Henneth Annûn Story Archive

Hey folks, I hope I am doing this correctly and in the right place. If not, please forgive. I am brand spanking new here and still learning the ropes. I searched through several pages of Resources and could not find the answers to my questions, so I thought I'd go a more direct route. I have written a LOTR piece (the only one I have managed to complete, thanks to the demands of RL) and want to get it reviewed for HASA, but first there are a couple things I need cleared up. I really want to get it all right, seeing as it is my only LOTR finished fic... 1. The story is set in Tuckborough, and I have Merry coming to visit for part of the summer. It seems to me, from the maps of Middle Earth, that Tuckborough and Buckland are rather distant, so it would take some time to travel between them, even though I have read stories in which it seems Merry and Pippin live practically next door to each other. Am I right? Is there several days travel between them? 2. I make use of several minor hobbit characters as children, and I want to make sure they would actually BE in Tuckborough and able to interact with my main characters (Merry and Pip) during the time of the story. I use : Pervinca Took, Pippin’s older sister, and Estella Bolger. I also Ferdibrand Took, who is most troublesome for me as I can't find out much about him. He and Merry have a friendly rivalry in my story and the children call him Ferddy (as opposed to Ferdinand's Fatty or Fredegar's Freddy). And I also include some of my own characters to round things out, Otho and Uther, the Goodbody brothers and Percival Snood. Any concerns? 3. MAJOR HELP NEEDED HERE: This is where the Mature Content thing comes in... though it is not really all that titillating. This piece involves a "first kiss" between Merry and Pippin - nothing overly sexual - more experimentation, but in order to fit the context, Pippin has to be young, and just beginning to think about such things. Sort of the equivalent of 15 or so in human years - not necessarily in age, but in maturity. (And no, I am not advocating under-age sex by any means. So let's not go there....) I have tried pouring through the books and appendices to gain an understanding of Shire Reckoning when it comes to years and time, but I am still befuddled. I set this part of the story in 1408, but perhaps this is TOO young. Because it is more than age-equivalence. The hobbits mature at a different rate, yes? Anyway, this is one area I REALLY need someone with some expertise in Hobbits and their rates of maturity to step in with sound advice. I have tried looking to other folks fics for guidance in timing things, but Hobbit stories seem to be all over the place in terms of Shire dates and Hobbit ages and maturity. Any help here would be greatly appreciated... I could go ahead with the 1408 dates, but I don't want to muddy the waters of Hobbit ages any more than they all ready seem to be in fandom. Thank you all for taking the time to read, whether you have answers or not. I look forward to getting to know y'all a bit over time. Sincerely, Fee

 

Welcome, Fee! This is the perfect place to ask questions like this. I can't help you with questions 2 and 3 at this point, but for #1, the Travel Times Chart, courtesy of MeARA ( Middle-earth Adventure Riders Association, AKA ErinRua, Blue Iris, and Sulriel) has information. This gives the distance from Brandy Hall to Tuckborough as 63 miles, with a minimum travel time of 5.5 hrs, and a maximum of 2 days. Under 'comments on route,' they mention "Stock Road through Green Hill Country." Hope that helps. Lyllyn

 

Thanks Lyllyn, That chart will come in very handy, not only for this piece, but for anything I might contemplate in future. Appreciate it! Ta!

 

2. I make use of several minor hobbit characters as children, and I want to make sure they would actually BE in Tuckborough and able to interact with my main characters (Merry and Pip) during the time of the story. I use : Pervinca Took, Pippin’s older sister, and Estella Bolger. I also Ferdibrand Took, who is most troublesome for me as I can't find out much about him. The Bolger family's home town is Budgeford, which is about 20 miles (by road) from Brandy Hall, and maybe 40 miles from Tuckborough. There is no reason to think that Estella might not visit Tuckborough with her family, though, so that should not be a limitation for your story. Estella was born 1385 SR, so apparently she's the same age as Pervinca. Ferdibrand was born 1383 SR, and so is the right generation. That's pretty much all I know about him, as well -- so you have lots of leaveway for your creative imagination! And I also include some of my own characters to round things out, Otho and Uther, the Goodbody brothers and Percival Snood. Just a very personal opinion, but Percival Snood doesn't sound like a very Hobbit-like name to me. The other names sound fine... if you're interested, post here and I'm sure we can help you find some of the lesser-known Hobbit surnames, and maybe even brainstorm a new first name. The hobbits mature at a different rate, yes? Yes, Hobbits consider the age of maturity to be 33 years: "At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three." The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 1, A Long-expected Party So I would equate their 33 with our 20 or so. So a human of about 15 might be about 25 in Hobbit years, if you want to assume that their "irresponsible tweens" correspond approximately with our "irresponsible teens" (my apologies to any real teenagers reading this -- I'm sure the stereotype does not fit you!) Pippin was born in 1390 SR, so if you want to use this reasoning to make him 25, you would want to set your story in 1415. Hope at least some of this helps! - Barbara P.S. You are definitely doing the right thing by checking your assumptions with other HASA members -- whether we are writers or not, we all like to help each other out!

 

Thank you Barbara, Most helpful. Hope you don't mind if I wait a bit and see if others agree with your "dates". Sounds good to me, but I would like some kind of consensus...or at least partical consensus. As for Percival Snood - you are probably right, not very hobbity - it is a personal joke name. But I am more than willing to change it to something more suitable.

 

LOL! Okay. Apparently the question of Hobbit ages is every bit as confusing as I suspected. I have been to the Yahoo HASA group, to ask for additional input, and the general consensus seems to be.... that there is no general consensus! So, I will make a "best guess" and hope that Pippin's age falls somewhere in the immediate vicinity of what I imagine in my head.

 

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