Introduction
The Power of Hobbits and the Shire
So I started a podcast with my best friend to give myself a space to talk about Lord of the Rings, but apparently, that wasn’t enough because now I’m adding a blog.
In the Tolkien with Friends episode about the Council of Elrond, I took some time to discuss the meaning behind Gandalf saying that hobbits and the Shire hold power, but a different kind of power than Rivendell or Minas Tirith. And then this week, I saw this tweet:
I’ll also be speaking about hobbits on an upcoming episode of The Swolehirrim, another Tolkien-themed podcast, so I thought it would be fitting to fully develop my thoughts here.
“There is power, too, of another kind in the Shire.”
In the prologue of Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gives a pretty detailed description of hobbit life — and he even talks about people and events from LOTR that a first-time reader wouldn’t know. I think this is because to fully understand hobbits, you need to understand what it is they stand opposed to, which doesn’t really come full circle until Return of the King. But let’s start at the beginning.
And in the prologue – and even the first couple of chapters of Lord of the Rings – we learn a lot about a hobbit’s way of life. Now, for a long time, I felt that this was an attempt to satisfy the “sequel to The Hobbit” part of Lord of the Rings – because, truly, that is why Tolkien started writing it. I’m sure that’s partially true, but during my recent re-read of Fellowship of the Ring, I began to think about how Tolkien is continuously making points about hobbits.
Now, of course, he’s making points about hobbits, you might think. Frodo is basically the main character, so we need to learn more about him. I would agree, but I also think it’s more than that. While Tolkien repeatedly points to the qualities that make Frodo different, mainly from other hobbits (and, really, people in general), he also illustrates the goodness of hobbits overall.
Hobbits as Cautionary Tale and Aspiration
Let’s break that down: Tolkien takes ample time to describe hobbits, and throughout the story, you can see how they are both a cautionary tale and a people to aspire to. As for the former, Frodo and Bilbo are not just portrayed as interesting or exceptional for their wisdom or wit. A big part of their exceptionalism is also because of how willing and eager they are to learn about other cultures, venture outside the borders of the Shire and act as citizens of the World. Their friendships with Dwarves and Elves aren’t just seen as odd, but even dangerous, as Tolkien makes a point to say that hobbits feared Elves because of their association with the sea (and most hobbits are afraid of bodies of water). He takes time to show how a hobbit’s ignorance does not protect them from the outside world, and in fact, leaves them woefully unprepared for it. Often, it is because of Frodo’s diplomacy, wisdom and ability to connect with people who are different than him that allows him to succeed.
But at the same time, Tolkien clearly loves the Shire and depicts it as a place where life is simpler, better even. He notes that hobbits love to laugh and eat, give away presents freely, were not “warlike” – and never fought amongst themselves – and they didn’t even really have a government because they were too busy growing food and eating it. So, one could say that Hobbits have a culture that is based around the simple joys of life; the everyday things that make one smile.
“Let Folly Be Our Cloak”
And while Hobbits may suffer from ignorance and prejudice, they seem to hold a special place in Gandalf’s heart. Surely not just because they are a funny little people with excellent pipe-weed? I think we can look to this quote from Many Meetings for a clue: “Indeed there is a power in Rivendell to withstand the might of Mordor, for a while: and elsewhere other powers still dwell. There is power, too, of another kind in the Shire. But all such places will soon become islands under siege, if things go on as they are going.”
Power of another kind in the Shire? Hold that thought for a moment.
In the very next chapter, The Council of Elrond, Gandal says, “Let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts.”
So Gandalf is considering the power held within the Shire at roughly the same time that he is trying to figure out what is to be done with the Ring. And we know from “Fog on the Barrow-downs that “there is a seed of courage hidden (often deeply, it is true) in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit, waiting for some final and desperate danger to make it grow.”
Let’s think about that juxtaposition for a minute: Sauron is very wise but judges all hearts by their desire for power. And then we have hobbits who we have had explained to us multiple times at this point that wisdom – or, at least what “the very wise” may call wisdom – is an oddity among hobbits, who, by the way, have essentially no desire for power, unless it be the power to choose when and how often they eat. And while I’ve mentioned that Frodo and Bilbo have been called out in the text as exceptional or extraordinary in some ways, I think their resilience and special brand of strength is not uncommon.
Not Just Bilbo and Frodo
Let’s consider Gollum and Sam, for example. We see several times throughout Lord of the Rings how characters are tempted by the Ring and the damage that does. But when Sam carries it for a little while on Frodo’s behalf near Cirith Ungol, he actually does really well. While he for a split second imagines what he would do with the power of the Ring, he quickly dismisses the idea: “The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” If Bilbo was the first person to have ever willingly give up the Ring, surely Sam was the second?
When it comes to Gollum, Gandalf makes sure to impress upon Frodo not only the importance of Bilbo’s choice to not harm Gollum (and to take pity on him), but he also wants Frodo to note Gollum’s remarkable resilience: He kept the Ring for about 500 years and yet, had not wholly succumbed to its evil. In fact, Gandalf emphasizes that there is still hope for Gollum, hope that he may yet turn from the path of evil. He also points that the Hobbit-ish part of Gollum is still there, as Gandalf believes that that part of Gollum enjoyed the riddle game with Bilbo and remembering life before the Ring.
You see this special power of hobbits comes full circle after the Scouring of the Shire. While a few exceptional hobbits may have helped save Middle-earth, they are also the catalyst that shows the rest of the Shire how strong they really are. And when they remember it, they are able to fight back against Saruman’s orcs and reclaim the Shire.
Joy in the Little Things
So, what exactly is the power of the Shire? To me, it’s finding joy in the little things, prioritizing family, food and laughter, following your heart even though the only way forward may only turn to grief: The power of the Shire is its rejection of power for the sake of power, the rejection that the only way to succeed is to control and manipulate. The power of the Shire comes from the everyday people: “the small hands [that move the wheels of the world] because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
Indeed, in Return of the King, Gandalf seems to finally put this into words when he says, “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”
To return to the point about how Sauron judges all people by their desire for power, it would seem that once hobbits got involved in the plans to destroy the Ring, Sauron didn’t really stand a chance. Not because they are great or powerful or wise, but because they “valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold.”
Tolkien with Friends 