Lost Hobbit Lore

‘I was just running over some of the Rhymes of Lore in my mind,’ answered [Gandalf]. ‘Hobbits, I suppose, have forgotten them, even those that they ever knew.’

‘No, not all,’ said Pippin. ‘And we have many of our own, which wouldn’t interest you, perhaps.’ -- The Two Towers

The Harfoot’s plot line has been one that’s stuck out to me as a particular weak point in Amazon's The Rings of Power thus far. My train of thought has been that the main events of the second age should be the focus of the show, and that the Harfoots have distracted from the flow of the main narrative.

However, this quote from The Two Towers has me doing a bit of a double take. Whenever I get to this passage, I always can’t help but think how sad it is that nobody really pays attention to hobbits and their lore. Everyone is so focused on “bigger” things. Even Gandalf, in his near infinite wisdom and humility seems to have made this same blunder and made assumptions about their knowledge on significant events. I’ve been so quick to want to discard the Harfoots from the “main events” of the second age like the forging of the rings, Sauron’s rise to power, politics in Eregion and Numenor, etc.

While it’s certainly true that the doings of Hobbits don’t have a thematic place alongside these grand epics about high elves and Maiar and kings of Men, I think it might be more important to make sure that they’re included in the show (in their own particular place) than I was originally thinking. Tolkien makes a point of showing us time and again throughout The Lord of the Rings that there’s more going on than “the main events” as perceived from our perspective. A particular favorite of mine is when he takes an entire half page in The Fellowship of the Ring to give us an overview on Bill the pony’s journey after they release him outside the gates of Moria. In fact, it’s Sauron’s main blunder that he assumes that he’s got a grasp on everything that’s going on, and his tunnel vision on “the main players” that ultimately leads to his downfall.

If the Rings of Power’s goal is to bring the second age to the screen for the first time, perhaps it’s ok that they’re sacrificing some of the “main narrative” for smaller matters. It’s not exactly what I would want, as I’d much prefer a compelling drama focused on Annatar and Celebrimbor’s relationship, but perhaps I need to slow down and adjust my expectations of what this show is actually trying to deliver.