The hobbit's simpler strength, i believe, is partly from their innocence. Bilbo is the only one left among them in the Shire that had known battle,and the history of ME was just a fireside story for most of them. When they saw the Nazgul in the SHire, the hobbits thought they were big and scary, and that they should not be caught by them, or something bad might happen. They did not know what they were. A man of Gondor might freeze in terror at the sight of one, knowing what they were, what they had done and what they represented. The hobbits in the fellowship eventually learned of this as well. The Shire folk only have the vaguest inkling of Mordor, and Gandalf is just a strange old man there, who happens to make neat fireworks.
I used to work in a theatre. during the end credits of a movie, when all of the guest were leaving, a kid jumped from the railing at the top of the stair where the seats were to the entrance area about 15-20 ft below. He just jumped back up and ran out laughing while I was picking my jaw up off the ground. He thought it was cool, but he could have gotten seriously hurt. I wasn't even able to speak until his friend (who took the stairs) went past me, and I just told him not to copy his friend of there would be trouble. I think this sums up the difference between hobbits and the rest of the people of ME quite nicely. The hobbits at first don't really believe they will get hurt- their only source of information is Bilbo, who makes it all sound quite fun. Perhaps that was a part of why Gandalf wanted the Shire to remain something of a fairy tale to the men of gondor and rohan- the shire contained an innocence that was rare to find anywhere but in very small children anywhere else in ME.
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