It's blindingly obvious that Elves were highly flammable, with their pointy ears, crafted by Eru in the shape of... the Tobacco leaf! Longbottom Leaf? A plant? Pull the other one. Why were all those Elves going into the Woody End never to be seen again? Bit mysterious eh?
Those poor Elves, born to be eternally flammable. They lived innocently enough for many years until the Hobbits cottoned on to the movements of the Firstborn through The Shire and decided to up sticks and move there to tap into this resource. That's why Brandy Hall was such a teeming, complex smial. The Hobbits were harvesting Elves and keeping them deep within the hills in their curing rooms. And that also explains the burnt clearing in the Old Forest; it was an attempt by Hobbits to do some outdoor Elf curing, until all the smoke caused suspicions.
__________________
Gordon's alive!
|