|
Legate, I wonder whether you've read "Making History" by Stephen Fry. If not, you might enjoy it - it supports your argument about Castamir beautifully. It's about somebody going back in time to kill Hitler before he gained power (or even prevent him being born - I'm not sure about the details), but when he returns to the present he finds that one of Hitler's WWI buddies has taken the Fuehrer's place and made everything much worse - IIRC by actually winning WWII...
Back to Middle-earth. I'm not so sure about the Hobbits always having been a peaceful people. Didn't they send archers to help King Arvedui against Angmar? Didn't Bandobras Took invent golf by beheading an Orc leader in battle? They had proven their ability to defend themselves fighting before the Scouring, although they were somewhat out of practice and needed some stirring to remember.
If taking care of Saruman and his ruffians was anybody's responsibility apart from the Hobbits themselves, I'd say it was King Elessar's rather than Gandalf's - the Shire being a province of his Reunited Kingdom, etcetera. Isn't it a king's job to keep peace and order in his kingdom? Of course he couldn't be bothered at the time, being busy in Gondor, even if he'd known what was going on in the north, but I see Merry and Pippin sort of acting as his unappointed deputies in organizing the Hobbit resistance. ("You are speaking to a friend of the King" - either M or P to one of the ruffians; and Pip was wearing the livery of the Tower of the Guard, so it was probably him.)
|