Hobbits.
Going back 80 to a 100 years ago. In my family there were people who had 12 to maybe 18 children. so it is not Unheard. maybe you never heard of it.. But it was pretty normal.
To anyone interested in literary analysis of Tolkien's works - check out Michael Drout's Modern Scholar recorded lecture 'Rings, Swords, and monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature'.
Fatty Bolger does appear in the Fellowship of the Ring film, he shakes hands with Bilbo at the party, Bilbo says to him "Fatty Bolger!". Also at the end of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, at the auction scene just before Bilbo comes to stop it, The Grubs sells one of Bilbo's chairs to Mrs. Bolger and tells her "Now Fatty has something to put his feet on!". In other words, he does appear in the films but very brief, much older than he is in the books (Fatty Bolger is actually around Frodo's or Sam, Marry and Pippin's age, since they're actually younger in the books compaired to the films where they are around the same age) and because of that are not direct friend of Frodo unlike the books. On a side note, in Fellowship Fatty Bolger is played by Fran Walsch's (wife of Peter Jackson and the one of the writers for The Middle-Earth films as well as King Kong, The Lovely Bones and other PJ films ever since Bad Taste) uncle, this is mentioned in the audio commentary, don't know the bloke's name though.
+ Arachir Galudirithon the cover of Black Sabbaths first album is a photo of the mill with Ozzy standing in the woods in front of the mill. Comments were disabled for the vid on the Istari. I just wanted to put in ,that Gandalf ,Olorin went to the house of Nienna,where he learned of pity and patience from her. God, my friend Arachir,people need to start reading. The totally unselfish way that you do these video`s for others is to me,unbelievable. You are a generous and great teacher. I say to you again sir, you are the only man I know of ,that knows more Tolkien lore than myself!!! I therefore will refer to you as "Lord Arachir" from this day henceforth!
I come from a long line of the North American variety of hobbit. We live in the states of Washington, Oregon, and parts of Northern California on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. My family lives in small villages on the Olympic Peninsula, on the edges of the Temperate Rainforest. We migrated here just 3 generations ago from Middle Earth. Thank you for explaining the history of my folk.
The word smial is an invention of Tolkien based on the Old English word smygel. Smial is a translation of the Hobbitish word trân (Rohirric trahan "burrow").[5] Tolkien explained in his Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings the origin of the name Sméagol in the lemma on smials: "Smials. A word peculiar to hobbits (not Common Speech), meaning 'burrow'; leave unchanged. It is a form that the Old English word smygel 'burrow' might have had, if it had survived. The same element appears in Gollum's real name, Sméagol." ― Tolkien [6] The names Smaug and Sméagol are etymologically related.
My lore lust has been satisfied... For this week! Your lore video's are the closest thing to drugs that I'll ever lust after. Next week you should do a video about the various rings of power. I know you did talk about them in your Sauron video, but I don't really care. You reuse the same lore bits over and over in different video's and I wouldn't be bothered.
What i know from hobbits is that it is to repressent the civil life, because tolkien was a soldier in the first world war and the Shire or happy little Hobbits is a metaphore for a peacefull life back home. So i guess thats why there isnt realy much information about it.
I'm sad you find Hobbits a bit boring and plain. I think they are wonderful and amazing. Mostly because I find them to be very human like. They seem to have nearly all our unpleasant bits of nature, yet manage to live in relative harmony and peace. There seems to be no murder, rape, child sexual assault, kidnapping ect ect. While I know they are a created race, they obviously manage their lives a thousand times better than us. How I wish we could be like them! Of course I'd rather be an elf, in fact I'd give my right arm to be an elf, sadly it's not a possibility! Thanks for your videos
Kûd-dûkan, Kuduk, and Banakil are all real words.'Hobbit is an invention. In the Westron the word used, when this people was referred to at all, was banakil 'halfling'. But at this date the folk of the Shire and of Bree used the work kuduk, which was not found elsewhere. Meriadoc, however, actually records that the King of Rohan used the word kûd-dûkan, 'hole-dweller'.'- The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, 'On Translation'
The only place I've seen Kuduk is in Middle Earth Role Playing by ICE. It's a great system but it might well not be canon. Great video by the way. I noticed you used some MERP pics.
I think that pipeweed is 100% some form of nicotine, but that it _can_ have more intense effects than average, modern, _commercial_ tobacco. You see, there are other types of Nicotiana plants that can have wildly variable nicotine concentrations and other active chemicals. One of these varieties, N. rustica, is 3 - 9 times stronger than common tobacco while also having some other alkaloids and can induce a trance state and even hallucinations when it's smoked or steeped to make a tea. When used for inducing visions, it's usually called mapacho, and there's a ton of history and different native traditions and preparations from all over the Americas. But the big thing is: smoking this specific type of tobacco _CAN_ have effects that lean way more towards causing a "stoned" effect rather than the simple dopamine hit that common tobacco is known for. And that's just this one type of Nicotiana plant, there's lots of different plants that are related to it that aren't super well documented and probably at least a few more that are simply lost to time thanks to the plagues and subsequent colonization curteousy of European contact/ conquest that erased so many oral (and even written ones, in the case of the Mayans... thanks, _Spain.)_ histories and traditions. And that doesn't even get into the fact that these books are zupposed to be set _thousands_ of years in the past, which is a _long_ time in the world of crop cultivation. It would be impossible for a strain to remain unchanged over that length of time even if people _tried_ to preserve it exactly as it was over the millenia. So I like to believe that, yes, the Hobbits _are_ growing and smoking something that is closely related to tobacco... But it's a cousin of tobacco that's just a little bit "extra." It probably doesn't get you stoned like pot does, but I get the impression that it's doing something a little more significant than what you get from smoking any modern tobacco. The thing that tips me off is how Saruman comments about it affecting Gandalf's mind, which would be a really odd criticism to make about any kind of tobacco we're all used to. A cigarette can be called a lot of things, but significantly or even noticeably mind-altering ain't one of them. Also, Tolkien _probably_ knew about N. rustica, it's not a secret and never had been. With him being as big a fan of both pipe smoking and history as he was, I would honestly be shocked if he hadn't looked into the history of pipe smoking and tobacco, _especially_ because it's so prominently featured in his books! And I _wouldn't at all_ be surprised to find out that he had tried it at least once.
