Concerning Hobbits

One major addition in the Third Phase is the forward, Concerning Hobbits, was born. Nothing of the sort had been penned before by Tolkien. Perhaps at this point he saw the sequel to his whimsical and childlike Hobbit story taking on a life of his own and was beginning to acknowledge the fact it would not be what his publishers were expecting. To that end a forward could give a little more information concerning hobbits and their culture before the tale turned into the story Tolkien really wanted to write.

Though not quite as long as the final forward many of the core elements are present: their love of peace, quiet, and good-tilled earth. Their fondness of greens and yellows and their fear of Big People. The leathery feet with thick brown hair and their shortness (between 2-4 feet; but generally not taller than 3 feet 6 inches at the time of this story). The fact that they liked to eat--a lot.

"Elves, Dwarves, and Men and other creatures only became aware of Hobbits after they had actually existed, jogging along in their uneventful fashion, for many ages. And they continued, as a rule, to jog along, keeping to themselves and keeping out of stories. In the days of Bilbo (and Frodo his heir) they became for a time very important, by what was called an accident, and the great persons of the world, even the Necromancer, were obliged to take them into account, as these stories show" (p. 311, The Return of the Shadow). Ah, the wonder of hobbits!

Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects for Tolkien in linking The Hobbit to its sequel was how he ended the first tale. We can see homage to this difficulty near the end of the foreword: "Bilbo it is told 'remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long.' They were. How extraordinarily long you may now discover, and you may also learn that remaining happy did not mean continuing to live for ever at Bag-end" (p. 314, The Return of the Shadow). Tolkien labored over this--how could Bilbo remain very happy with the magnitude of the Ring and return of the Shadow? I think this is way the opening chapter took (at this point) 6 different rewrites. To establish a way for Bilbo to remain very happy in light of ominous events to come.