Hobbits and shoes

[Morsul the Dark]

Ok hobbits rarely wear shoes thats all well andgood but what happens in winter and it's all cold and stuff? I'm assuming they wear shoes then. and ore importantly did the hobbits of the fellowship have shoes...the Shire is nice and grassy not too many big rocks to worry about but you go on a long journey wouldn't you bring some shoes...and also in the mountains of caradrahs what did they do, walk barefoot in snow that reached nearly past there heads?

[Balroggie]

Well, I guess hobbits have really thick skin on their feet, and therefore they don't need shoes. If you have really thick skin under your feet, I guess that will keep away both cold and stones.

[the guy who be short]

1) Hairy feet.

2) Thick soles.

[Kath]

I was reading the Prologue bit of Fotr just yesterday and it said that Hobbit's very rarely wear shoes due to having very thick soles and a thick covering of hair like that on their heads. Now it seems unlikely that this would have developed due to living in the Shire as it is grassy and kind on the feet.

My theory is that these features developed during the time when they lived in harsher terrains. Therefore the members of the Fellowship would not need shoes as while they were not used to walking on rough or rocky land their feet still had these defences against it.

[the guy who be short]

Whilst Tolkien certainly was a genius, I sincerely doubt he traced the foot-evolution of hobbits...

In any case, grass has an annoying tendency to cover small sharp stones.

[Kath]

Whilst Tolkien certainly was a genius, I sincerely doubt he traced the foot-evolution of hobbits...
And why not? Since he bothered to mention them in the first place he must have had some reason and so must have thought about it. He put so much detail into the histories of the people he created, maybe even that.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Just think of animals - my dog walks 'barefoot' over stones, on snow in the winter and even on bits of glass occasionally, with no harm done. I think we can imagine Hobbit feet as being similarly resistant. I also remember reading about the adjustment of even modern feet to changed circumstances when someone spent time walking with aborigines in Australia.

[Selmo]

In our own world, a very large proportion of the human population have to go bare-foot in all conditions.
It might not be very comfortable sometimes, but they seem to cope, without the Hobbit genetic modification of hairy feet and thick soles.


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[davem]

Letter 27 (re The Hobbit):

There is in the text no mention of (Bilbo's) acquiring boots. There should be! It has dropped out somehow or other in the revisions - the bootings occurred at Rivendell; & he was again bootless after leaving Rivendell on the way home. But since furry feet are a feature of essential Hobbitness, he ought really to appear unbooted, except in special illustrations of episodes.

Of course, we have to be very careful not to automatically apply this to the Hobbits of the Legendarium :p

[Morsul the Dark]

Just think of animals - my dog walks 'barefoot' over stones, on snow in the winter and even on bits of glass occasionally, with no harm done. I think we can imagine Hobbit feet as being similarly resistant. I also remember reading about the adjustment of even modern feet to changed circumstances when someone spent time walking with aborigines in Australia.

actually i like this point the thought never really occured to me ok and then this bit

My theory is that these features developed during the time when they lived in harsher terrains. Therefore the members of the Fellowship would not need shoes as while they were not used to walking on rough or rocky land their feet still had these defences against it

Got ya' excellent points both things i didn't think about thank you

[Elianna]

I still think you've gotta wonder about tramping up Caradhras. Okay sure, the hair on their feet keeps them warm because it's as thick as the stuff on their heads, but what happens when the foot-hairs get wet? Wouldn't that make things even worse for them?

[Morsul the Dark]

indeed it would actually...also if we are to believe they went through all that withought shoes....would pippin and merry get shoes to go along with their armor? I mean It would be kind of silly for someone to charge at you all armorred and barefoot?

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Some people just prefer to go barefoot! My husband for one, grew up mostly barefoot and has developed soles like leather in his very own lifetime. I certainal ly don't think that sort of thing takes any special sort of evolution! :D But though he is far from immune from the cold, (hairy feet and all!) , he will still go out in the snow without any shoes. My point is that if I thought of him going of on a journey with Frodo, I would have no trouble at all seeing him go off without shoes, or perhaps strung over his shoulder.

And I believe that that was part of the trouble at Caradhras. Even a typical dog's paws would have froze up there, though perhaps not a sled dog's. I would imagine they might have tried to wrap their feet at some point, but it would not have helped. All that I can think of is that maybe a hobbit's foot hair has some sort of undercoat. As for going to battle, I see no reason why they should not have worn footwear.

[Frodo Baggins]

No There is no mention of Bilbo having shoes in The Hobbit but consider this. My copy of the story is illustrated by the author and in several of the watercolours or whatever they are, our dear hobbit defenitely has something on his feet that look quite shoe-like!

[Rumil]

It appears from certain unpublished memoirs that the wearing of shoes amongst hobbits may be regarded as (Ahem!) 'exotic' or some such (Ahem!). For those who wish to know more, and possess a strong constitution, may I recommend the following link.....

hobbit expose (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=5175&highlight=shoes)

[Lalwendë]

I hate wearing shoes. I take the chance to walk around barefoot whenever possible, even in winter, and I will go down the road to the car or out to the bin with no shoes on, even in winter. There's a point of coldness you get to where you just don't notice it any longer, and if you walk around barefoot long enough, there are a lot of things that don't hurt if you walk on them, e.g. sharp, pointy gravel, like I have in my garden. :eek:

It's only relatively recently that people tend to own shoes; if you'd gone to Liverpool in the 1930s you'd have been hard pressed to find a kid with shoes (according to my mother ;) ). And as has already been pointed out, shoes are still not common to all nationalities.