[Child of the 7th Age]

Tarthang & Nufacial -- Yes, I remember this reference from the early pages of the Hobbit, and I think, without too much of a stretch, the "fairy" could be interpreted as an "elf". It's the sort of thing Hobbit neighbors might say who could sense something different, but didn't have any knowledge about who the Elves actually were. Could this ancestor be a wood elf descended from one of the Avari? (wild guessing)

When Tolkien initially wrote the Hobbit, it was kind of a child's "fairy tale". The Lord of the Rings was presented more as "legend", and the Silm as "myth". So it isn't surprising that an elf might get transformed into a child's "fairy" in that context.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Annotated Hobbit to see if this reference about a "fairy" marriage was in the original 1937 draft or was added later. It's quite interesting because the fairy reference was there in 1937, but he changed the wording slightly in 1966.

1937--"It had always been said long ago one or other of the Tooks had married into a fairy family (the less friendly said a goblin family); certainly there was something not entirely hobbitlike about them."

1966A -It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of course, absurd, but certainly there was something not entirely hobbitlike about them."

It's interesting that the earliest reference was to "fairy" and "goblin" which in the context of the later writings could be interpreted as fairy and orc. I am tempted to think Tolkien removed goblin because of the extremely negative depiction of orcs which evolved in the LOTR, much more bleak than the goblins depicted in the early pages of the Hobbit. But, despite this revision, he did leave in the fairy reference.

Nufacial -- I wanted to say how much I have enjoyed your ideas, knowledge and postings on many threads, and it's nice to see that there is someone in Houston who has this interest.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit