Thread: Can o' worms...
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Old 11-28-2010, 05:12 PM   #2
Inziladun
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"Can o' worms" indeed.

To play devil's advocate, I don't know that the Harfoots, though "browner" than the Stoors or Fallohides, were as dark as Middle-Easterners or South Americans in our world.

Sam Gamgee was almost certainly a Harfoot, and we have this quote about his skin colour:

Quote:
In [Sam's] lap lay Frodo's head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam's brown hands.
TTT The Stairs of Cirith Ungol

One might be tempted to explain Sam's darker skin as a result of his outdoor gardening work, but by the time of Cirith Ungol he and Frodo had been sharing exactly the same experiences regarding environment for months, and Frodo was "white".

I don't see the Harfoots as being very "darK' or what would be as notably so to another Hobbit as one of the Haradrim, for example, might appear.

Being very pale-complected myself, there are a lot of "Anglo" and European Caucasians who have darker skin than I, even though from a racial standpoint we are similar. So, though the Harfoots were "darker" as a rule than other Hobbits, I think it likely they were not as dark-skinned as someone from South Gondor or the Harad; only "dark" compared to other Hobbits.

As for some more diversity among the Gondorians, I see no reason that couldn't have been shown. I agree that they would have had darker skin than the Dúnedain of Arnor, or the Rohirrim. Also, not being a fan of the movies I don't recall for certain, but wasn't there a scene outside the Morannon in which some of the Haradrim almost caught Frodo, Sam, and Gollum? I seem to remember the Haradrim soldiers in question looking much lighter than they reasonably should have.
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