The History of the Shire | Tolkien Explained

[@NerdoftheRings]

I just want to pause today to say a huge THANK YOU to all who have made this channel what it is today by watching and supporting Nerd of the Rings. It has grown beyond my wildest dreams and I feel we are just getting started. I have some really fun and big things planned for the future of this channel and can't wait to share them with you. This fandom truly is the greatest in the world. Looking forward to many more days of sharing our love of Tolkien together!

[@mattrigby1871]

Thanks for your amazing content! Have you heard the Middle Earth symphonies by Johan de Meij? His first one describes the events of the Lord of the Rings, and his second one describes certain events of the Silmarillion. If you’re into that kind of thing I’d recommend it!

[@roddo1955]

Thank you for your enthusiasm and hard work. Your channel is either a nice bonus to a good day or like a little vial of Galadriel when my head gets gloomy.

[@Bismo]

❤

[@Katharina_Lieblich]

Thank YOU Matt! I owe you so much for instilling me with a love (and knowledge) of Tolkien and Middle Earth.

[@Sephiroth144]

And thank YOU for bringing putting together these videos that help explain some of the thick mythology of Middle Earth... Also, to be *that guy*, I did have a requested video: Morgoth- what WAS his plan. Sure, he wanted to sing a different way, to bring about a different Middle Earth than Eru planned (or was also part of the plan, whatever), but, like, how? Morgoth wanted it different, but in WHAT WAY?

[@AMcGrath82]

11:01 This cannot be overstated: Aragorn was so dedicated to being a good ruler that he refused to enter the Shire, because technically Men were no longer allowed to enter by his decree. Today, lots of modern folk would be surprised by such action, since most modern leaders are more than liable to make exceptions for themselves. But not Aragorn. He *obeyed* his own laws, even when it inconvenienced him, *because he chose to serve by example.* It's something oft overlooked this day and age, but it's absolutely the kind of leadership this world sorely needs.

[@DJefferson89]

Well said!

[@MarvinT0606]

Aragorn and the Dunedain have been protecting the place for so long they know the rules already, so it's less trouble for him to leave the Shire as it is rather than barge in and impose his own set of rules.

[@tygrenvoltaris4782]

Laws and oaths are sacred on tolkiens world. Whether they are for good or not, every being will try to fulfill it like the silmarils for example

[@KororaPenguin]

Then a crisis hits the Shire; and the Thain, the Mayor of the Shire, the Master of Buckland, and Eldarion have to invent the visa.

[@davideberhardt6150]

People who still claim that Sauron's defeat was cheating and the rule of Middle Earth was stolen from him would call Elessar weak and worse for these acts of utmost decency & integrity.

[@omarchodhry8139]

I always get teary eyed when I hear my favorite Hobbits are old and they pass on the land to their kids. It makes me realize my own mortality and how blessed I am to be alive.

[@joshfulmer3689]

Right there with ya

[@ilovemuslimfood666]

You forgot to mention how Bullroarer Took lopped Golfimbul’s head clean off with one stroke of a club, causing it to roll down a nearby gopher hole, inadvertently inventing the game of “golf”. ⛳️

[@Metal_Machine18]

Also he was so large he could ride a horse. Well he could! Lol 😄

[@thecfam05]

Most underrated comment 😂😂

[@philliphislaw073]

Was just about to mention that

[@HrothlorienGaming]

A rabbit hole.... 😒🙄🤡

[@starscream71288]

I do believe you made that up...

[@nooneinparticular5273]

Man, I love Hobbit names. Like, Elf names are all flowy and fancy, human names typically feel regal, dwarf names are short and abrupt, then there's hobbits like "Hello there, my name is Flubbyflam Flimbydoo."

[@leandromiguel4481]

Can you do the history of the Barrow Wights , i would love to learn more about them :)

[@traviscummings9178]

Might make a great Halloween episode

[@midimusicforever]

I second this request! And please cover the barrow downs together with them!

[@tonjegunasekera4961]

Seconded. A barrow wights history episode would be fab.

[@jc3777]

yes! been waiting for that one. I've literally done searches on this channel to find out more about them wight folk!