The Red Horn Pass and Caradhras are the same. It's the same mountain whose spirit thwarts The Fellowship as they tries to pass it. In the film, It's not obvious but according to the writer Phillipa Boyens, Saurman's spell is for waking up the spirit of Caradrhas which then makes the avalanche in the film, Gandalf's failed counter spell was intended to make Caradhras go back to sleep.
There is a very small reason for Gimli to be allowed to enter Aman: three hair of Galadriel and they were gifted to him and the Valar could not refuse to enter to this hair because they were elvish.
+richieblackhearted Oh yes precious! Keep nasty chips and give us squiggly fishhhhhhhhh! Smeagol wont look for nasty,smelly plants and doe not eat them ,no precious not unless he is very very hungry or sick!!!
My Grandfather on my mother's side, From Ottowa, Candada, who created the old bleach called Kormonwater, akin to Clorix by from the early 30the centruy, shortly after he fought in the Spanish American war. Sired 13, One died in infancy but 14 lived. the first, Jeanette, perishing in 1943, tow years before I was born. He lived until the late 1960's. My mother, Dorice Monast, married Michael Lyman and I am the last surviving male. My sister, Dorice, about to yours younger than I, form whom I have not heard in 25 years, lives in Texas. USA, I live in Massachusetts, where the Monast family Settled in the early 20th century. So large families among Men were possible, and in the late 19th and eally 20th century, fairly common
I think most of us who survived ancestors 5 generations ago, all come from large families. Otherwise like the Mozart family ( Leopold Mozart had 6 children of which 2 survived Nannerl and Wolfgang; Wolfgang had 6 children only 2 boys survived neither had any children in adulthood; and that line ended). our lineage would be extinct, thus we wouldn't have existed. To come from a small family before early 1900's is statistically rare. And a "small" family would be 4 to 6 children. I would think any family size smaller than the "small" 4 to 6 kids in the somewhat far past, and you exist today, you really did win the lottery of existing.
The Shire was actually based on the Lake District, Tolkien got the idea for the Shire when he was teaching at a boarding school in the Lake District and his personal quarters in the school faced the rolling hills of the Lake District, thats how he got the idea for the Shire.
Or maybe somehow Tolkien tried to combined the three other races in one simple and small race. Like a unique folk different from the rest , simple, pacific and lovers of the food, just like Tolkien himself and the southern english people that lived in the field. Just a theory.
swamidude I personally think they were tolkien's exact opposite to evil. Evil in LOTR has always sought to expand, control and destroy, whereas hobbits are isolationists with a live and let live attitude who have a love for all things that grow.
+Arachir Galudirithon Mae Govannen mellon! I know one thing that irks me about the movies adaption of LoTR, and that is the Pointy ears of the elves. Artwork too,from Ted Nasmith etc. I do not have one example of Tolkien EVER saying ,or describing elves with pointed ears! Nor Hobbits! It is one thing that I never understood!! NO ELVES HAVE POINTED EARS!!! LOL. Tell me if you have come across this ,in any portion of Tolkiens works. Cheers mate!
You forgot to mention that the Shire itself is sadly destroyed long long after the Sam leaves for Valinor and Merry and Pippin are laid to rest in Gondor. There's only a small paragraph in the Unfinished Tales which briefly states that after the Northern Kingdom was rebuilt, the race of men expanded in numbers and thus required more land for living and farming. This brought them into conflict with the Shire which was invaded as a result. Nothing more is said about what happened to the Hobbits.
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You get me the exact passage that says that Aragorn invades the Shire and I will prove you wrong sir. ;) Aragorn gifts the Shire to the Hobbits and gives them autonomy. Or are you trying to sucker people into thinking this?
Arachîr Galudirithon You've got that completely wrong. The destruction of the Shire happens many many hundreds of years after Aragorn died and long after the descendants of Sam, Merry and Pippin have died.
Arachîr Galudirithon In the Appendix titled Numenorean Linear Measures Page 372 it says "The much later dwindling of Hobbits must be due to a change in their state and way of life, they became a fugitive and secret people driven (as men became more and more numerous, usurping the more fertile and habitable lands) to refuge in the forest or wilderness, a wandering and poor folk."
The Shire: based on England. The movie set is in New Zealand. :/
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New Zealand has the mountains of Middle-earth that England doesn't. Whilst the Shire is based on English countryside, Middle-earth is much too mountainous to be represented here.
Did the Hobbits actually sent a detachment of archers at the Battle of Fornost or is not ? If I am not mistaken I remember reading this either on some part in the Fellowship of the Ring or on a Appendix. Thanks
The hobbits' histories mention sending the archers, but there is no reference to that in anyone else's histories. So, either the hobbits never sent any help and tried to add that in later, or they did send the archers and they simply got left out of other accounts, or they sent the archers but something happened to them on the way to Fornost.
