Finrod
Rohan
Feb 1 2010, 8:55am
Views: 7297
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It’s all in the genes: 100 hobbit-years = 70 human-years
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Although very few hobbits lived to 111 or more (like Bilbo), I think Tolkien indicates in FOTR that majority of hobbits live to 90-100 or so. I'll spend some time looking through FOTR, but does someone else have the details on this? Why, certainly. Taking the lives of fifty‐three hobbits into account, their median age at death was 99, the mode was 102, and the mean was 98.42 with a standard deviation of 8.87. Which seems to settle the matter quite soundly. Sure, two or three might be a coincidence, although four or five is looking downright fishy. But the aggregate weight of fifty‐three data points that collectively tell a single story is certainly the result of a carefully planned design. That’s pretty conclusive evidence that you can take 100 as the hobbit equivalent of a man’s proverbial three‐score and ten allotted years — a particular measure Tolkien was known to also use when deriving ages for Númenóreans. Now apply that 70% figure to the age of majority and to the childbearing years we know hobbits to have followed, and you find that they all line up fairly closely, plus or minus a year or three. Bingo! During this research, I was reminded of how:- Bilbo is Frodo’s first and second cousin, both once removed; Merry’s and Pippin’s first and second cousin, both twice removed; and Fatty Bolger’s first cousin, twice removed.
- Frodo is Bilbo’s first and second cousin, both once removed; Merry’s first, second, and third cousin, all once removed; Pippin’s second and third cousin, both once removed; and Fatty Bolger’s second cousin, once removed.
- Pippin is Bilbo’s first and second cousin, both twice removed; Frodo’s second and third cousin, once removed; Merry’s first cousin, his third cousin, and also his first cousin, once removed; and Fatty Bolger’s third cousin.
- Merry is Bilbo’s first and second cousin, both twice removed; Frodo’s first, second, and third cousin, all once removed; Pippin’s first cousin, his third cousin, and also his first cousin, once removed; and Fatty Bolger’s third cousin.
Just in case you’d forgotten. :)
…all eyes looked upon the ring; for he held it now aloft, and the green jewels gleamed there that the Noldor had devised in Valinor. For this ring was like to twin serpents, whose eyes were emeralds, and their heads met beneath a crown of golden flowers, that the one upheld and the other devoured; that was the badge of Finarfin and his house.The Silmarillion, pp 150-151 while Felagund laughs beneath the treesin Valinor and comes no more to this grey world of tears and war.The Lays of Beleriand, p 311
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