[@dantoven]

He did it!

[@michaelbean8404]

I can't help but shed a tear every time. When Frodo breaks the four, then again, when Sam leaves at least to rejoin Frodo. Then, the other two depart to spend out their days in Gondor. I wish they had gotten together again. I kniw it's more like real life but this isn't real life.

[@kyleanderson2949]

you and me both. it reminds me of how my buddies and I all spread out after college. We still get together, but it is nowhere near often enough. I wish the Hobbits could have given us a better example here :)

[@georgioskal8984]

Future idea: During these festive days, we would also like to learn about the festivals, ceremonies and so on people of Middle Earth used to do.

[@Omnilatent]

This would also finally make me participate in them in Lord of the Rings Online 😅😂

[@CybershamanX]

(4:29) It just now dawned on me that the Brandybucks got the first part of their name after they crossed of the Brandywine (formerly, Baranduin) river. It was RIGHT THERE in front of me the whole time. And I had the sheer audacity to call myself a Tolkien nerd. Sheesh! 🤦‍♂️🤪

[@WasabiSniffer]

Another small detail with a surprising amount of thought, quietly waiting for someone to notice. So much thought in Tolkien’s works

[@simonster-9094]

It also took me a fat minute to realize "Brandywine" is a corruption of "Baranduin". If fact it wasn't until I read the appendices that I noticed that.

[@CybershamanX]

@simonster-9094 Isn't it great to keep finding new things in Tolkien’s writings? 😃 I _think_ Tolkien also mentions the Baranduin to Brandywine evolution in a footnote in the forward to Fellowship, but I'll have to check to be sure. At any rate, it's still so much fun to find new things as time goes on! 😎

[@colinleat8309]

I immediately fell in love with the Shire the first time I read the Fellowship. I'd love to visit all the realms of the various ages (except Mordor etc) , but would call the Shire home. Great work everyone! Lots of ❤️ 🤘😁🖖

[@doigt6590]

even mordor would probably be a breath taking sight. Assuming you can visit it without orcs attacking you, in which case the breath taking becomes literal.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

The land is arable to the southeast along the Sea of Nurnen, it may be the land down there has some sort of melancholy beauty

[@paulrhome6164]

If it wasn't for the events of the War of the Ring, the Shire was on the verge of becoming a significant power on it's own right, economically. They had created and cornered the market on pipe weed, and their addictive product was slowly spreading. Bree was growing as a center of distribution, but the innovation had not spread far from depopulated Eriador. Theoden asked if hobbits breathed fire when he first met them because he never seen a pipe before. The hobbits going west of the mountains and spreading their "culture" was likely to open up floodgates of new markets, but this would probably have happened in the fullness of time anyway.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

On Tolkien's maps, the Shire is located at about the same position as England is on modern European maps and has been cited as an example of Deep England ideology (though, of course, England is on an island while the Shire is inside the continent). Throughout the narrative, Tolkien also implies numerous points of similarity between the two, such as weather, agriculture and dialect. One can also see England as Tolkien's source of inspiration for the Shire in its very name.

[@bobo577]

I think specifically Hobbiton is meant to be Oxfordshire if I am not mistaken. That and also Tolkien mentions the land masses changing so technically according to the Legendarium, The British Isles are the surviving remnants of Eriador. Very weird to think about.

[@DonGondul]

The land of Eng.

[@MephyFaust]

​@@bobo577even weirder when you realise "British Isles" is not an accepted or valid term, and neither Britain nor Ireland use it as per the peace agreement between our nations and official use of the term is discouraged. Ireland is not a British island, please keep up 😊

[@aarondingley3437]

@@MephyFaustGet over it lol

[@connor4444]

I'm not even that large of a Tolkien fan, but your production quality is so impressive it feels like listening to a professionally backed audiobook. I would listen to any lore you read and acted aloud.

[@JessWLStuart]

I would love to hear Tolkien's notes on the Shire on this channel! I understood the Shire, to Tolkien, represented the region of Tolkien's youth, before industrialization.