"To the last battle at Fornost with the Witch-lord of Angmar they sent some bowmen to the aid of the king, or so they maintained, though no tales of Men record it." - LotR; Fellowship of the Ring; Concerning Hobbits
If Gollum had reasonably survived after the destruction of the Ring, would he also have been granted passage to the Undying Lands?
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In my opinion, absolutely not. It is also unknown how quickly the effects of the ring wear off. Gollum was given extra life to the tune of 500+ years, with the ring gone. He might well have died of old age the very next day. :)
@ That's a fair point. Do we have any clues anywhere as to the residual effects of the Ring? He lost it to Bilbo in TA 2941 and the Ring was destroyed in TA 3019. So Gollum was without it for 78 years, though it's entirely possible he could have still been drawing power through some unquenchable thirst to have it back? What do you think?
13 children wasn't actually that much in a pre-modern agricultural community. In fact, just a hundred years ago it was rather normal for people to have 8 or 10 children. They had to, because many children died young, and yet children were needed to help the parents out once they grow up and the parents grow old.
Anna Marianne I was surprised too with his “failure”. My great-grandmother had 19 children, each one of her daughters had like 10 children each (my grandmother for example), only in my parents generation 2/3 children became the normal...
That was my question, how many survived? Because large families weren't uncommon. Them all surviving was somewhat less common, but did happen. My ancestry on both sides had huge families in the far past. And actually most of them all survived. Hence I exist. But most other people who had large families, the infant and child mortality rates were high. Today, in underdeveloped nations people still have huge families on average. Because most of their kids won't survive into adulthood. Phenomena of developing is that they quit having huge families because the children do survive. And become expensive rather than beneficial as they stop farming which requires lots of labor, and do other developed work; crafts, manufacturing, mechanic, labor, finance, customer service, retail, utilities, banking/finance, sciences, engineering, arts, etc. Reason rice agricultural regions have huge populations still today like China, India, Japan, Korea, etc. is largely due to rice being even more labor intensive than wheat, oats, and barley. All things being equal, they had the same amount of famine, plague/disease, warfare. Their birth rates were even higher to support their rice farm living. Some of the cultures in the east were more cleaner in some sense, like Japanese focus on having clean homes and bathing rituals. Tea drinking, boiling of water, inadvertently pasteurized to an extent the water they drank, and not relied on being three sheets to the wind most of the time with grog in a slight drunken stupor that wasn't much of a healthy alternative. So they were a bit more healthier cultural habits too, compared to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Combined effects of even bigger families and healthier cultural lifestyle gave rice growing regions a larger population than non-rice growing regions. Anyway, not uncommon all through until early 1900's that families were huge. Was just often they didn't survive childhood, or just barely into adulthood. There's also another component, no other forms of education, steady employment (farming has several periods of long downtime in winter, and even summer) little entertainment... what we gonna do? I don't know... lets snuggle bunny together. Oh look another baby :)
Thomas Korn It might be noted though that the Hobbits are a subspecies of us humans, not a wholly separate people the same way Elves and Dwarves are - and that they aren't related to the latter two, only to us. But if you don't know, among the Hobbits themselves there's this rumor or legend that the Took family has Elven ancestry. They say that long ago the Took ancestor took an Elven maiden for a wife, and that's why the Tooks are so adventurous and different.
the shire is heavily based on the area around sarehole mill, hall green in birmingham where tolkien lived as a child not oxfordshire. Before the creation of the west midlands in the 70s this was pretty much on the worcestershire/ warwickshire border.
Yes that's accurate. And I live there!
Lee Agnew Lucky
+Lee Agnew The cover of Black Sabbath`s first album, is a shot of the mill,with Ozzy standin g in the woods.
and if the hobits are relatd to rohirims who are saxon horselovers then the hobbits must be anglosaxons :) Anglosaxon spies in a world war ;)
Actually, the spirits of Men do go to the Halls of Mandos, but only for a brief time. From there their spirits depart to a place that not even the Valar know, with the exception of Mandos himself...and he is forbidden to speak of it to anyone else. Clearly, since it's called the Gift of Men, they're not just sent out to the Void. So, if not to the Void and not remaining in the Earthly realm, the only real option left is Eru's realm. So, death is the Gift of Men, because unlike every other creature in existence (including the Valar), they are able to experience life on Earth, but they are not bound by it. Upon their deaths, their spirits travel to Eru's realm to live with their creator. As for the Valar, they were told that if they chose to descend to the Earthly realm that they would be bound to it, unable to return. Elves are eternal, but also bound to the Earth. So, while they can experience the wonder of Valinor, they can never experience the wonder of the realm on the Creator.
Caradhras is also known as Redhorn, so you were correct about it being the Redhorn Pass.
If you're interested, Caradhras is Barazinbar in Khuzdul and the other two peaks of Khazad-dûm, or Mountains of Moria, are Celebdil (Zirakzigil or Silvertine) and Fanuidhol (Bundushathûr or Cloudyhead).
31:52 Proudfeet!
Ask any pipe smoker and they will tell you it's very relaxing. Totally different from cigarettes. Plus a pipe full of strong pipe tobacco can last up to an hour and the nicotine absorbs through the mouth and gums so it is slow acting. A ot of times I have to lay down after a strong pipe full. Tolkien would have been very familiar with this calming effect haha. I also notice that if you look into the pipe bowl after taking a few puffs you see a smoldering red ring surrounded by darkness. Whether this was the inspiration for the eye of Sauron I don't know, but maybe it was on a subconscious level.
