Who on middle-earth is Lotho?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Let's not forget that Tolkien was entirely capable of winging it, without much regard for what he might or might not have written before. Most of the "lore" of Middle-earth was ret-conned afterwards, after all. And sometimes he didn't bother; Lotho suddenly became an intermediate villain at the end of the book because the biook demanded an intermediate villain (entirely offstage- Lotho of course is never met, being dead and all). At least Lotho made an appearance in the opening chapters, whereas Rose Cotton is never mentioned at all until the Scouring (I will very grudgingly give Jackson a brownie point for working Rosie into the beginning of FR, which T should have but didn't).

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Let's not forget that Tolkien was entirely capable of winging it, without much regard for what he might or might not have written before. Most of the "lore" of Middle-earth was ret-conned afterwards, after all. And sometimes he didn't bother; Lotho suddenly became an intermediate villain at the end of the book because the biook demanded an intermediate villain (entirely offstage- Lotho of course is never met, being dead and all). At least Lotho made an appearance in the opening chapters, whereas Rose Cotton is never mentioned at all until the Scouring (I will very grudgingly give Jackson a brownie point for working Rosie into the beginning of FR, which T should have but didn't).

Actually I forgot to include Rose Cotton (and her family), she confuses the heck out of me as well, and for the exact same reasons as Lotho.

On a different note, it also wondered why the returning Hobbits did not go and consult Farmer Maggot when they discovered that mischief was afoot... How lucky they found a somewhat similar character in Farmer Cotton.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Maybe it's just a matter of Tolkien thinking he didn't want to be too detailed about the Shire goings-on during the great events of the War.

After all, he was concerned during initial drafts of the first chapters of what would become LOTR that the tale had "too many hobbits". It seems the reader is told just enough to know Lotho was a bad apple as far as hobbits went.

I always thought it was a literary device used by Tolkien to remind us the reader just how parochial the hobbits were. Having moved into and out of a lot of smallish towns in my life, it is a common practice for people in such environs to start referencing people and events with no explanation because "everybody around here knows about them and here is all there is."

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

On a different note, it also wondered why the returning Hobbits did not go and consult Farmer Maggot when they discovered that mischief was afoot... How lucky they found a somewhat similar character in Farmer Cotton.

Similar right down to having the same number of letters in the name and a double letter in the middle...

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I always thought it was a literary device used by Tolkien to remind us the reader just how parochial the hobbits were. Having moved into and out of a lot of smallish towns in my life, it is a common practice for people in such environs to start referencing people and events with no explanation because "everybody around here knows about them and here is all there is."

Could be. In Lotho's case though, his villainy did have a great effect on all the Shire, so the references to him obviously are more notable.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Similar right down to having the same number of letters in the name and a double letter in the middle...

Well, Maggot (as far as we know) didn't have a daughter whom Sam happened to be sweet on, so...

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

On a different note, it also wondered why the returning Hobbits did not go and consult Farmer Maggot when they discovered that mischief was afoot... How lucky they found a somewhat similar character in Farmer Cotton.

Would have been quite a detour, and they were trying to reach Hobbiton as soon as possible.