Error in Appendices

[Tar-Palantir]

That's too convenient me thinks, to call a mistake intentional?

. The Tale of Years was compiled from records held at Rivendell and Minas Tirith; they wouldn't be too concerned about the exact age of the Hobbits.

This is Samwise Gamgee we're talking about, not some Bracegirdle from Hardbottle. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] The same Samwise who is a friend and savior to the King of Gondor. The same Samwise who sailed to Valinor by the grace of the Elves and their knowledge of his actions in the quest to defeat Sauron.

Some families would keep very careful records, but families like Sam's were mostly illiterate and relied on memory.

Even most illiterate can still count. That's what fingers and furry toes are for. They seem to remember the vintage of ales and wines good enough - Who wouldn't love a pint of the ol' 1420? Also birthdays were special events and not to be missed, and the importance of reaching the age of 33 should not be overlooked. It is clear that one's age was an important consideration.

And the people that knew Samwise best (Frodo, Pippin, Merry, and maybe Gandalf) were most likely the ones who provided any kind of date of birth to the author's of the Tale of Years. Why would they be wrong? Frodo certaimly wouldn't be wrong - they lived a couple of doors from each other - for years and years.

And one more thing, there are only two hobbit birthdates in the Tale of Years, (maybe three, is Bilbo in there?) that should tell us something about how very important they were to the history books.

[ January 30, 2003: Message edited by: Tar-Palantir ]