39:50 -- Just a slight correction: Bilbo and the other Ringbearers never go to Valinor proper. They get a nice retirement home at Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle, that marks the border between the Undying Lands and the mortal world. It contains the city of Avallónë, and is indeed meant to be the mythical isle of Avalon from the Arthurian myth. The sheer divine splendour of Aman proper would flat-out kill any mortal trying to spend a longer span of time there.
And subsequently, the Ringbearers also don't receive eternal life, since that's not something that the Valar can bestow. The Undying Lands don't make anyone immortal, they're called Undying Lands just because immortals happen to live there. Of all the mortals of Middle-Earth only Tuor managed to turn from a human into an elf, and the way that happened was a pretty different case from the fates of the Ringbearers.
+Arachîr Galudirithon I never got much into Tolkien, but you've inspired me to dust off some of my parents old books. These videos are really terrific, sir!
Well thank you very much. :) I am glad to see more people take up the sword [books] of LOTR!
Arachir is a Hobbit confirmed.
You overstate Hobbit isolationism a bit. Yes, on the whole, they certainly weren't all that eager to interact with other people. That being said, I'm sure there were Hobbits who actually enjoyed it. Within any group, there are always individuals who break the mold. Either way, they did engage in some trade with the outside world, with their most notable export being pipe weed. As for allowing visitors, Gandalf visited the Shire on a number of occasions. Also, I don't remember the Shirrifs being called when a group of wandering dwarves marched through the Shire, all the way to Bag End itself, and spent the night there. On the flip side, when the Hobbits showed up in Bree, it didn't seem to shock anyone. The innkeeper even pointed out specific rooms that would feel more comfortable to them. The way Mr. Butterbur spoke, it seemed pretty clear that they weren't his first Hobbit patrons by any stretch. Certainly outsiders weren't frequently wandering through the Shire, and if the numbers ever picked up the locals would probably consider it a nuisance. There's no mention of any ban on outsiders, however. Additionally, why most would seem to prefer to remain at home, clearly some did travel around a bit...at least within the region. If you want to say they're a bit insular, that's fair, but I wouldn't say that they were aggressively isolationist like the Japanese at certain points in history.
Gimli is allowed into the Undying Lands due to Galadriel, who used her position to get Gimli this unique grace.
the gift of Mortality is the only way to return in the presence of Eru Eluvitar, and since he is the source of life what else could you desire after a lifetime of struggle but to be in the presence of the creator of everything.
The creation of golf was also included in the Hobbit Video game back in the early 2000’s I remember it well because I played that game a lot as a kid. I was surprised to see in it in the movie and rather happy to see them make the joke.
You never disapoint.
I love the fact that you mention the battle of hastings. I know from the doc about the lotr movie trilogy how Tolkien felt about the battle.
On sam's 13 children: my Grandmother (born 1910) had ten children and her eldest daughter had 12, you don't need fertility drugs you need a low infant mortality. It's only slightly marvelous as long as they all lived to adulthood.
Both my paternal grandfather and his father were youngest of twelve, and all of the former, at least, reached adulthood.
The limit is not child mortality, but maternal mortality. Pre modern medecine, most women suffered serious (and ofyen fatal) complications because of the number of children they had. Changes in child mortality, combined with compulsury schooling, meant that the pressure to have lots of children faded away and maternity-related deaths (both peri-natall and as a result of long term internal damage and strains) were reduced to their current, historically extremely low, levels. In fact, I suspect that until recently, men had longer life expectances than women as a result of the high maternity related death-toll.
And Hobbits do (as far as I remember) live longer than we do, so they may be able to "spread out" the births more than our ancestoras could, which would probably have helped too.
The calendar of their year is based on the Anglo-Saxon calendar. Which makes sense considering what Tolkien taught.
The books mention Merry and Pippin handing their titles and offices down to their sons before they journeyed South.
Going to Matamata in NZ to see Hobbiton in a few weeks! Thanks for the Hobbit info lesson Arachir!
Very interesting lore especially when merry and pipin get buried with Aragon it's a nice ending
tasty hobbitses
To be fair, he does say **probably** a strain of Nicotiana. But yeah, it is most likely, Tolkien was a lifelong smoker who loved it and probably just attributed a few mystical qualities to it in his books because he enjoyed it so much.
These lore video’s are amazing! An incredible amount of history in every video! It’s sad we won’t get new episodes! At least we rewatch the crap out of the ones we have!
Arachir, I am writing this during the video, so I know not if you corrected yourself later, but the passes they crossed during the wandering days were Caradhras (Or something like that) and High Pass, north of Imladris, the same one Bilbo would crossed centuries later. The Stoors took the southern route and over Redhorn Pass and the Fallohides (or something like that) took the High Pass; I forgot of Hartfoot (or something like that) travel.
I believe it was the Battle of Bywater not Hobbiton but I might be wrong
Btw, very early in the fellowship of the ring, Sam is talking to others in the green dragon, and talks about his cousin seeing a huge walking tree, do you think that could be one of the ent wives? Seems likely to me.
I believe you made a slight error at 39:52. When the Hobbits (and Gimli?) sail to Valinor, they are not bestowed with immortality. The land cannot remove the Gift of Illuvatar, and it is called The Undying Land because it is where The Undying reside.
