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amdor
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Post Question about Hobbits sailing
on: February 17, 2010 05:34
Request the lore-masters to help me out on this one

In the Hobbit it is mentioned that Gandalf has, in the past, taken hobbits (especially tooks) other than Bilbo and the 4 travellers, on adventures

So i wondered if there were any hobbit/s other than Bilbo, Frodo and Sam who might have gone to the Undying Lands

i am very intrigued by noting that in the Appendices of the LOTR books, there were at least 2 more hobbits (both male & childless) who had gone on journeys and never returned... one of them is actually mentioned as having gone to the sea !

Any clarification on this would be most welcome. Thanks.
Iavas87
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Post RE: Question about Hobbits sailing
on: February 17, 2010 07:42
I think it highly unlikely that any other Hobbits went to Aman. Frodo and Sam only got to go because they were Ringbearers, and both Galadriel (when she thought she was forever exiled) and Arwen (after she made her unrevokable choice of mortality) verbally beseeched the Valar for their 'place' in Aman to be passed on to the Ringbearer. So, it was only at the grace of the Valar that any mortal could come there, and it was given to Frodo and Sam as a reward for their efforts against Sauron and as a chance for healing after the travails that they went through. Other Hobbits might have been adventurous, but they didn't really do anything to earn such a grace. The Hobbit that came to the Sea did exactly that - he came to the coast and saw the Sea, which few Hobbits had seen before, but this does not mean that he crossed it.

Also, I'm not quite sure that Gandalf was responsible for every Hobbit that went off adventuring, but I could be mistaken there - I don't remember the passage verbatim.
amdor
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Post RE: Question about Hobbits sailing
on: February 18, 2010 12:36
Thanks

Referring the second age time-line, around the times of those two hobbits, it seems to have been a very interesting time period... & a good period of activity for Gandalf Stormcrow

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1300 -
Evil things begin to multiply again. Orcs increase in the Misty Mountains and attack the Dwarves. The Nazgûl reappear. The chief of these comes north to Angmar. The Periannath migrate westward; many settle at Bree.

1356 -
King Argeleb I slain in battle with Rhudaur. About this time the Stoors leave the Angle, and some return to Wilderland.
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Iavas87
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Post RE: Question about Hobbits sailing
on: February 18, 2010 06:23
Oh, well, what you're referring to is the migration of the Hobbits' ancestors westwards, after they crossed the Misty Mountains from their original home in the Vales of the Anduin. This occurred c. 1050 TA, so your time-line should be Third Age. The Hobbits supposedly fled across the Mountains because of the darkening of Mirkwood (née Greenwood the Great), but many continued to move West until they finally settled the area around Bree in 1300 TA and officially founded the Shire in 1601 TA. These were not solitary adventurers, but rather entire communities migrating to new lands. It can be assumed that during the migration, the halflings were less set in their comfortable ways than their descendants later became, so 'adventurers' were more common and less likely to be looked down upon by their neighbors. Whether Gandalf was involved with the migration process in any way is not recorded, so you're welcome to speculate. We do know that, much later, after the foundation of the Shire, the Hobbits believed that he was responsible for "...quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures" (The Hobbit, Chapter 1), so it is quite possible that the likes of Hildifons and Isengar Took (the latter of whom came to the Sea) were given a starting nudge by the ubiquitous wizard, especially since he had a particular involvement, if not friendship, with the Tooks.

[Edited on 19/2/2010 by Iavas87]
cirdaneth
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Post RE: Question about Hobbits sailing
on: February 19, 2010 07:56
Thanks Iavas.

Another point in answer to Amdor, is that 'going to sea' doesn't necessarily mean sailing into the West. There was a long tradition of sea-faring among both elves and men and a good deal of coastal trading. There will also have been fishing in some places. Tolkien does not mention these specifically, but the variety of materials in use around Middle Earth must have been widely sourced.
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