"The Rings of Power" Vanity Fair article

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by mhagain

... And the reason why you think the Hobbits depicted in this show will be west of the Misty Mountains is?

Go on, I'm waiting.

Given that I cited Of Dwarves and Men I might have thought that you'd engage reasonably here, but I guess that was expecting too much.

When you "Sigh" as if I didn't have a valid point or I'm clueless, courtesy goes out the window. The point of throwing in Hobbits where they don't belong is another bit of fan-fiction nonsense being foisted on this project. Saying "Hobbits existed" during the 2nd Age, does not in any way validate their appearance where they don't belong.

When I said there were no Hobbits west of the Misty Mountains (you know, where almost the entirety of the action in the early Second Age occurs), perhaps I should be more specific. 3300 years before the Hobbits are recorded actually entering Eriador, they had not even gotten to the Vales of Anduin. They are most likely east even of Greenwood the Great. Nowhere in the theater of action, no real reason for them to be appearing.

The Dunedain don't note their appearance for 3300 years, the Elves are unaware of their existence 3300 years before they entered Eriador, and Treebeard doesn't even include them in his list of creatures -- even though he and the Ents searched for years for the Entwives east of the Misty Mountains.

Tolkien mentions the Hobbits as follows:

In the middle of this Age [3rd Age] the Hobbits appear. Their origin is unknown (even to themselves) for they escaped the notice of the great, or the civilised peoples with records, and kept none themselves, save vague oral traditions, until they had migrated from the borders of Mirkwood, fleeing from the Shadow, and wandered westward, coming into contact with the last remnants of the Kingdom of Arnor.

Letter No. 131, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

So plopping Hobbits whole and hardy and jolly and plump into a war of Elves, Numenoreans and Sauron is daft.