The Gift has been granted/lifted before (Luthien/Tuor), so it is possible that perhaps mortals that sailed West did live forever (maybe Bilbo's songs were so loved that he was allowed to continue writing for the Valar), it's more likely that they simply died of old age. Perhaps they were allowed to live until fully healed, and chose their time of death like Numenoreans.
It's been greatly debated over the years. Some say that the mortal hobbits die apon reaching the shores of Valinor. Some, that they go to sleep, to rest in the garden of Lorien, until the ending of the world. Others, that they are freed of the pain and burden of the ring, to live their remaining years in peace.
The patronymic naming convention was also present in Sweden. That's probably where it came from. I think they did away with it in the 20th century. I have been working on a friend's genealogy, and it has been interesting dealing with changing surnames every generation. On the other hand, you know exactly who the father was supposed to be.
Just stumbled upon these today. I love them!
Merry and Estella had at least one son whose name was not given, who received the title Master of Buckland.
I am thoroughly enjoying these lore series, I am wondering if you will make a video on the specific ages, once you are finished with the topics you are planning to do. I am mildly interested in the war of wrath and the destruction of beleriand. thank you for the videos and keep up the good work
These are the best vids on this stuff on youtube! I just wanta say thankyou!
While it's true that The Hobbit was the first _published_ book of the Legendarium, it's totally incorrect to state that Hobbits were the thing that started everything. Tolkien began writing parts of the Silmarillion and started to develop his languages long before he even thought of the word 'hobbit'. If anything, the world was created to house his languages and his love for mythologies.
What's more is that at first The Hobbit was not even part of the same world. It wasn't until years into the writing process of LotR that first LotR and after that The Hobbit were sucked into the same world as the Silmarillion. He tried to rewrite it much closer to LotR in the 60's, but quit after a few chapters because a friend told him it wasn't The Hobbit anymore (however, it was still much closer to the original than PJ's abominations ever were, so unlike he likes to claim, PJ did most definitely not made The Hobbit that Tolkien wanted).
It should also noted that the Hobbits are absent from the Silmarillion, which really shows that Middle-Earth was not created for Hobbits.
Going back 80 to a 100 years ago. In my family there were people who had 12 to maybe 18 children. so it is not Unheard. maybe you never heard of it.. But it was pretty normal.
In my country, one of our heroes of our history, a minister during the XIX century called Diego Portales, had 22 brothers and sisters.
The number of births isn't unusual, but the survival rate.
I think you meant the Redhorn gate and the path of Caradhras. They are both on top of Moria.
Scrumping and mushroom stealing and the theft of silver spoons are all serious problems in the shire
Wonderful job, I enjoy your videos. Thank you for your time.
next maybe the lore of the greatest battles please and thankyou
Agreed! or maybe one video about the greatest wars of Middle Earth. Starting with the war of the ring and the different fronts.
thank you very much for this video! I love your style, very informative and thorough.
To anyone interested in literary analysis of Tolkien's works - check out Michael Drout's Modern Scholar recorded lecture 'Rings, Swords, and monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature'.
Fatty Bolger does appear in the Fellowship of the Ring film, he shakes hands with Bilbo at the party, Bilbo says to him "Fatty Bolger!". Also at the end of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, at the auction scene just before Bilbo comes to stop it, The Grubs sells one of Bilbo's chairs to Mrs. Bolger and tells her "Now Fatty has something to put his feet on!". In other words, he does appear in the films but very brief, much older than he is in the books (Fatty Bolger is actually around Frodo's or Sam, Marry and Pippin's age, since they're actually younger in the books compaired to the films where they are around the same age) and because of that are not direct friend of Frodo unlike the books. On a side note, in Fellowship Fatty Bolger is played by Fran Walsch's (wife of Peter Jackson and the one of the writers for The Middle-Earth films as well as King Kong, The Lovely Bones and other PJ films ever since Bad Taste) uncle, this is mentioned in the audio commentary, don't know the bloke's name though.
+ Arachir Galudirithon the cover of Black Sabbaths first album is a photo of the mill with Ozzy standing in the woods in front of the mill. Comments were disabled for the vid on the Istari. I just wanted to put in ,that Gandalf ,Olorin went to the house of Nienna,where he learned of pity and patience from her. God, my friend Arachir,people need to start reading. The totally unselfish way that you do these video`s for others is to me,unbelievable. You are a generous and great teacher. I say to you again sir, you are the only man I know of ,that knows more Tolkien lore than myself!!! I therefore will refer to you as "Lord Arachir" from this day henceforth!
I come from a long line of the North American variety of hobbit. We live in the states of Washington, Oregon, and parts of Northern California on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. My family lives in small villages on the Olympic Peninsula, on the edges of the Temperate Rainforest. We migrated here just 3 generations ago from Middle Earth. Thank you for explaining the history of my folk.
rubbish. those west of the cascades and in northern california are all orcs and goblins.
Appalachia halfling represent 👋🏻
The word smial is an invention of Tolkien based on the Old English word smygel. Smial is a translation of the Hobbitish word trân (Rohirric trahan "burrow").[5]
Tolkien explained in his Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings the origin of the name Sméagol in the lemma on smials:
"Smials. A word peculiar to hobbits (not Common Speech), meaning 'burrow'; leave unchanged. It is a form that the Old English word smygel 'burrow' might have had, if it had survived. The same element appears in Gollum's real name, Sméagol."
― Tolkien [6]
The names Smaug and Sméagol are etymologically related.
Liam Cunliffe
T. Michaels
thats me
my grandmother had 13 children, my mom the youngest, It's not unheard of, but not recommended.
