The major political power in the Shire was actually held by the Mayor of Michel Delving (the Shire's chief township). The Thain was in charge of Shire Moot and Muster and the Hobbitry-in-arms, but as the Hobbits of the Shire led entirely peaceful, uneventful lives, the office of Thain was seen as something more of a formality. With the departure of the Oldbucks/Brandybucks, a new family was selected to have its chieftains be Thain: the Took family (indeed, Peregrin Took was son of the Thain and would later become Thain himself). Their patriarch then became Master of Buckland. However, the Oldbuck family later crossed the Brandywine River to create the separate land of Buckland and the family name changed to the familiar " Brandybuck". The first Thain of the Shire was Bucca of the Marish, who founded the Oldbuck family. ![]() Hobbits Merry and Pippin, far from the Shire, among the Ents during the War of the Ring, by Stephen Hickman After the battle, the kingdom of Arthedain was destroyed, and in absence of the king, the Hobbits elected a Thain of the Shire from among their own chieftains. During the final fight against Angmar at the Battle of Fornost, the Hobbits maintain that they sent a company of archers to help, but this is recorded nowhere else. Originally, the Hobbits of the Shire swore nominal allegiance to the last Kings of Arthedain, being required only to acknowledge their lordship, speed their messengers, and keep the bridges and roads in repair. The crossing of the Brandywine, as the hobbits called it, was the event that led to the settlement of the Shire, thus the Shire Reckoning began. The new land that they founded on the west bank of the Brandywine was called the Shire. Only Bree and a few surrounding villages lasted towards the end of the Third Age. Many Hobbits followed them, and most of the territory they had earlier settled was abandoned. In the year 1601 of the Third Age, two Fallohide brothers named Marcho and Blanco gained permission from the King of Arthedain at Fornost to cross the River Baranduin and settle on the other side. The Harfoots, Fallohides and remaining Stoors would journey further to the northwest and settle together in Bree-land, where the divisions between the Hobbit-kinds began to blur, and where they found a friendly coexistence with the native Middle Men.Ī young Bilbo Baggins, by Sara Maria Morello This group of refugees eventually gave birth to Sméagol, but their fate is ultimately unknown, as their dwellings were abandoned by the end of the Third Age, likely as the Misty Mountains had become infested by Orcs. In the following centuries some of the Stoors, dismayed by the power of Angmar and a change in the climate of Eriador, fled back east over the Misty Mountains. The Stoors were the last to migrate, and they crossed the mountains using the Redhorn Pass, traveling down the river Loudwater before settling in Swanfleet, a large marshy region near Dunland and Tharbad. They traveled down the river Hoarwell before settling in the Angle, a triangular wooded land formed by the Hoarwell and river Loudwater. The Fallohides were the second to leave the vales, and they took the High Pass over the mountains, ending up north of Rivendell. The Harfoots were the first to cross the Misty Mountains, and they migrated as far as the South Downs, a range of hills where the Harfoots long settled, establishing numerous dwellings there. The three Hobbit clans took different routes on their journey westward into Eriador, the Lone-lands. Reasons for this trek are unknown, but it possibly had to do with Sauron's growing power in nearby Greenwood, which was later named Mirkwood because of the shadow that fell on it. Two hobbits in the Green Dragon inn, by Ralph DamianiĪbout the year TA 1050, they undertook the arduous task of crossing the Misty Mountains. As a result, many old words and names in Hobbit-speech are derivatives of words in Rohanese. While situated in the valley of the Anduin River, the Hobbits lived close by the Éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim, and this led to some contact between the two. At this time, there were three breeds, or tribes, of Hobbits, with different physical characteristics and temperaments: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. According to The Lord of the Rings, they forgot any genealogical ties to their relatives the "Big People" ( Men). ![]() The earliest known group of hobbits lived in the Vales of Anduin, in the region of Wilderland between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. By the time they were discovered by the other peoples of Middle-earth, they had already been around for many generations. ![]() They are only known to have originated somewhere in the valley of the Anduin River. It is unknown when Hobbits first appeared in Arda.
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