Bounders
The Bounders were responsible for policing the borders of the Shire and ensuring that outsiders behaved themselves. This was known as 'beating the bounds'. The Bounders was the larger of the two branches of the Watch (the other being the twelve Shirriffs).[1]
The number of Bounders at any given time was varied according to need. In the run up to the War of the Ring they were greatly increased[1] and they were busy as strange persons and creatures approached the borders.[2]
Unbeknownst to the Hobbits of the Shire this was the first sign that the troubles of the south would soon reach even their borders. Ruffians and spies of Isengard and Mordor began to enter Eriador.
Etymology
The word means "persons watching the boundaries".
Tolkien noted that the word was rare, probably because in the late 19th century slang it meant an offensively pushing and in-bred man.[3]
Portrayal in adaptations
2003: Pán prsteňov (2001-2003 Slovak radio series):
- The voice of an unnamed bounder is provided by Karol Čálik. This bounder character appears in the final episode of the series, in the part of the storyline that adapts the Scouring of the Shire.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue", "Of the Ordering of the Shire"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, pp. 753-4