Good as always, Arachîr.
I love your stories/history
My lore lust has been satisfied... For this week! Your lore video's are the closest thing to drugs that I'll ever lust after. Next week you should do a video about the various rings of power. I know you did talk about them in your Sauron video, but I don't really care. You reuse the same lore bits over and over in different video's and I wouldn't be bothered.
What i know from hobbits is that it is to repressent the civil life, because tolkien was a soldier in the first world war and the Shire or happy little Hobbits is a metaphore for a peacefull life back home. So i guess thats why there isnt realy much information about it.
The action took place in the trenches not back home "Shire", but thats just my interpretation about this.
I'm sad you find Hobbits a bit boring and plain. I think they are wonderful and amazing. Mostly because I find them to be very human like. They seem to have nearly all our unpleasant bits of nature, yet manage to live in relative harmony and peace. There seems to be no murder, rape, child sexual assault, kidnapping ect ect. While I know they are a created race, they obviously manage their lives a thousand times better than us. How I wish we could be like them! Of course I'd rather be an elf, in fact I'd give my right arm to be an elf, sadly it's not a possibility! Thanks for your videos
Kûd-dûkan, Kuduk, and Banakil are all real words.'Hobbit is an invention. In the Westron the word used, when this people was referred to at all, was banakil 'halfling'. But at this date the folk of the Shire and of Bree used the work kuduk, which was not found elsewhere. Meriadoc, however, actually records that the King of Rohan used the word kûd-dûkan, 'hole-dweller'.'- The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, 'On Translation'
Question:
I've noticed quite a bit of Lord of the Rings Online music in DAC. Did you ever play Lotro?
P.S. Keep up the video's, cant get enough.
I have been looking for info on the lord of the rings and the hobbit. thank you for your videos.
It was not based off the Oxford region it was based off Warwickshire.
The only place I've seen Kuduk is in Middle Earth Role Playing by ICE. It's a great system but it might well not be canon. Great video by the way. I noticed you used some MERP pics.
I think that pipeweed is 100% some form of nicotine, but that it _can_ have more intense effects than average, modern, _commercial_ tobacco. You see, there are other types of Nicotiana plants that can have wildly variable nicotine concentrations and other active chemicals. One of these varieties, N. rustica, is 3 - 9 times stronger than common tobacco while also having some other alkaloids and can induce a trance state and even hallucinations when it's smoked or steeped to make a tea. When used for inducing visions, it's usually called mapacho, and there's a ton of history and different native traditions and preparations from all over the Americas.
But the big thing is: smoking this specific type of tobacco _CAN_ have effects that lean way more towards causing a "stoned" effect rather than the simple dopamine hit that common tobacco is known for. And that's just this one type of Nicotiana plant, there's lots of different plants that are related to it that aren't super well documented and probably at least a few more that are simply lost to time thanks to the plagues and subsequent colonization curteousy of European contact/ conquest that erased so many oral (and even written ones, in the case of the Mayans... thanks, _Spain.)_ histories and traditions. And that doesn't even get into the fact that these books are zupposed to be set _thousands_ of years in the past, which is a _long_ time in the world of crop cultivation. It would be impossible for a strain to remain unchanged over that length of time even if people _tried_ to preserve it exactly as it was over the millenia.
So I like to believe that, yes, the Hobbits _are_ growing and smoking something that is closely related to tobacco... But it's a cousin of tobacco that's just a little bit "extra." It probably doesn't get you stoned like pot does, but I get the impression that it's doing something a little more significant than what you get from smoking any modern tobacco. The thing that tips me off is how Saruman comments about it affecting Gandalf's mind, which would be a really odd criticism to make about any kind of tobacco we're all used to. A cigarette can be called a lot of things, but significantly or even noticeably mind-altering ain't one of them. Also, Tolkien _probably_ knew about N. rustica, it's not a secret and never had been. With him being as big a fan of both pipe smoking and history as he was, I would honestly be shocked if he hadn't looked into the history of pipe smoking and tobacco, _especially_ because it's so prominently featured in his books! And I _wouldn't at all_ be surprised to find out that he had tried it at least once.
The Red Horn Pass and Caradhras are the same. It's the same mountain whose spirit thwarts The Fellowship as they tries to pass it. In the film, It's not obvious but according to the writer Phillipa Boyens, Saurman's spell is for waking up the spirit of Caradrhas which then makes the avalanche in the film, Gandalf's failed counter spell was intended to make Caradhras go back to sleep.
I always thought the Red Horn Pass was the actual route whereas Caradhras was the actual mountain.
benj149 Caradhras is known as Mount Redhorn to Men and Barazinbar to Dwarves. It's called the Redhorn Pass because of the mountain.
That was great! Could you do a lore video on the great beasts (or similar) of Middle Earth like the Dragons?
There is a very small reason for Gimli to be allowed to enter Aman: three hair of Galadriel and they were gifted to him and the Valar could not refuse to enter to this hair because they were elvish.
The exception is that in hobbitoon it doesn't rain all the time
~ putting this on LOOP until the world ends be seeing you ~
Yes, all very informative. But...
Is it scrumptious?
+richieblackhearted Oh yes precious! Keep nasty chips and give us squiggly fishhhhhhhhh! Smeagol wont look for nasty,smelly plants and doe not eat them ,no precious not unless he is very very hungry or sick!!!
Hopefully Archie changes his mind.
Really enjoy his Tolkien takes.
What about the fell winter when the wolves cross the Brandywine river into The Shire? Please correct me if i just missed that.
