this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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Lord Of The Rings Memes
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Every time I see this meme, I'm reminded of this, which basically argues that the shire is just a specific type of feudal system, that looks like a place of rulerless plenty because the main characters are mostly that systems informal equivalent of nobility.
Full disclosure: I have not read your link yet, but I intend to.
How can a gardener be nobility? Frodo, definitely could see. But then there are the Tooks and Brandybucks going out and stealing produce and foraging for mushrooms? Not exactly nobility activities.
Remember, they are still pretty much children in Hobbit society. Both the Tooks and Brandeybucks hold fair bits of land, it's just their wild kids running around giving the farmers trouble. And of course there's never any real consequences for them beyond a slap on the wrist.
Frodo was around 50 during the events of lord of the rings, making him an adult comparable to maybe a 30yo human. Sam was a bit younger and Merry & Pippin were basically teenagers