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Will Whitfoot

Other Names:
old Flourdumpling
old Will Whitfoot

Location(s): the Shire

Race/Species: Hobbit

Title(s): Mayor of the Shire

Dates: late Third Age

Description:

Will Whitfoot is the Mayor of the Shire during its Occupation:
Pippin roused a good deal of laughter with an account of the collapse of the roof of the Town Hole in Michel Delving: Will Whitfoot, the Mayor, and the fattest hobbit 1 in the Westfarthing, had been buried in chalk, and came out like a floured dumpling.

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 9, At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

'[It's] these Men, Sam, the Chief's Men. He sends them round everywhere, and if any of us small folk stand up for our rights, they drag him off to the Lockholes. They took old Flourdumpling, old Will Whitfoot the Mayor, first, and they've taken a lot more. Lately it's been getting worse. Often they beat 'em now.'

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 6, Ch 8, The Scouring of the Shire

'A lot of Men, ruffians mostly,... were planted here and there all over the Shire, and were felling trees and digging and building themselves sheds and houses just as they liked. At first goods and damage was paid for by Pimple; but soon they began lording it around and taking what they wanted.

'Old Will the Mayor set off for Bag End to protest, but he never got there. Ruffians laid hands on him and took and locked him up in a hole in Michel Delving, and there he is now. And after that, it would be soon after New Year, there wasn't no more Mayor, and Pimple called himself Chief Shirriff, or just Chief, and did as he liked; and if anyone got "uppish" as they called it, they followed Will. So things went from bad to worse.'

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 6, Ch 8, The Scouring of the Shire

The day after the battle Frodo rode to Michel Delving and released the prisoners from the Lockholes....

Old Will Whitfoot had been in the Lockholes longer than any, and though he had perhaps been treated less harshly than some, he needed a lot of feeding up before he could look the part of Mayor; so Frodo agreed to act as his Deputy, until Mr. Whitfoot was in shape again.

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 6, Ch 8, The Scouring of the Shire

[Frodo] resigned the office of Deputy Mayor at the Free Fair that mid-summer [1420], and dear old Will Whitfoot had another seven years of presiding at Banquets.

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 6, Ch 8, The Scouring of the Shire

1427
Will Whitfoot resigns. Samwise is elected Mayor of the Shire....

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, The Tale of Years: Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring

... whit- [is] the usual shortening of white in personal names (Whitlock) and local names (Whitley). Compare Whitfoot.

"Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
From A Tolkien Compass, compiled by Jared Lobdell
Chicago: Open Court Pub Co, June 1975


Notes
1As mayor almost his only duty was to preside at banquets, given on the Shire-holidays, which occurred at frequent intervals.

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Prologue, Of the Ordering of the Shire

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 5May08, 16May10

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