Yeah I forgot to add that in.
Oh I do love hobbits.
My Grandfather on my mother's side, From Ottowa, Candada, who created the old bleach called Kormonwater, akin to Clorix by from the early 30the centruy, shortly after he fought in the Spanish American war. Sired 13, One died in infancy but 14 lived. the first, Jeanette, perishing in 1943, tow years before I was born. He lived until the late 1960's. My mother, Dorice Monast, married Michael Lyman and I am the last surviving male. My sister, Dorice, about to yours younger than I, form whom I have not heard in 25 years, lives in Texas. USA, I live in Massachusetts, where the Monast family Settled in the early 20th century. So large families among Men were possible, and in the late 19th and eally 20th century, fairly common
I think most of us who survived ancestors 5 generations ago, all come from large families. Otherwise like the Mozart family ( Leopold Mozart had 6 children of which 2 survived Nannerl and Wolfgang; Wolfgang had 6 children only 2 boys survived neither had any children in adulthood; and that line ended). our lineage would be extinct, thus we wouldn't have existed.
To come from a small family before early 1900's is statistically rare. And a "small" family would be 4 to 6 children.
I would think any family size smaller than the "small" 4 to 6 kids in the somewhat far past, and you exist today, you really did win the lottery of existing.
The Shire was actually based on the Lake District, Tolkien got the idea for the Shire when he was teaching at a boarding school in the Lake District and his personal quarters in the school faced the rolling hills of the Lake District, thats how he got the idea for the Shire.
Is any one else smoking some pipe weed while listening to this?
Valinor doesn't offer everlasting life. Frodo IS cured of his Nazgul wound and Shelob's venom but he eventually dies, just like Bilbo, Sam and Gimli.
Nope, no immortal life for Frodo, Sam and Bilbo. They still die, and fairly soon if I understand Tolkien right.
No matter what any lore say i will cling to the good old Dwarf-Human intermarriage hypothesis.
But what about the large pointy ears? There should at least be some elf in there. A threesome maybe?
Wouldn't that make hobbits slightly taller than Dwarfs but shorter than Men?
Or maybe somehow Tolkien tried to combined the three other races in one simple and small race. Like a unique folk different from the rest , simple, pacific and lovers of the food, just like Tolkien himself and the southern english people that lived in the field. Just a theory.
swamidude I personally think they were tolkien's exact opposite to evil. Evil in LOTR has always sought to expand, control and destroy, whereas hobbits are isolationists with a live and let live attitude who have a love for all things that grow.
+Arachir Galudirithon Mae Govannen mellon! I know one thing that irks me about the movies adaption of LoTR, and that is the Pointy ears of the elves. Artwork too,from Ted Nasmith etc. I do not have one example of Tolkien EVER saying ,or describing elves with pointed ears! Nor Hobbits! It is one thing that I never understood!! NO ELVES HAVE POINTED EARS!!! LOL. Tell me if you have come across this ,in any portion of Tolkiens works. Cheers mate!
You forgot to mention that the Shire itself is sadly destroyed long long after the Sam leaves for Valinor and Merry and Pippin are laid to rest in Gondor. There's only a small paragraph in the Unfinished Tales which briefly states that after the Northern Kingdom was rebuilt, the race of men expanded in numbers and thus required more land for living and farming. This brought them into conflict with the Shire which was invaded as a result. Nothing more is said about what happened to the Hobbits.
You get me the exact passage that says that Aragorn invades the Shire and I will prove you wrong sir. ;) Aragorn gifts the Shire to the Hobbits and gives them autonomy. Or are you trying to sucker people into thinking this?
Arachîr Galudirithon
You've got that completely wrong. The destruction of the Shire happens many many hundreds of years after Aragorn died and long after the descendants of Sam, Merry and Pippin have died.
thedarknesscallingme Passage or it didn't happen.
Arachîr Galudirithon
In the Appendix titled Numenorean Linear Measures Page 372 it says "The much later dwindling of Hobbits must be due to a change in their state and way of life, they became a fugitive and secret people driven (as men became more and more numerous, usurping the more fertile and habitable lands) to refuge in the forest or wilderness, a wandering and poor folk."
That's like Tolkien's way of saying that the ancient simple way of life usurped by the industrial machines of men. :)
The Great Smials in Finnish are pronounced in a way of Smee-Als [Fin.: Smialit], so that is the way I am used to read it.
Where did you find that map of Tuckborough? It looked like one of Tolkien's original sketches.
You don't like hobbits?!
Getaloadofthishereticcam.jpg
Thanks man awesome
My Grandfather on my father's side also was one of 13 children.
You couldn't put that in 1 comment? :P
Good job 😊
So good!
why is this unlisted now?? i looked for this for like 20 minutes lol
You left out the fact that The Hobbits actually send a few archers to Fornost to help.
And did you forgot about Battle of Greenfields ?
why isnt glorfiender introduced in the movies?
Since buckland is a "principality of the shire" will we see the Principality of the Buckland Hobbits in DAC? (Joking of course)
Quick point Queen Charlotte had 13 children and all lived and all were healthy.
Will 1:0 be out soon i wanna play some dac but downloading is very slow and if its coming out soon there is no point in getting 0:52
it will come out on 7
***** don't spoil it lol
The 7 joke is older than my grandma.........
+Fundin Dylgobrad It will be out when it will be out
The Shire: based on England. The movie set is in New Zealand. :/
New Zealand has the mountains of Middle-earth that England doesn't. Whilst the Shire is based on English countryside, Middle-earth is much too mountainous to be represented here.
