Hobbits & the Shire Lore - Films explained from the Books' Perspective - LotR Lore & Tolkien Lore #2

Today we dive a bit into the lore of the Shire from Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit", but also the culture of the Hobbits and the Red Book of Westmarch, which also appears in the first film - The Fellowship of the Ring of #LotR. There will be another Episode about the Shire and the Hobbits, so consider this the first part out of at least 2 Shire episodes. I try to go into a lot of detail with the #lore and background. So every thing #explained in-depth as always.
Topics of this episode are as always Lore References for the in this episode covered part of the films, book differences, Hobbits and their culture in the Shire, Hobbit names and their origin, the Red Book of Westmarch, timeline and Shire-reckoning, stylistic devices, Westron and languages and a bit of shire geography. Gandalf's influence on the shire will be in next episode.
I also explain some hobbits seen in the movies in context of the books, like Everard Proudfoot or Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger. A quite big and interesting part are the "true" names of Hobbits like Frodo (Maura) and Bilbo Baggins (Bilba Labingi), we learn about in the History of Middle-earth book, Peoples of Middle-earth by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Idea behind this series:
In this series I go bit by bit through the films and explain the Film's LotR lore with help of the books. i try to explain almost all lore references and details in-depth, but also film and book differences and behind the scenes elements (not in this episode though).
This episode is a bit shorter and also a bit rushed (because of E3), so there will be some mistakes in it. Feel free to post them into the comment section.
You can find the last episode (Fellowship of the Rings Prologue, about the Rings of Power, the One Rind, Sauron and so on) here:
• LotR Prologue Explaine...
Lore and History of the Elves and Cirdan:
• Círdan - History and L...
The playlist:
• LotR Books and Films D...
All my Tolkien's Lore videos:
• Lord of the Rings and ...
Sources:
The picture of the Red Book of Hergest is from here:
www.facebook.c...
In the video I hint at the White Trees (Years of the Trees) and also the Years of the Lamps in contrast to the Years of the Sun, here is my video:
• Why do the Elves like ...
About the Dúnedain, Númenor and Arthedain (Arnor):
• The long Story of Arag...
Here you find my video about Rohan and their ancestors (Éothéod), which also include parts about Arthedain:
• History of Rohan - Hel...
Books:
Lord of The Rings (1954-1955) by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion (1977) by J. R. R. Tolkien; Editor: Christopher Tolkien
The Hobbit (1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien
Unfinished Tales (1980) by J. R. R. Tolkien; Editor: Christopher Tolkien
Pictures from:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Shadow of War
Shadow of Mordor
Maps:
lotrproject.com...
Two Trees of Valinor Art Work:
Niahti: www.artstation...
Benef (Frédéric Bennett): benef.devianta...
Recommended Wiki:
tolkiengateway.net
The Philosopher's Games / TPhGames
Follow me on Twitter for updates and news:
@PhilosophGames
/ philosophgames
I usually make analytical gaming and Tolkien & LotR lore content. Feel free to check my channel (ThePhilosophersGames) for more:
/ thephilosophersgames

[@phoule76]

you make a great point about how advanced the Shire seems in their technology and dress relative to the other peoples, which acts as a safe gateway for the reader from which to embark on an adventure into the rough-and-tumble past

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes, but it still does not feel fully out of place, so that you almost don't notice. Quite interesting.

[@duggi4]

Wow. Never knew that about Frodo‘s name. Thank you for all your hard research

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes, I think it's not that well known. Quite interesting. Thank you too :)

[@BlackJar72]

I had read that male hobbit names ended in -a and female in -o, but that Tolkien had "translated" them to fit modern English expectations. But I don't remember seeing "Maura," instead assuming his name was "Froda." I do remember a lot being said about "Brandybuck" and Baranduin river.

