Fattest of the Dwarves

[Faramir Jones]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Faramir Jones is an expert on Lalia. But Dwarves are generally larger so probably once they had reached the point of being so fat they could not move, Bombur probably was larger. But Lalia seems to have been less active and mobile through more of her life whereaa Bombur was more or less able to keep up. When he wasn't enchanted.

Thanks for the compliment, Mithalwen.

According to Tolkien's 'Prologue' in LotR, Hobbits are a little people 'smaller than Dwarves: less stout and stocky, that is, even when they are not actually much shorter'. (My emphasis) Hobbits vary, he says, between 2 to 4 feet in height.

Let us assume that both Lalia and Bombur are of average height for their respective races, making Bombur taller. It would seem, from this information alone, that a fat dwarf like Bombur was relatively fatter than a fat hobbit like Lalia.

But we have further information making this difference clear. You, Tuor in Gondolin, gave the correct information that Lalia was, towards the end of her life, 'so fat she couldn't walk and was confined to a wheelchair'. However, according to information given by Gloin to Frodo in Rivendell in 3018, Bombur, towards the end of his life, was 'now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch to his chair at table, and it took six young dwarves to lift him'. It seems, therefore, that Bombur was certainly relatively fatter, needing six young dwarves to move him around, while Lalia needed only one young hobbit (Pearl, Pippin's sister) to move her around.