I want to read all of the history of middle earth but I don't know all the books I would need to get. Can someone tell me which ones?
BTW the shire is based of of the West Country
What is the full sentence you say in the end ? I understand Novaer is farewell and mellon-nin is 'my friend' but the rest ? thanks!
"Navaer na den pedim-ad mellyn nín" - Farewell until we speak again my friends.
Arachîr Galudirithon thanks for your reply!
i was waiting for this :):):):):):):)
Did the Hobbits actually sent a detachment of archers at the Battle of Fornost or is not ? If I am not mistaken I remember reading this either on some part in the Fellowship of the Ring or on a Appendix. Thanks
I don't believe that it is ever stated yay or nay
The hobbits' histories mention sending the archers, but there is no reference to that in anyone else's histories. So, either the hobbits never sent any help and tried to add that in later, or they did send the archers and they simply got left out of other accounts, or they sent the archers but something happened to them on the way to Fornost.
"To the last battle at Fornost with the Witch-lord of Angmar they sent some bowmen to the aid of the king, or so they maintained, though no tales of Men record it."
- LotR; Fellowship of the Ring; Concerning Hobbits
+Ngugi TWC Yeap thats it, though Arachir doesn't mention anything about that
Haar is the german word for Hair. I just wanted to throw it in if you did not know yet.
Why are the comment sections disabled on so many of these videos?
did the dwarves ever reclaim kazad dum or did they just go into the grou d and make kingdoms below the surface never to be seen again
Ross Cassity They did reclaim it sometime during the fourth age.
If Gollum had reasonably survived after the destruction of the Ring, would he also have been granted passage to the Undying Lands?
In my opinion, absolutely not. It is also unknown how quickly the effects of the ring wear off. Gollum was given extra life to the tune of 500+ years, with the ring gone. He might well have died of old age the very next day. :)
@ That's a fair point. Do we have any clues anywhere as to the residual effects of the Ring? He lost it to Bilbo in TA 2941 and the Ring was destroyed in TA 3019. So Gollum was without it for 78 years, though it's entirely possible he could have still been drawing power through some unquenchable thirst to have it back? What do you think?
My Grandfather on my mother's side has 12 siblings.
Banakil is used by Gildor in glorion
Hobbiton is in New Zealand, just outside of Matamata. Not England
Pipeweed like combining nicotine and thc is pleasing, so it makes sense it's a blend of both?
13 children wasn't actually that much in a pre-modern agricultural community. In fact, just a hundred years ago it was rather normal for people to have 8 or 10 children. They had to, because many children died young, and yet children were needed to help the parents out once they grow up and the parents grow old.
Anna Marianne need to get back there to stop the coming population winter in the West and to stop the growing Mohammedan threat.
Anna Marianne I was surprised too with his “failure”. My great-grandmother had 19 children, each one of her daughters had like 10 children each (my grandmother for example), only in my parents generation 2/3 children became the normal...
That was my question, how many survived? Because large families weren't uncommon. Them all surviving was somewhat less common, but did happen.
My ancestry on both sides had huge families in the far past. And actually most of them all survived. Hence I exist. But most other people who had large families, the infant and child mortality rates were high. Today, in underdeveloped nations people still have huge families on average. Because most of their kids won't survive into adulthood.
Phenomena of developing is that they quit having huge families because the children do survive. And become expensive rather than beneficial as they stop farming which requires lots of labor, and do other developed work; crafts, manufacturing, mechanic, labor, finance, customer service, retail, utilities, banking/finance, sciences, engineering, arts, etc.
Reason rice agricultural regions have huge populations still today like China, India, Japan, Korea, etc. is largely due to rice being even more labor intensive than wheat, oats, and barley. All things being equal, they had the same amount of famine, plague/disease, warfare. Their birth rates were even higher to support their rice farm living. Some of the cultures in the east were more cleaner in some sense, like Japanese focus on having clean homes and bathing rituals. Tea drinking, boiling of water, inadvertently pasteurized to an extent the water they drank, and not relied on being three sheets to the wind most of the time with grog in a slight drunken stupor that wasn't much of a healthy alternative. So they were a bit more healthier cultural habits too, compared to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Combined effects of even bigger families and healthier cultural lifestyle gave rice growing regions a larger population than non-rice growing regions.
Anyway, not uncommon all through until early 1900's that families were huge. Was just often they didn't survive childhood, or just barely into adulthood.
There's also another component, no other forms of education, steady employment (farming has several periods of long downtime in winter, and even summer) little entertainment... what we gonna do? I don't know... lets snuggle bunny together. Oh look another baby :)
jmitterii2 our maid here in the philippines has 10 kids all alive and educated :).
jmitterii2 in my case, all of them survived, only one died as a baby, my brother with hearth problems.
is there no account as to exactly..or approximately the hobbits came to middle earth at all? no matings with a dwarf and human?
+Thomas Korn None whatsoever.
Arachîr Galudirithon
So,they just ...appear. Dang, I was hoping for a saucy Dwarf/Human/Elf love story..
Anyway.. Good job! your videos are fun.
Thomas Korn It might be noted though that the Hobbits are a subspecies of us humans, not a wholly separate people the same way Elves and Dwarves are - and that they aren't related to the latter two, only to us.
But if you don't know, among the Hobbits themselves there's this rumor or legend that the Took family has Elven ancestry. They say that long ago the Took ancestor took an Elven maiden for a wife, and that's why the Tooks are so adventurous and different.