[@khublaklonk4480]

Indeed it was, though not "before" industrialisation, rather in the shadow of it. I was born, bred and still live in the nearby Black Country, the inspiration for Mordor. I suppose that makes me an Orc, though we're usually called yam-yams.

[@Katharina_Lieblich]

A Merry (and Pippin) Christmas and all the best for 2023, Matt! Your love of Tolkien is totally infectious and I am now a whole-hearted fan thanks to you. :) Here's to 1 million subscribers and more Tolkien-tastic videos in the new year! 🍻

[@ryanmcwilliams8784]

Your comment made me think of a merry and pippin Christmas album and how amazing that would be. A very hobbit Christmas

[@Katharina_Lieblich]

@@ryanmcwilliams8784 I love that idea!

[@michaelgraham7316]

I read The Hobbit and the Lord Of The Rings in the 1970s and was hooked. I want to thank you for your vision of Tolkien's books. I am now seeing his stories in a new light. Merry Christmas and thank you for your videos.

[@PLuMUK54]

I know how the Hobbits must have felt with "Sharkey's" destruction of the Shire. I live not far from the HS2 construction (a high speed rail line) in North Warwickshire, and whenever I see the destruction of woodlands and buildings that I have known for years, it breaks my heart. When I drive through the area, I feel that I am in Tolkien's story. The irony is that Warwickshire is one of the influences on Tolkien, and Sam has a distinct Warwickshire accent. Where are you, Sam? We need you!

[@Jonathan-io2qk]

It makes me sad. Just like when the govt proposed a tunnel under the bypass by stonehenge.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

What’s worse is that it was all destroyed within a matter of only a few months.

[@AndrewCarlisle11B]

The Shire has quite the history and many reasons to celebrate at the green dragon!

[@jenniferrivera5828]

Merry Christmas! Thanks for your videos about Middle-Earth and its inhabitants. They make me appreciate Tolkien's work more than I already do!

[@taylorhirthmusic]

I just want to thank you for all that you do! Spending the holidays alone this year and videos like this bring me much joy and comfort :) I appreciate your dedication to the World of Tolkien we all know and cherish! Aloha, from Hawaii.

[@andiepotter9024]

Thank YOU for explaining everything so detailed and with dedication. Love watching your channel for deeper understanding while reading my Tolkien books 📖❤️

[@andrewthomas891]

The Love that goes into your Artwork is evident! As does the Love of your featured Artists! Thank you for these awesome videos! Love from Coach Drew and his rescue Muttsos who love binging on Nerd of the Rings!

[@cDub2707]

I don’t usually comment hardly ever. But I can’t help but say thank you for all of these videos & the unboxing’s. I’m 24 and I grew up on the books & movies & love them dearly. So thank you thank you. I’ll come to these & just hearing the names of places and their names and everything brings me back. Great feeling. ❤️

[@Beryllahawk]

I've read before that the Shire encompassed everything Tolkein loved about England's countryside. Certainly it's always seemed like the perfect place for folks like me, haha... I'd rather have second breakfast than a wild adventure, most of the time. Great video!

[@EricD_]

Excellent. The harsh winters lore was new to me.

[@TheFictiveAstronaut]

I was always curious about the history of the beautiful and tranquil Shire, so thank you. Love the content!

[@annegirard3697]

How lovely!!! Merry Christmas and joyous holiday season to all!! 🖤🖤🌲🌲

[@KostasTsilipakos]

Merry and Pippin Christmas to you all Tolkien fans! Thanks for the video!

[@concernednerd5706]

I'm so happy that Aragorn didn't forget about his Hobbit friends after the War of the Ring and is shown to help the Shire and its people during the 4th age.