[@mevb]

Film fact: Hobbiton were filmed on the farm of Russel Alexander near the town of Matamata on New Zealand's North Island. Because the farmer didn't want to keep the set after the filming was completed, the crew made the facades of the hobbit holes were made by polystyrene. The New Zeland Army helped the crew to make the roads going to the set, as well as those on the set, they had to fill a swamp (which was one of the few things kept after the filming), the grass was left to grow and then let sheep roam the area to graze the grass to make it look more natural (in contrast of trimming it with lawnmowers which would look too manmade and too modern for Middle Earth). The great oak above Bag End was a fake tree that they "planted" on the hill. To have the scale right for the hobbit actors a lot of oversized animals were used including birds and butterflies, but the crew also found a ginormous bull that had a birth defect that made it grow to the size of a van and was consindered to be used for the set. Unfortunatley, the only part of the bull that didn't grew was its feet, making the them so small in compairsson that it couldn't walk, so they had to scrap the idea. After the filming was done, they tore most of Hobbiton down and restored most of it back, except for the roads and the now filled swamp and a simple wooden facade of Bag End with no door were left for tourists to see. Because of a lot of Tolkien tourists came to look at the former set (most of them except for the die-hard fans were a bit disappointed that it didn't look much like it was in the films anymore) and the fact that the place were going to be reused for The Hobbit movies, the Alexander family and the people at WingNut Films (including Jackson) made an agreement to build the place out of permanent materials this time. After the completion of the Hobbit trilogy, the set was kept for the tourists to walk around and discover (including The Green Dragon pub which you can actually enter unlike the hobbit holes).

[@mevb]

Frodo's line: "Alright then, keep your secrets." comes from the chapter Three is Company which is partly spoken by Pippin when talking about the Black Rider who spoke to Gaffer Gamee, right before Frodo, Sam and Pippin left Hobbiton.

[@mevb]

When Bilbo writes in the Red Book of Westmarch Concerning Hobbits (which is called Concering Hobbits, just like to the prologue chapter in The Fellowship of the Ring). The line he writes "... for all Hobbits love peace and quiet and good tiled earth..." is actually from Tolkien's narration from Concerning Hobbits, describing the general life style of hobbits.

[@josiem1681]

Love your videos 💕

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :)

[@daspronk]

Wow I did not expect the in depth review of the languages, you have done your homework. Seriously well done, keep up the great content!

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) Yes, the language part was a thing I wanted to do for quite some time and I thought this was a good opportunity. It's such an impressive part part of Tolkien's works and I think not too many people know about it.

[@MarkGlowInTheDark]

Man that was deep whahaha. We can never stop learning about Arda

[@mevb]

All hobbit actors and extras (including stunt and scale doubles) had to wear prosthetic feet on their feet which had to be applied every morning before the shoot, by gluing them to the soles of the feet and make up artists blended the line between the hobbit feet and actual feet of the actors. The actors (often Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd and to lesser extent Sir Ian Holm) had to get up four in the morning to get their feet applied and they had to stand up for an hour and a half while doing it cuz the feet wouldn't have come on the right way if they sat down. While they had the feet applied Wood, Astin, Monaghan and Boyd would listen to music (which Wood would bring a whole "book" of CDs to play in the make up trailer), sometimes due to time press they had breakfast while having their make up (Boyd usually had porridge for breakfast either in the make up trailer or in the breakfast tent depending on the day and schedule) and would read through the recent version of the script as due to the actors' in-puts about their characters and new ideas from the writers (Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens), the script was rewritten literally everyday. Sean Astin counted the days for how many filming days they had with their feet applied and calculated that fifthy days the hobbits had their feet applied and they weren't on camera. The prosethetic make up man for Sean Astin was Sean Foot, to Astin's bemusement but Foot got a bit weary of the story after awhile. After each day was wrapped, the feet were taken off using tooth picks, ear buds and other tools, the actors feet were bathed to clean them from all make up and glue (on fridays the guys would have a beer) while the prosthetics were shredded up (in order to prevent them being sold on the Black Market) as they could only be used once like a lot of prosthetics. Dominic Monaghan kept a pair, however, and at the last day of shooting, Wood got his last pair of hobbit feet as a farewell gift (along with Sting and one copy of The One Ring). For The Hobbit, the hobbit feet have changed into a "boot" which could be put on instead of needing to be applied every day and thrown. According to Elijah Wood, that the advances in hobbit feet would make certain hobbit actors feel upset by the fact (referring to Astin who wasn't involved in The Hobbit).

