A family murder in Great Smials? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Faramir Jones · 07-12-2012, 03:39 AM

While Tolkien presented the Shire as a more idealised version of a village in the English Midlands c.1897, he cleverly did not present it as some kind of utopia. Apart from the insularity of the vast majority of hobbits, whom Fordo in an exasperated moment thought were 'too stupid for words', we have the family feud between Bilbo and his Sackville-Baggins cousins, which carried on across decades and generations.

But there is something else that I found particularly revealing about Tolkien's portrayal of the Shire in this way: Letter 214 of his Letters, where he hinted at the possible murder of a very prominent member of the Took family by one of her own relatives. The member was 'Lalia [Took] the Great (or less courteously the Fat)':

Fortinbras II, one time head of the Tooks and Thain, married Lalia of the Clayhangers in 1314, when he was 35 and she was 31. He died in 1380 at the age of 102, but she long outlived him, coming to an unfortunate end in 1402 at the age of 119. So she ruled the Tooks and Great Smials for 22 years, a great and memorable, if not universally beloved, 'matriarch'. She was not at the famous Party (SY 1401), but was prevented from attending rather by her great size and immobility than by her age. Her son, Ferumbras, had no wife, being unable (it was alleged) to find anyone willing to occupy apartments in the Great Smials under the rule of Lalia. Lalia, in her last and fattest years, had the custom of being wheeled to the Great Door, to take the air on a fine morning. In the spring of SY 1402 her clumsy attendant let the heavy chair run over the threshold and tipped Lalia down the flight of steps into the garden. So ended a reign and life that might have rivalled that of the Great Took.

It was widely rumoured that the attendant was Pearl (Pippin's sister), though the Tooks tried to keep the matter within the family. At the celebration of Ferumbras' accession the displeasure and regret of the family was formally expressed by the exclusion of Pearl from the ceremony and feast; but it did not escape notice that later (after a decent interval) she appeared in a splendid necklace of her name-jewels that had long lain in the hoard of the Thains. (Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien, (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), pp. 294-5)

If Pearl was indeed negligent, and Lalia's death was a tragic accident, why was she seemingly rewarded?

If her actions were deliberate, was she alone responsible, or were other family members involved in the plot?

07-12-2012, 03:39 AM	#1
Faramir Jones Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Lonely Isle Posts: 706	A family murder in Great Smials? While Tolkien presented the Shire as a more idealised version of a village in the English Midlands c.1897, he cleverly did not present it as some kind of utopia. Apart from the insularity of the vast majority of hobbits, whom Fordo in an exasperated moment thought were 'too stupid for words', we have the family feud between Bilbo and his Sackville-Baggins cousins, which carried on across decades and generations. But there is something else that I found particularly revealing about Tolkien's portrayal of the Shire in this way: Letter 214 of his Letters, where he hinted at the possible murder of a very prominent member of the Took family by one of her own relatives. The member was 'Lalia [Took] the Great (or less courteously the Fat)': Fortinbras II, one time head of the Tooks and Thain, married Lalia of the Clayhangers in 1314, when he was 35 and she was 31. He died in 1380 at the age of 102, but she long outlived him, coming to an unfortunate end in 1402 at the age of 119. So she ruled the Tooks and Great Smials for 22 years, a great and memorable, if not universally beloved, 'matriarch'. She was not at the famous Party (SY 1401), but was prevented from attending rather by her great size and immobility than by her age. Her son, Ferumbras, had no wife, being unable (it was alleged) to find anyone willing to occupy apartments in the Great Smials under the rule of Lalia. Lalia, in her last and fattest years, had the custom of being wheeled to the Great Door, to take the air on a fine morning. In the spring of SY 1402 her clumsy attendant let the heavy chair run over the threshold and tipped Lalia down the flight of steps into the garden. So ended a reign and life that might have rivalled that of the Great Took. It was widely rumoured that the attendant was Pearl (Pippin's sister), though the Tooks tried to keep the matter within the family. At the celebration of Ferumbras' accession the displeasure and regret of the family was formally expressed by the exclusion of Pearl from the ceremony and feast; but it did not escape notice that later (after a decent interval) she appeared in a splendid necklace of her name-jewels that had long lain in the hoard of the Thains. (Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien, (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), pp. 294-5) If Pearl was indeed negligent, and Lalia's death was a tragic accident, why was she seemingly rewarded? If her actions were deliberate, was she alone responsible, or were other family members involved in the plot?