[@emilyelizabethbuchanan998]

Not only that, but he kept the name "Strider" that the hobbits would know him by, as a surname for his royal house ever afterwards, though his people used the Quenya version "Telcontar". Furthermore, in others of Tolkien's writings, it says that, as the last two of the four "great hobbits" remaining in Middle Earth, the aging Merry and Pippin are given a special honor by Aragorn after their deaths. They are buried ceremonially, as Gondorian 'princes', in Rath Dínen, the same hallowed burial place that Pippin and Beregond saved Faramir's life in years before. After Aragorn dies many decades later, the two hobbits' sarcophagi are relocated to lie either side of his; I like to think this was either an express command of Aragorn's before his death, or a command of Arwen's, so that Strider and at least two of his four dear little friends could stay together for all time. It's very sweet to think that, when men go to the tombs, they see not only the tombs of the great Kings and Stewards of Men, and the grave of the mighty King Aragorn Elessar of the House of Telcontar. They also see, prominently displayed, the tombs of Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, Great Historian, Esquire of Rohan, Co-Slayer of the Witch King, and Master of Buckland: and Peregrin "Pippin" Took Troll's-Bane, Thain of the Shire, "Prince" of the Halflings, and Savior of Prince Faramir of Ithilien. Both Hobbits also would likely have the equally illustrious titles "Ent-Friends", "Elf-Friends", and "Dwarf-Friends", as well as the titles "Companions of the Ringbearer" and/or "Blood Kin of the Ringbearer". It would be a reminder to all Gondorian and Arnorian royalty, forever after, to hold the Shire inhabitants in high honor as their fathers had done, and to treat the Shire and its domains well for the sake of Elessar's companions. Which is exactly what Aragorn would have wanted for them.

[@jarnovanderlaan9002]

@@emilyelizabethbuchanan998jeez, u love Tolkiens work, don’t you???

[@KororaPenguin]

I theorize that when a crisis hit the Shire that the Hobbits couldn't cope with, Eldarion worked with Shire officials to invent the visa.

[@sarahsophia9625]

Thank you for the amazing video, I got teary-eyed at the end with the final fate of all our favourite heroes 😭❤️

[@celtictara29]

Merry christmas! Thanks for the gift of all the tolkien knowledge!

[@andrewthomas891]

another awesome episode! Well met indeed!

[@kevinsamons6604]

I really love listening too you @Need of The Rings. Makes falling asleep really well and relaxing

[@murphy6971]

I have missed a few episodes so I know what I’m going to binge while I cross stitch my Lonely Mountain bookmark today 😂

[@MartieD]

I would like to see a video on the Bree hobbits. Their mentality must hsve been very different, considering they have to deal with big folk and dwarves, and not much is made to their scale there.

[@valentinkambushev4968]

Happy Christmas and Yuletide to everybody!

[@daveowens271]

This is an excellent synopsis of the history of our favorite Tolkien realm, The Shire. I actually learned a thing or two! Very well done!

[@comesahorseman]

Well done, and Merry Christmas/Yuletide to everyone! 🎄

[@dlxmarks]

2:20 Relatively small to other realms but still sizeable. The Shire is bigger than 19 European countries and 9 US states.

[@nathanwesche]

I LOVED this video! Good work, and Merry Christmas, Matt!

[@A_J502]

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world"

[@bukworm2k4]

This was a Christmas treat! Thank you

[@mckenlyoneal143]

I had the opportunity to visit the shire for the fist time a few days ago! It was AMAZING!! Highly recommend going if you can!!!

[@shehansenanayaka3046]

Brilliant video. We always appreciate your hard work and dedication towards these videos. Love and appreciation from Sri Lankan fan of you from Sri Lanka.

[@jaysgamingcorner8539]

Another fantastic video, merry Christmas! Keep up the awesome work.

[@nelsonbushcraft964]

I think my favorite hobbit Has got to be Bilbo Baggins because of his change throughout the story and I think Frodo is also one of my favorites I enjoy the main characters mainly.

[@neilbakshi7365]

I was fascinated when I first learned that Sarn Ford was the site of the biggest battle in the War of the Elves and Sauron. The land of the Shire has a history that goes back much further than the beginning of the Third Age. Would be interested in a video on that!

[@erikbender1967]

Beautiful! Merry Christmas Matt! Hope you have a peaceful holiday with your family!

[@hazbojangles2681]

The video quality is stunning Matt!

[@jamesbelshan8839]

6:35 Can't claim to have studied it enough to be a nerd, but always liked LOTR. So my observation may be on the obvious side. But I liked the mention of the hobbits' capacity for pity saving themselves from hard times, years before Bilbo's pity for Gollum contributed to saving everyone.

