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Newly Deceased
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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/wight.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: hobbit hole clearance
It's logical that Bag End, being one of the "better" hobbit holes would have higher ceilings.
But there are several other possibilities. At the time JRRT wrote I think that most rooms had higher ceilings that they do today, which is perhaps why he didn't consider it a stumbling block. I know when I used to rent vintage apartments, they always had very high ceilings, well over 9 feet.
That aside, even the ceilings in my present house are 9 feet -- which is about 4 feet taller than my 5'4" height. There's no reason to think that Frodo, at about 4 feet (remember he was described as being "taller than some"
wouldn't have 6-7 foot ceilings in Bag End. And Gandalf wasn't likely to have been much over 6 foot -- even before he became bent with age.
I think it's safe to say that the Bree hobbits as a general rule didn't have high enough ceilings to accomodate humans comfortably over an extended period of time. Remember, at the Prancing Pony they hobbits were unconcerned over the Southerners predictions of more men arriving from the south because they refugees couldn't move into hobbit holes.
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