[@whtbobwntsbobget]

"I admire its purity. A survivor. Unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality" -Bilbo talking about the ring ... probably

[@TheMessyGentleman]

As an avid Tolkien fan I'm addicted to these! Thanks so much man! Love your work!! How do I sub twice??

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

haha happy to hear ^^ The series developed a bit into a LotR book analysis series with a bit of film/book differences over time I think. So far I have done like 7 hours of content in this series and there will be more ^^ But ofc I can't make them as fast people watch them 😅 But nice to hear that you like the series :)

[@DaRollinThunder]

Loved the video! I really liked the part where you cover the language. The Concerning Hobbits scene is my favorite part of The Fellowship of the Ring so hurry up and get the next episode done XD.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

haha thanks :D Nice to hear ^^ I like it too. Had also much fun making the screenshots and watching this part several times ^^

[@YourOldUncleNoongah]

Its amazing that Tolkein created all of this linguistic detail in his books, Thanks to my grandparents, i speak bits and pieces of three different dialects, one is my grandmothers tribal language, and the other two are my grandfathers parents tongues. All 3 are different but you can detect similarities within all of them, even the language spoken in the far north of my country, have similar sounding words but they carry different meanings to our words here in the south eastern area. The reason my grandfather could speak both his father and mothers dialects, is because he was one of few children that were initiated into both father and mothers tribe, as the tradition was the son would only be initiated into his fathers tribe. Although with the elder people dying out now, the language is also dying in certain parts of my country.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes Tolkien's love for details and languages is really fascinating. Oh that sounds interesting and also sad (languages dying out; we have this problem here in Germany to some degree too with some dialects like e.g. Plattdeutsch/Low German. Plattdeutsch/Low German is almost impossible to understand for Germans, if they don't speak it, only some words and with a bit of thinking you can maybe understand parts of it; it's close to Dutch I guess). Where are you from?

[@YourOldUncleNoongah]

@@ThePhilosophersGames Australia, and I am of Scottish/english and aboriginal heritage.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Oh that's cool. I have no idea how the aboriginal languages work. It' so distant for me, but I think that's one of the good things about the internet and speaking multiple languages: we can communicate and learn even over large distances.

[@YourOldUncleNoongah]

@@ThePhilosophersGames Yes my friend that is one of the best things about this world wide web. brings people together who may never meet one another IRL. It helps us to open our minds, allows us to absorb so much more knowledge, like the knowledge in your videos, which i very much enjoy.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes agreed 100%. I always find it fascinating, that I can talk to people on the other side of the world and that we seem to even share a passion for Tolkien and LotR.

[@souldreamer9056]

Needless to worry about going too far into detail and linguistics. At least for this viewer, indulgence in minuscule details is most welcome.

[@metalmadsen]

This channel is awesome 😊

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :)

[@Rodrigo220898]

Great to learn more of the Shire, its the main reason i keep coming back to TLOTR universe. Perhaps in a future video you'll be able to talk a bit about the changes in the borders of the Shire (conflits, wars...). Hope you're hyped for E3, it'll start in a bit. Once again, great work. Can't wait to see what's next.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) Yes I'm quite curious what is coming. This year will be so interesting. What a time to be a gamer ^^ I wished I had a few more hours, I won't release my video in time for at least EA, so the EA suffers a bit in my consideration. However I hadn't too many predictions to begin with, when it comes to EA. So here were my predictions: new Dragon Age, maybe news from their indie (EA Originals?) program, they will ofc show BFV + Battle Royal mode, new sports games as usual and new Star Wars games. What Respawn is working on, was hard to say, but I guessed something action and multiplayer focused in Star Wars. What about a Star Wars battle royal game (maybe mode in Battlefront?)? I also imagined a coop Action RPG in the Star Wars universe. But these are pretty much shots into the dark by me :D No surprise Battle Royal is coming to BFV and more of Anthem. The C&C thing was a stinger even though I like incontrol and Nathanias a lot. (PS: maybe we get a PC C&C game out of it) So how right was I? xD Glad, I didn't hurry too much in the end, there wasn't too much interesting things, just the Jedi Fallen Order announcement and Sea of Solitude was nice.

[@GreatGreebo]

This is AMAZING....I’m very impressed with your Middle Earth knowledge!! Well done❤️

[@mevb]

The reason that Frodo's birthday was not in the movie at the same time as Bilbo's was because it would be too confusing. You can see both in the Extended Edition menu of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and in one of the behind the scenes documentary about Bag End, that Frodo's Birthday is April 4:th on a calender.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

This episode is a bit rushed, but I hope you still enjoy it (it's also a bit shorter) :) There will be at least one more Shire and Hobbit related episode, but first E3 stuff. Could be, that the "linguistic" stuff is a bit too much, but i found it interesting ^^

[@patrickhidalgo4659]

Keep up the awesome content man!!!! Just noticed this was uploaded on my birthday👌🏽👌🏽

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

I hope you had a great birthday that day ^^ Thank you, I'll try :)

[@binbouda8113]

3 min in film so far. Nicely done. And also your R's really nice.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) Yes my progress is like abysmal xD

[@binbouda8113]

it will be a nice adventure for all of us!!

[@pwmiles56]

[edited for clarity, I worked out how to do a YT link with a start time] I think Peter Jackson had a model for the various writing scenes (6:00 and onward). It's Tolkien himself in this 1968 documentary: "What I'm doing now is to try and write in in Elvish ... my writing is very inferior to the Elves. Their standard greeting when meeting, a star shines upon ourrr [rolled r] meeting. O Lord, I made a mistake didn't I. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZKYhYiPd5ahotkm10s

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

haha Peter Jackson has good connections then ^^ that's also so interesting to see ^^ Thanks for sharing :)

[@Merecir]

Take all the time you need, analyze every frame if needed. =D -Lycka till!

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) It could end up like this :D But I think the progress could accelerate once I cover some more lore. But if necessary I analyze every frame ^^

[@volkerwendt3061]

Very good video. A point of clarification here, though. One might understand that Rohirric is close to Old English, which it is not. It is represented partially by OE as Westron is represented by Modern English bc Rohirric is an "older" or somewhat old-fashioned version of Westron. Maybe I misinterpreted your words just wanted to get things straight ;)

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes ofc Old English (Merican dialect) represents Rohirric (it could have some own words though). From my perspective the actual Rohirric is something like a "phantom language". Only few words exist like Kûd-dûkan -> Holbytla -> Hobbit. In this regard there is not much to see or learn there, while it's different with Old English. Ofc it just "emulates" the relationship between both languages (Westron and Rohirric), ut it's not like there would be a full devolved language in the background.

[@volkerwendt3061]

@@ThePhilosophersGames Well, yes, pretty good point, I think I understand. I like to see it somehow this way: Both, modern English and say modern "Plattdeutsch" have the same root which is Old Saxon (Edainic ;)) They developed in different ways and some day groups of Plattdeutsch speakers(Hobbits and Rohirrim) moved to let's say England. After a while, these people ofc would speak English only, surrounded by English speakers. But a pretty odd one. And that is, I think, what Hobbit and Rohan Westron are like and why they are similar, but odd for other Westron speakers. Just my two cents ;) They do not have real languages of their own any longer. The anglicised Hobbit Names are pretty similar to frisian Names, though. I had an Uncle named Fredo.

