Fallohides

From Tolkien Gateway
Fallohides
People
Lidia Postma - Hobbits comparison.jpg
Hobbits comparison by Lidia Postma
General Information
LocationsUpper Anduin, Bree, The Shire
LanguagesHobbitish, Westron
MembersMarcho, Blanco, the Bolgers, the Tooks, the Brandybucks
Physical Description
Lifespanc. 96 years
DistinctionsLeast numerous of the three branches of hobbits, skilled in hunting and in language, more naturally adventurous than other hobbits
Average heightTaller than the other hobbits
Hair colorFair
Skin colorFair

Fallohides were one of three original divisions of hobbit-kind, along with the Harfoots and Stoors. The Fallohides were the least numerous of the three branches, and originally roamed the northern parts of the Westlands.[1]

They were more friendly with Elves than the other Hobbits were, and had more skill in language and song than in handicrafts; and of old they preferred hunting to tilling.

Characteristics[edit | edit source]

In appearance, Fallohides were taller and slimmer of build than the other Hobbits,[1] with some growing to four feet or more in height. Both their skin and their hair tended to be fair,[1] and no Fallohide ever grew a beard.

While the other two branches of hobbit-kind were pastoral and rustic in nature, the Fallohides retained a hunting tradition, and so were naturally bolder and more inquisitive than their relatives, but less gifted in the arts of farming and agriculture.[1]

As Fallohidish culture was much more open to outside influence than that of the Stoors or Harfoots, they were friendlier with the other races of Middle-earth than their cousins, especially with the Elves. This was consistent with their skill in both song and speech, and their love for trees and of woodlands.[1]

History[edit | edit source]

The Fallohides seem to have dwelt originally under the southern eaves of Greenwood. Then, in T.A. 1050, they flew the shadow and settled at the northern part of the River Anduin. But this migration was not enough to avoid the Shadow and one century after the Harfoots, the Fallohides deserted their northern homes in around T.A. 1150,[2] and crossed the Mountains to the north of Rivendell.[1]

The tribes of the Fallohidish Hobbits travelled slowly down the course of the Hoarwell, and westward across Eriador. They eventually join their cousins near Weathertop, where they mingled and where their adventurous and intrepid natures made them natural leaders of the other Hobbits they found there.[1] They migrated then with them into the region around Bree, in c.T.A. 1300.[2].

Three hundred years later (in the year T.A. 1601)[2], two Fallohide brothers, Marcho and Blanco, travelled westward again from Bree with their followers and crossed the Bridge of Stonebows (later the Brandywine Bridge). They settled in the empty land that they found there and were granted it by King Argeleb II of Arthedain, in whose realm it lay. This was the land that was to become known as the Shire.[1]

As the centuries passed, the three distinct strains of the Hobbits gradually began to disappear as they mingled with one another in the Shire. Nonetheless, Fallohides were long found as chieftains among Stoor and Harfoot clans, and there were families that retained a strong line of Fallohidish blood (and the impetuosity that went with it). At the time of the War of the Ring, the Fallohidish line was still well represented in the families of the Tooks, the Bolgers and the Brandybucks.[1]

In some old families, especially those of Fallohide origin, it was the custom to give high-sounding first-names such as Isengrim.[3]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Fallohide is a translation of an archaic Hobbitish word.

The word derived from the archaic English words fallow, meaning "pale, yellowish" (not now in use, except in "fallow deer"), and hide (which is no longer applied to human skin). In modern English, Fallohide would be rendered as 'Paleskin'.[4]

References