[Morwen]

It's exactly this dichotomy that a request by the Valar would diffuse. And such a request would not be just an "afterthought". Beren and Luthien, anyone?

(a) If the Valar are asking Eru to create a new race in response to certain events that they see unfolding in Middle Earth then such a request and the race it produces are afterthoughts.

On the contrary, having Hobbits just 'pop up' in the middle of the Third Age is just an afterthought.

(b) I have never said that Hobbits just 'pop up' in the middle of the Third Age. In post #13 I in fact note that though hobbits first appear in records in the Third Age that does not mean that they originated at that point.

What I have argued is (a) that Eru creates Hobbits and (b) I don't believe, for the reasons I have stated, that the Valar had anything to do with such creation.

If they are important enough to have such an impact on the Third Age built in to their very origin, then they would merit mention at least as much scrutiny as Men, who in the end are mostly cannon fodder for Elves and Big Bad Guys.

Strictly speaking, hobbits as a race do not have an impact on the Third Age. There are 5 hobbit individuals (well, six if you count Gollum) who do in fact play an important part in the events of that Age.



As for wishing that it was "done better", by which I take you to mean the story of origin of hobbits, perhaps Tolkien simply thought that it was the contribution made by his main hobbit characters that deserved attention and not the minute details of their ancestry.