# the hobbits in the first age



## John (Dec 6, 2021)

where were the hobbits in the first age of middle earth?


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## ZehnWaters (Dec 6, 2021)

I'd imagine somewhere in the East. We know they don't show up in the history of Middle-Earth until the 3rd Age, and then at the Vales of Anduin, so it's likely their migration came VERY late.


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Dec 7, 2021)

ZehnWaters said:


> I'd imagine somewhere in the East. We know they don't show up in the history of Middle-Earth until the 3rd Age, and then at the Vales of Anduin, so it's likely their migration came VERY late.


It makes sense considering how conservative hobbits are.


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## ZehnWaters (Dec 7, 2021)

HALETH✒🗡 said:


> It makes sense considering how conservative hobbits are.


Having said that, their intrinsically good nature and seeming resistance to evil implies they retained some sort of blessed state. If the Tale of Adanel is true then I'd imagine that the Hobbits left earlier or didn't wake up until later. So I doubt they hung out in Hildorien during this time either. I'm not sure where they were in the East, though.


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## m4r35n357 (Dec 7, 2021)

ZehnWaters said:


> Having said that, their intrinsically good nature and seeming resistance to evil implies they retained some sort of blessed state. If the Tale of Adanel is true then I'd imagine that the Hobbits left earlier or didn't wake up until later. So I doubt they hung out in Hildorien during this time either. I'm not sure where they were in the East, though.


We know Third Age hobbits are good at hiding, imagine how good the First Age ones were!


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## Elthir (Dec 7, 2021)




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## Radaghast (Dec 8, 2021)

Of course, the "extra-universal" explanation for the hobbits' absence from any First or Second age is because they weren't originally meant to be part of them. Tolkien thought of hobbits quite a bit after he'd already started weaving his mythology. He incorporated elements of his mythos into _The Hobbit_, thereby drawing it into the overall picture, and then officially locking them in with the publication of _The Lord of the Rings_, but he presumably hadn't the time or inclination to rewrite those older stories to include hobbits or even give them a passing mention.

Tolkien, sly devil that he was, addresses this absence in the chapter "Treebeard" in which Merry tells Fangorn, "We seem to have got left out of the old tales" after the Ent goes through a list of denizens of Middle-earth. Of course, the hobbits themselves don't seem to have any tales of their own either.

The Ents, of course, are also a late addition to the mythos, occurring to Tolkien while he wrote _The Lord of the Rings_, although they _do_ get a mention:


> Then Yavanna was glad, and she stood up, reaching her arms towards the heavens, and she said: ‘High shall climb the trees of Kementári, that the Eagles of the King may house therein!’
> 
> But Manwë rose also, and it seemed that he stood to such a height that his voice came down to Yavanna as from the paths of the winds.
> 
> ‘Nay,’ he said, ‘only the trees of Aulë will be tall enough. In the mountains the Eagles shall house, and hear the voices of those who call upon us. But in the forests shall walk the Shepherds of the Trees.’


_— The Silmarillion_, "Of Aulë and Yavanna"


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## ZehnWaters (Dec 8, 2021)

Radaghast said:


> Of course, the "extra-universal" explanation for the hobbits' absence from any First or Second age is because they weren't originally meant to be part of them. Tolkien thought of hobbits quite a bit after he'd already started weaving his mythology. He incorporated elements of his mythos into _The Hobbit_, thereby drawing it into the overall picture but he presumably hadn't the time or inclination to rewrite those stories to include hobbits or even give them a passing mention.


To be fair, it's not like they're super involved in the Third Age either, until the very, VERY end. Though, who's to say how important that Hobbit archer regiment was during the downfall of Arnor and it's successor states?


Radaghast said:


> Tolkien, sly devil that he was, addresses this absence in the chapter "Treebeard" in which Merry tells Fangorn, "We seem to have got left out of the old tales" after the Ent goes through a list of denizens of Middle-earth. Of course, the hobbits themselves don't seem to have any tales of their own either.


lol It's such a laughably obvious excuse too. Though, again, he's saved by the Hobbit's intrinsic nature: reserved, insular, and skilled at hiding.


Radaghast said:


> The Ents, of course, are also a late addition to the mythos, occurring to Tolkien while he wrote _The Lord of the Rings_, although they _do_ get a mention:


Yeah, Treebeard was supposed to be an evil giant originally. Their absence is most glaring during the wars of Beleriand when there was more environmental damage.


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## Radaghast (Dec 8, 2021)

ZehnWaters said:


> lol It's such a laughably obvious excuse too. Though, again, he's saved by the Hobbit's intrinsic nature: reserved, insular, and skilled at hiding.


The publication of _The Silmarillion_ was still more than a couple of decades away (even if Tolkien hoped to see it published along with LotR) so the explanation worked even better back in 1955


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