[@alexshadowfax1119]

Hey Chris, have you ever watched any of the "exploring the Lord of the rings" by Professor Corey Olson on Signum university? It's amazingly depth full, they have done 220 videos at 90 mins each and we're only just leaving Rivendell. I think you'd appreciate it very much, it's college level Tolkien Studies and they upload the videos on KZbin. If you go to Signum University KZbin page and look for the Exploring lord of the rings playlist, it's all there. Anyways just wanted to share it with you since it seems like you'd enjoy how detailed and how amazing Tolkien was. Have a good day.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes I know the Signum university channel. Have checked some of Corey's stuff, pretty awesome ^^

[@pwmiles56]

12:00 Woops! Here is a big difference between the film and the book. The Proudfoots (or Proudfeet) and Bolgers are members of the Shire's landowning upper-middle class, as is shown by the fact these names figure among the 144 "family" guests at Bilbo's Party. No way did they live in Bagshot Row, which is plainly there to instance the assertion in the Prologue that only "the richest and poorest Hobbits" lived in holes in the ground. You can only understand these distinctions if you live in a feudal society :)

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Would not call it a huge difference, because it's just a tiny detail and the books don't have too much information, so we need to make assumptions. The films are also missing the entire explanation of the Hobbit society, we find in the prologue, which makes perfectly sense and the Shire when it comes to classes and economy is not too fleshed out even in the books. It's even hard to say how feudal the Shire was in its structures.

[@Itchy__]

Great video. Hobbits may be my favourite folk in the history of Arda.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) The next episode (probably next month) will further explore Hobbits and the Shire ^^

[@scottfree2248]

Brilliant analysis! I love how Tolkein Incorporated English country life into the Hobbit. Am I correct in recall that Tolkein also wrote that the Game of Golf was created in the Shire when in the early days of its founding the Hobbits had a battle with the goblins to defend their homes. During the battle one of the greater Hobbits beheaded the goblins king with a huge club and the goblin kings head went flying threw the air and rolled into a hole! I know I can get the correct version from this great channel!

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) Yes, you are right, there is a golf reference in the books and also in the first hobbit movie. Maybe I talk briefly about it in the next episode or when I continue with the Hobbit movies in like 10 years (considering my current progress) :D

[@mevb]

The Goblin King was called Golfimbul hence where the name for the sport Golf comes from. In the commentary for An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson and Philipa Boyens regret forgetting to mention Golfimbul's name in dialouge due to the pun in the name. The hobbit that knocked off Golfimbul's head was Bilbo's great great grand-uncle Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took, who was really tall for a Hobbit and therefore being big enough to ride a horse. In the books Merry and Pippin becomes the tallest hobbits ever, even beating their ancestor Bullroarer, thanks to the Ent-draught they got from Treebeard.

[@00huntr00]

I ENJOYED THIS

[@ClassicHarleyQuinn]

Fun Fact: the 3rd hobbit film was originally titled The Hobbit: There and Back again. I have no idea why it was changed.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Interesting, would have been a good title. I guess Battle of the Five Armies is more "descriptive" 😅

[@ClassicHarleyQuinn]

@@ThePhilosophersGames Yes I guess.

[@mevb]

It's because Bilbo and the dwarves arrived at Erebor so they have got "There" in Desolation of Smaug, so it wouldn't make sense, plus despite the fact The Hobbit movies came after The Lord of the Rings and you got the prolouge of Bilbo actually writing the story in his book, it would have somwhat spoiled the ending.

