What ain't there and ought to be.
One of the primary drawing points of LotR is the setting: Middle Earth itself. Not least, the Shire and all the things that make it what it is.
But I recently noticed that some things are missing from the Shire that ought to be there if it's to be a viable community. It's not as if the things are actually absent from the Shire; they couldn't possibly be. The thing is, Tolkien didn't include them in any description.
One thing that ain't in the Shire and ought to be is grave yards. There are hobbit holes, lanes, gardens, a museum even, and of course lots of inns; there are mills and towers and trees and party fields and pipeweed; but no grave yards.
There are barrows in Rohan and spread across the landscape of Eriador. There is a tomb in the heart of Erebor. There is Rath Dínen in Minas Tirith. But in the Shire there is no grave yard, no tombstone; the closest we come to such a thing is the memorial to the Battle of Bywater.
What's going on then? Is Tolkien being unrealistic? Are there truly no cemeteries in the Shire? That can't be, because we have deaths listed in the family trees of Appendix C. So obviously there are graveyards in the Shire - we just never come across one.
Why not?
What else ain't there and ought to be?
-LMP
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