[@timtauber5557]

This was a great video and heart warming. Much love.

[@daftgowk1]

Great videos dude, i have read all the books etc but i still learn something every video. Thanks so much

[@DarthRevan474]

I especially appreciated this episode. Thanks!

[@metalsharxs]

Tolkien's level of detail about various battles (i.e. number of combatants and casualties, etc.) lends an air of realism which makes his stories truly come to life. He also wove in a sense of humor such as his reference to the origins for the game of golf. A video about some of his "origin" stories like this might be good down the road if you have not done one yet.

[@BrettWMcCoy]

Well done and have a Merry Yule!

[@JeffinBville]

That was really well done. Thank you!

[@WasabiSniffer]

Oh the shire, a quiet farming community, with its lush gardens, breweries, gentle breezes and the occasional birthday party.

[@JonasSpangberg]

Love that detailed map!

[@luudest]

Off topic: The Fellowship of the Ring left Rivendell on the 25th of December. Merry Christmas to all!

[@bighand1530]

Neat.

[@DJefferson89]

This was one of my favourite videos you’ve done. Hantanyë lyen

[@therra1101]

The history of Arnor would make for a great series. I also want to know more about Arnor when Aragorn was king. I want to see him meet with the hobbits. And Barleyman Butterbur! Remember his reaction when they told him the new king is the shabby mysterious ranger?

[@mmiller73]

Great review but I would have liked to hear about how the Shire was inspired by Tolkien’s boyhood home in the English countryside.

[@adventurerready3114]

A masterpiece, once again. Congratulations!

[@madamastersgaming]

If there is enough information, I would love to learn about how everyday life was like among the common folk within the Shire, Orcish hordes, and the Elvish realms hidden in the woods and rivers

[@colormetakenaback]

One grain each of Lorien soil? Dannnng! That's some concentrated fertilizer. I appreciate that, as a gardener 😂

[@phazoneatermetroid77]

Golfinbull's head is the reason golf is called that! Amazing

[@Mantaur104]

Even more amazing: Brandobras decapitated Golfimbul with a club. A. Blunt. Club.

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

Several years ago now I moved to rural southern Ireland. I know this is not the land Tolkien was writing about, but when we crested the hill rolling farmlands spilled in front of the car, and on RTE Lyric FM came the Shire theme from the movies while the golden sun fell on the green fields surrounded by their hedgerows, some with sleepy black and white cows wandering... Many tidy bungalows with neat gardens and wooden fencing... Wish I could send a picture. It was the Shire.

[@christianedwards9025]

It wasn’t the shire, it was YOUR shire. ;-)

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

@@christianedwards9025 It was pretty close! :)

[@christianedwards9025]

@@charlotteinnocent8752 Mines involves mountains, they're my favorite type of terrain. And thick forests.

[@diehardice2905]

Great video!! Could you do a video on the history of erebor pls

[@annaroselarsen4218]

Merry Christmas!

[@stevehoffman9735]

Very well done, thank you.

[@teleportedbreadfor3days]

The Shire: A simple green land of good food, warm hearth, and all the comforts of home, standing even beyond the tests of time itself.

[@Hero_Of_Old]

Some beautiful art on this one

[@bighand1530]

Merry Christmas!! And Thank for this upload!

[@evanairnomad4361]

Such a beautiful place.

[@WhoIsCalli]

Very beautiful, thanks Matt

[@hazbojangles2681]

A perfect Christmas present ❤

[@taylorhirthmusic]

I thought the same thing..it's comforting!

[@ariaxrose1]

Ooo I’m excited for this 😊 I could be extremely wrong but wasn’t it partly inspired by Yorkshire? (I think I’m wrong)

[@fingersTitan]

I thought it was Lancashire.... being in the north-west like The Shire.. Where I am. I live in the bounds of Rivington. It's got a beacon and it's part of The Pennine Way with a series of beacons.. Just like Rohan to Gondor.

