Introducing Tungo Boffin!

Shire-Dwellers and other Middle-earth rarities.

Moderators: caedmon, Greg

OParnoShoshoi
Dúnadan
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:33 pm
Location: Gainesville GA USA

Re: Introducing Tungo Boffin!

Post by OParnoShoshoi »

Udwin wrote: Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:26 pm This is primarily a three-season impression, as being barefoot in a deep snowy winter—though I do it often enough, for short periods—isn’t the best for the health of one’s feet. (But there’s always that double precedent for footwear: the Stoorish habit of wearing ‘dwarf-boots in muddy weather’, and Tolkien forgetting to give Bilbo boots at Rivendell.)
Given the ‘modern’ anachronistic nature of hobbits (compared to the mythic-ancient rest of Middle-Earth), I felt I had a bit of wiggle room in creating this kit.

Thankfully, Tolkien describes enough garments worn by hobbits that we get a consistent picture of Shire fashion at the end of the Third Age:
*In The Hobbit, Bilbo wears a “coat and waistcoat” (the latter with “nice brass buttons” (89), which he later upgrades to “real gold” after his adventure).
*Bilbo leaves to join Thorin & Company without a hat, walking stick, money, or a handkerchief, all of which “he usually took when he went out”.
*For his farewell birthday, Bilbo wears an “embroidered silk waistcoat”, again with gold buttons (33). (This does not necessarily mean that this garment was the shiny, smooth material we usually imagine when we think of silk; raw silk is appropriate for the 18th century and is very similar in appearance to heavy rustic linen.)
*Following Bilbo’s disappearance, the Gaffer is given, among other things, a “woolen waistcoat”.
*After the incident at the Barrow, Sam looks for his “cloak, jacket, and breeches, and other hobbit-garments” (163).
*While gearing up to leave Rivendell, Frodo wears his “old weather-stained breeches, tunic, and jacket”, causing Bilbo to declare that he looks like “Just a plain hobbit” (312).
*In addition to breeches, Bilbo and Frodo are several times said to be wearing “trousers” with pockets, sometimes with a belt.
*Finally, we are told that the only thing that served to differentiate the Bounders was a “feather in their caps”.
Bottle gourds! I was thinking of the same thing since they grow here in my region!
(INSERT WITTICISM HERE)
Post Reply