This weekend’s Hall of Fire will explore two of the great hobbit families of the Shire — Tooks and the Brandybucks.
“Dear me! We Tooks and Brandybucks, we can’t live long on the heights.”
Tooks and Brandybucks
The Tooks and the Brandybucks were the two most influential families in the Shire. Both families contained a strong Fallohide strain, something that might account for their more adventurous nature.
Leaders, adventurers and, supposedly, even sailors. Two of the most famous are, of course, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. However, ancestors such as Bullroarer Took, Gorhendad Brandybuck, Gerontious (The Old Took), and Bucca of the Marish also played extraordinary roles in the history of the Shire.
The Brandybucks traced their descent from Gorhendad Oldbuck who moved to Buckland from the Marish and changed the family name. There the Brandybucks dwelt in Brandy Hall, an enormous Smial beneath Buck Hill. The head of the family was the undisputed Master of Buckland, ruling what was essentially a small country of its own on the border of the Shire.
The Tooks lived in the Tookland of the Westfarthing. The Thainship was a hereditary post within the Took family, and the Thain of Tookland was arguably the most powerful hobbit in the Shire — a surely the most wealthy.
We shall discuss these two families, their roles in the Shire and the doings of some of their more colourful family members. What makes them tick? How are they similar? What makes them different?
Join us at 6pm ET Saturday the Hall of Fire as we explore Tooks and Brandybucks!
Upcoming topics
June 14: What fascinates you most about LoTR and Middle-earth?
June 21: ROTK Bk 6: Ch 1: The Tower of Cirith Ungol
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