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Originally Posted by Aiwendil
Such things as charts, tables, maps, and schematics have a way of attracting me, and I have been fascinated by these family trees for about as long as I can remember. I seem to recall spending a good deal of my childhood staring at them, working out the relationship between this hobbit and that, figuring out how old various Bagginses, Tooks, Brandybucks, and Gamgees lived to be, counting Sam's children, and the like. Actually, now that I think about it, it was probably these family trees that sparked an interest in my own genealogy.
Tolkien seems to have very much enjoyed working out not just the big events in his Legendarium, but the minutiae as well, and I think I can understand why. I tend to enjoy these family trees, along with the maps, the lists of kings, and so forth, in much the same way I enjoy reading an almanac or an atlas. There seems to be something enjoyable about mere facts, mere data, when real or at least realistic.
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I agree that Tolkien definitely loved working out factual tidbits for his world. And, like you, I've picked it up by association with his works (although some predisposition in that direction predates my first reading of
The Hobbit probably didn't hurt). I love maps, tales of the years, charts, and geneologies.
Blame it all on Tolkien, if you like, especially the Appendices and Maps of the
Lord of the Rings...
As regards this particular Appendix, I find it a fun one to browse, since I am, on one side of my family, rather interrelated with my relatives. I can easily see myself in Frodo, regarding his familial ties to the Tooks and Brandybucks. Though my ancestors on the one side are not Fallohides, but simply German-Russian farmers, the interrelated "family" is a very similiar concept.
And the differences between the two sides of family can even be compared to the Baggins vs. Took (and Brandybuck) differences.
So, the facetious question must be asked, is the
Lord of the Rings an allegory of my family? Is Frodo intended to be me?