[@ClassicHarleyQuinn]

@@mevb That makes sense to be honest. I actually just read a 1991 edition of the book and can't help but think it would of been better off as a 2 part film.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

Obligatory algorithm boost 👍👍

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

thank you ^^

[@jonbreno9320]

Maura is actually a real name for women in Italy

[@alexi891990]

Sick work. You deserve more subs man :-( we got this guy and theres this creature called ALI A.... G.... P..... whatever

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you :) They are slowly coming. 10k hype ^^

[@alexi891990]

I personally feel, this is PhD level research. Thank you for all the content. Fan from the day I heard your KEELEEBRIMBOR :D hahaha

[@vincedibona4687]

Ooh! Ooh! If not covered already, can you do at least a bit in another video about pipe-weed? Was this more like tobacco, or possibly more like marijuana? I can't see you getting a whole video about it, maybe one about the Shire and its economy, imports/exports, and then maybe a couple minutes on pipe-weed? This has always been a point of contention between my LOTR-nerd friends and I. Some say it is, at most, very addictive tobacco, while others say it might have a subtle euphoric effect, and others say it's straight-up weed. I would love to hear your toke, er, take on this! :D

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

haha quite funny, the next episode (no. 3) has a pipe weed section. Tolkien describes it as Nicotiana, so it's tobacco not hemp. Quote from The Lord of the Rings, Prologue (Concerning Pipe-weed): There is another astonishing thing about Hobbits of old that must be mentioned, an astonishing habit: they imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana.

[@republikadugave420]

You should get a job on the new amazon series... Great work... Love your videos

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Thank you ^^ maybe one day :P

[@darthgorthaur258]

Hey bud, just doing some rewatching as I do an I noticed you spelt "spoiler warning" without the first N so it just says "waring" no biggy just thought you might like to know, always some people might think your waging war on the spoilers but not many I reckon lol.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

oh that's really good to know I reuse some of the texts (I import those you always appear) in other videos. Never noticed, thank you for the hint.

[@eam3918]

Did Tolkien ever explain exactly what haflings are? Half what and half what? This leads me to a second question, in all of Tolkiens' works, did he ever mention gnomes? Because, if I had to guess, I would think that hobbits are half human and half gnome. That would explain their pointy ears, where they got their sense of curiosity from, and why they are so short.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Halflings are men, just half the size ^^ So they are counted towards men. I like the gnome theory, but the matter is quite unexpected. Tolkien somewhere mentioned gnomes in his early drafts, but dropped the term. There he originally planned to call the Noldor Elves gnomes and their language gnomish (The Book of Lost Tales Part One). But the term for this group of elves seemed confusing, because by that time (19th century) people imagined gnomes as dwarf-like creatures, not fitting the elves. He had something different in mind. The ear thing is also quite interesting. I think Tolkien never really described those (only in a letter: "ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'"). And I assume the movie depiction could be inspired by a drawing of Tolkien, where you see pointy ears. Interestingly this letter quote is also the only mention or implication of elves having pointy ears too. In his early drafts Tolkien took many mythological terms and used them. A leftover is also e.g. the term "goblin". In The Hobbit Tolkien does not use the term orc (except for Orcrist - the Goblin Cleaver) but goblin instead, then in Lord of the Rings Tolkien started to use both terms (probably reducing the use of "goblin") and other terms like "gnome" vanished completely.

[@eam3918]

Thank you for your prompt answer . It's been many, many years since I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I guess it's time I re-read them as I seem to have forgotten many little details. I assumed that Tolkien had always meant for hobbits to have pointy ears. I didn't realize, or forgot, that that was mostly a creation of the movies. Also, I want to thank you so much for these awesome videos. I have learned so much. It's always been my secret shame that, despite how many times I said that I was going to, I still haven't read The Silmarillion and The Book of Lost Tales. These videos have inspired me to finally do that.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

No problem :) There are many little details and I forget things all the time (I have to re-read constantly parts of the books). It's just too much information ^^ Thank you too, happy to hear :) The Silmarillion can be a tough read, I struggled reading it for a long time too (in my native language). Re-reading it in English also took me quite some time. What helped me was using it more like a compendium to answer my lore questions, which helped a lot. The History of Middle-earth books are also sometimes difficult, because you need to keep track of a lot of information and have a good understanding of the main works. I can recommend the Unfinished Tales (after reading the Silmarillion).

[@SilentSpringz]

U would almost say. That peace is progres of... stuff? XD wel more comfort items. 😀

[@mevb]

Film trivia: Even if Frodo is the oldest of the Hobbits and Pippin being the youngest, in real life Elijah Wood at the time of filming turned 18 during the first year of principle photography while Billy Boyd turned 30 the day he traveled to New Zealand, making Wood being the youngest while Boyd is the oldest of the four Hobbits. In fact, when Billy met Orlando Bloom at Heathrow they had a bottle of champange to celeberate his birthday and once they landed at New Zealand, due to the time zone differences, it was still Boyd's birthday so there was more champange for him.

[@beggon12]

Years of trees please!

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2iroXVqbMeerKc this one covers the trees :) But I have another one on my list for the far future ^^

[@guitarpop]

area =/= era

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

yes made this mistake a few times, don't know why

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

I think I say it wrong all the time it because the German (my native language) word is "Ära" (which sounds similar to "area") and I try to pronounce the English word similar. I just noticed I did the same mistake in a recent recording 😅

[@vidhribar4448]

no dislikes!! nice

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes one of my few videos ^^ But I don't care too much about it, as long as there aren't too many of them relative to the likes.

[@joshuawaring4180]

So what exactly did Bilbo do for money?

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

That's a very good question. Bilbo was a landlord (the Baggins family was one of the wealthiest families in the Shire). He probably rented out land to other Hobbits (or gave loans to others). For this he got taxes and interest, which was his income. In contrast Sam needed to work as a gardener for Bilbo and Frodo.

[@joshuawaring4180]

ThePhilosophersGames oh, I see

[@jasonrichards1117]

And what are the driving occupations in the shire? Agriculture I'm assuming, but what of those who had no land or cattle? The mill? How did most make their living? Buy food, clothing, etc. Hunter gatherers? Maybe it's a silly question, but I was wondering.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

I would also assume agriculture. The Shire had no big cities. They had some infrastructure and were quite advanced (country side of the Victorian England) compared to the rest. They had a mail man, "Sheriffs" who walked along the streets at night, they needed blacksmiths and other craftsman. They produced a lot of pipe-weed and exported that (even Saruman had some stashed in Isengard). So delivery of goods and managing trade was important too. You also must consider, that the Shire is an idealised part of the world (also an anachronism). It lives inside its own "bubble" and is intended to create a feeling of "home" for the reader. You could say it's like another world in side the world. Ofc it has history and is connected to the world, but it's a special place for the stories Tolkien wanted to tell.

[@mevb]

The Baggins family were rich to begin with. In fact, the first chapter of The Hobbit it is told that Bilbo's dad Bungo built Bag End, partly with her wife Belladonna Took's money (as the Tooks are described are even richer than the Baggins). Also, as you know in The Hobbit, Bilbo did get extra money from the treasure he got from his adventure (in the book, he got two small chest, one filled with silver and the other with gold, plus the tresure they found in The Troll Cave, in the movie it was just a treasure chest from the Trolls but probably Bilbo went back there in between the films, as he did make shorter trips in between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings book), even if he shared the treasures from the Trolls with Gandalf (he wanted to give all to Gandalf as he thought he didn't need the extra gold, but he suggest the hobbit that they should share, for the money could come in handy, which turned out to be correct as Bilbo got back and he was declared dead, not all buyers from the auction were happy to just give him back his belongings, so he bought them back to save time and hassle).

[@nabilriordon9436]

Nabil Riordon

[@vincedibona4687]

Nabil Riordan

[@ruthy08]

You're going way too hard on those rolled R's.

[@ThePhilosophersGames]

Yes I roll Rs a bit strong, maybe it comes from my language background, but that's how Tolkien described it. Not a tap, it's a trill in all positions of a word. I try to reduce it a bit to a tap at times though (if possible for me) as a little compromise. I also get a lot of comments who like the trilled R a lot.