[@PLuMUK54]

Tolkien's inspiration was Warwickshire, specifically parts that are now Birmingham, eg Sarehole Mill was the mill owned by the Sandyman family. The Two Towers are near where he lived as a child. Isenguard was based on Birmingham University. Mordor was influenced by the Black Country. The Old Forest of Tom Bombadil is based on Mosely Bog. To those who know the old Warwickshire accent, it's so obvious in the way both Sam and the Gaffer speak. Even the name Gamgee has a Birmingham link, it was, in Tolkien's time, a colloquial term for cotton-wool, the word coming from a surgical dressing invented by Dr Sampson Gamgee of Birmingham.

[@Eric-cj8sb]

This is the content I subscribed for. Still foaming at the mouth for that Tour of Middle Earth during the third Age. This video would be a good lead up to it. IMO the ROP videos can stop all together. They broke the cannon way too hard.

[@banditolobster]

I love your videos and the exhaustive amount of detail in them, but often find myself getting lost amidst of all of the names and dates that get mentioned. A suggestion for a possible improvement would be a static timeline across the bottom with possible markers for some major events of middle earth. Then as the video progresses the marker could be moved as the events in the video progress. I'm sure this wouldn't work for all of the various subject matter that gets covered but for the historical videos it could provide some context as to when in the overall history of middle earth the events being discussed are taking place.

[@andreaharwood-jones7503]

Fantastic as always!

[@Sillinesscanada]

Just the video I was looking for, merry xmas

[@Israwwwr]

Just wanted to say thank you for a great year of videos, I look forward to every Saturday to the release

[@mrc4912]

Harfoots, Stoors and Fallowhides, each with different characteristics. The Tooks were an adventurous lineage of Hobbits which is why Gandalf chose Bilbo, who was the son of Belladonna Took, for the first adventure in the Misty Mountains. My favorite characters in the Hobbit were Tom Bombadil and Beorn, who could have separate adventure movies produced on their adventures with Bilbo and the Dwarves.

[@FPRich]

Great video as always. Happy Christmas 🎄

[@johndododoe1411]

Shire events should use the shire calendar which stars some time in the 3rd age (TA) and doesn't reset in the 4th age.

[@nsowen01]

Enjoyed the video, though you left out my favorite tid-bit: “He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.” - The Hobbit So golf is cannon. Anyways, always love the shows and not meant as an attack. Thanks!

[@haggard_hermit]

I mean the shire mostly kept out of trouble. This was in part because of the ceaseless protection of the rangers, but people sort of forgot they existed, even though the ancient great road went right through them. They didn’t really have to deal with that much; there was the great plague of TA1636, the battle of greenfields, the long winter, the fell winter, and the crap with Saruman. They had a plague, a battle, two winters and a jerk over the course of thousands of years, I would say they were doing good. 😂

[@AdDewaard-hu3xk]

Neutrality.

[@ephrimvael]

Please consider putting a few breathers/pauses in between passages; giving the listener the odd break to process important information. Breaking up the voice-over, rather than rapid fire, makes it feel more natural and conversational. Nevertheless, I highly recommend your channel to many of my friends. Thanks!

[@lekkereffesnel]

I would love to learn more or theory craft what happened to Frodo, Gandalf and Bilbo once they arrived from their sea journey

[@Cadence733]

1:46 it's cool to think that the Witch King had been the one who destroyed Weather Top and then goes there again to try and steal the ring from Frodo.

[@Azzyos]

Interesting story and lesson

[@gerritvandenbosch4681]

This is one of the most touching videos! Hobbits are pretty cool.

[@thebrowneyesofmandalore]

Can you make a fanfiction video of What if Tuor and Turin had crossed paths and met each other by the Pools of Ivrin? Like how events from that moment on been different. Would they have journeyed together or things like like. Thank you!

[@Mr.Isquierdo]

The fact that Hobbits really did exist is wonderful

[@anthonychavez1583]

Merry Christmas

[@dsb227]

Great video!

[@MMOsForLife]

This was superb!

[@TheMaulex]

nice cloud effect

[@raddadchris]

Thanks so much for this video.

[@070M]

Happy holidays and remember, the finest beer Is from the Green Dragon from the shire