Brown-skinned hobbits, part II

[robinturner]

Silly me—the answer to the “brown-skinned hobbits” question was staring me in the face, in the Prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring. Hobbits are described as “rosy-cheeked”, which precludes having very dark skin, but later Tolkien explains the three hobbit sub-races: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallowhides. Harfoots are said to have browner skin than the other types of hobbit; they are also the most numerous and typical of hobbits, and the most likely to keep to their underground living habits. This makes it almost certain that Frodo was a Harfoot, and very likely that Sam was too, so they should have been somewhat darker skinned than they appear in the film (though given the rosy-cheeked criterion, we’re talking Mexican rather than Ethiopian here). As a Took, Pippin might be wholly or partly Fallowhide, which would give him pale skin and possibly blond hair (so Jackson got him right). Merry could have been anything, since Buckland has large numbers of Stoors and a few Fallowhides—he could even have had a bit of a beard, since the Stoors are closer to dwarves.

Comments

[mein.livejournal.com]

There are hobbit sub-races? They all looked pretty much the same to me in the movie...

I DIDN'T SEE ANY BLACK HOBBITS. THIS CALLS FOR ACTIVE PROTESTING AGAINST TOLKIEN'S RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. CONTROVERSY HERE I COME.

[solri.livejournal.com]

They all looked pretty much the same to me in the movie...

That indeed was my point - they shouldn't have looked the same, though at the same time, I doubt if they should look all that different. Harfoots, Stoors and Fallowhides intermarried, so although most of hobbits around Hobbiton would be Hatfoots, there'd be enough Fallowhide in there to produce the occasional blond paleface. Even Frodo could have been as pale as he is portrayed in the film, though the odds are low. It looks like the Shire has more-or-less the same range of skin-colour that you'd see in Spain. (This may seem odd given that Eriador corresponds to north-western Europe, but then the hobbits were immigrants.)

I DIDN'T SEE ANY BLACK HOBBITS.

Heh. Not only are there no Black hobbits, there aren't any Black people anywhere in the book—even the "swart" Haradhrim and Southrons seem to be more like Arabs. As I said in my previous Tolkien post, LotR is intended as a NW European myth, not a universal myth (Rhun is Asia, and Mordor is "somewhere in the Balkans", kind of like Transylvania). However, it would be a nice change if for once somebody would write a fantasy novel where the good guys are in the south.

[scarythedave.livejournal.com]

I know you don't know me (I discovered you through the Lojban lessons), I'd like to thank you for this interesting exploration of Hobbits. I've been meaning to reread all my Tolkien stuff (especially the material available from Ardalambion) but have yet to do so. Also, I probably wouldn't have noticed this little discrepancy. Thanks.

[solri.livejournal.com]

It's a pleasure! Assuming this course goes ahead, there should be more Tolkien posts coming up.

[scarythedave.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! More Tolkien!

[redngold.livejournal.com]

Look, it's important to have a life. I assume you're being ironic, dear God I hope so, but a couple of months of "It doesn't matter a damn unless you can kick a hole in it" might be a good idea right now.

Grin

Amended - wry Grin

[solri.livejournal.com]

Life? I think something like that happened between The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, but it was so brief, I'm not sure ;-)

Thing is, I'm basing my next English 101 course on Tolkien, and whenever I do one of these content-based courses, I try to immerse myself in the content as much as I can, which is why I spent an inordinate amount of time playing games last semester, and watched loads of horror films the one before.