# What happened to Hobbits after LOTR?



## Nameless Thing (Feb 1, 2019)

> After the rebuilding and the environmental recovery of the Shire, the Hobbits flourished and had favor with the King of the reunified Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. But with all things that are in the world of man, evil caused the land and possessions of the Hobbits to become coveted and slowly they were pushed further west until they came under the protection of the Círdan in Mithlond and various Elven settlements beyond the Ered Luin (Blue Mountains). Some say Dwarves resettled there in the southern Ered Luin and also granted protection to the remaining Hobbits. But as the Elves finally left Middle-earth and the last Dwarves past into memory the remnant of the Hobbits were granted passage to a land beyond the seas where they flourished once again in their simple ways giving all who new them a warm heart, a seat near a warm hearth, a cup of tea and of course some fine leaf in a pipe to smoke.



This is what I found on another forum. Is this true? Do we know what happened to Hobbits after LOTR?


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## CirdanLinweilin (Feb 1, 2019)

Nameless Thing said:


> This is what I found on another forum. Is this true? Do we know what happened to Hobbits after LOTR?


I haven't seen this in any published work, Posthumous or otherwise.

CL


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## Elthir (Feb 2, 2019)

The much later dwindling of Hobbit size (referred to in the Prologue) must, according to Tolkien in a note, be due to a change in the Hobbit's state and way of life > see Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Appendix, Numenorean Linear Measurements, Unfinished Tales.

Tolkien's explanation (the following quote is a bit longer than the version published in UT, thanks to Hammond and Scull) is less cheery than what you've quoted. 

"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, the Big Folk, became more and more numerous, usurping the more fertile and habitable lands, to refuge in forest or wilderness: a wandering and poor folk, forgetful of their arts and living a precarious life absorbed in the search for food and fearful of being seen; for cruel men would shoot them for sport as if they were animals. In fact they relapsed into the state of 'pygmies'. The other stunted race, the Druedain, never rose much above that state." JRRT​


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## Deleted member 12094 (Feb 2, 2019)

Well found, Galin!

Looking at the reference you gave, I read a slightly different text there:

_The dwindling of the Dúnedain was not a normal tendency, shared by peoples whose proper home was Middle-earth; but due to the loss of their ancient land far in the West, nearest of all mortal lands to the Undying Realm. 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, the Big Folk, became more and more numerous, usurping the more fertile and habitable lands) to refuge in forest or wilderness: a wandering and poor folk, forgetful of their arts, living a precarious life absorbed in the search for food, and fearful of being seen._​
In my paperback edition 1998, the text stops there.

Could it be that we are consulting different versions? I did not know that there are changes in content in different versions of the UT.


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## Elthir (Feb 2, 2019)

Merroe, I think (haven't really checked) that editions of Unfinished Tales still print your quoted version. My version above comes from one of Hammond and Scull's books. I couldn't recall which one, exactly . . .

. . . and still can't! But I (am lazy sometimes) found the slightly longer version on the web, for copy and paste.


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## Miguel (Feb 2, 2019)

Galin said:


> for cruel men would shoot them for sport as if they were animals



They also did that to the Dwarves in the 1st age. Not nice.


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## Valandil (Feb 2, 2019)

Miguel said:


> They also did that to the Dwarves in the 1st age. Not nice.


That was the ELVES! Don't pin that one on Men!


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## CirdanLinweilin (Feb 2, 2019)

Valandil said:


> That was the ELVES! Don't pin that one on Men!


Either way, poor short of stature folk.....


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## Miguel (Feb 2, 2019)

Valandil said:


> That was the ELVES! Don't pin that one on Men!



Well at least the Sindar attacked them because they thought they were beasts at first and were afraid of them, they didn't knew who they really were until Belegost and Nogrod were established. Even then they should have known better. Veredict: Unacceptable.

On the other hand, Men hunted down the Hobbits for sport.

Veredict:

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!


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## Nameless Thing (Feb 3, 2019)

Oh no. That's really sad. I really wanted to believe that their story had a good ending.


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