> The Harfoots (presumed ancestors of the Hobbits of the Shire, Buckland, and Bree) are completely made up. But I rather like them and I think their story is so

> The Harfoots (presumed ancestors of the Hobbits of the Shire, Buckland, and Bree) are completely made up. But I rather like them and I think their story is so far pretty logical. The Harfoots aren't just made-up, actually. They're mentioned in "Concerning Hobbits", the prologue to The Lord of the Rings. "Before crossing the [misty] mountains, the Hobbits had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides. The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were beardless and bootless, their hands and feet were neat and nimble, and they preferred highlands and hillsides. ... The Harfoots had much to do with Dwarves in ancient times, and long lived in the foothills of the mountains. They moved westward early, and roamed over Eriador as far as Weathertop while the others were still in the Wilderland. They were the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place, and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes." Presumably the Rings of Power storyline takes place before the Hobbit's recorded history began, before they settled between the misty mountains and mirkwood and long before the settled the shire, while they were still wanderers.