Upcoming New Tolkien Book: Collected Poems

 

FYI: Out on the 17th, just prior to Hobbit Day (Sep 22nd, Bilbo/Frodo's birthday), is The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, a hefty 3-volume (!) set collecting much, but not all (!), of Tolkien's poetry:

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien on Amazon

It has a list price of $125 and is currently available with a pre-order price of $103. According to the publisher Harper Collins, it contains "almost 200 works ... including more than 60 that have never before been seen". A full list of the poems is posted over at the Tolkien Gateway.

This collection has been edited and annotated by Christina Scull & Wayne Hammond, who have prepared so many other excellent Tolkien books that I already own, like Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham (50th anniversary edition), Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, and The Lord of the Rings Reader's Companion.

I've been fascinated by Tolkien's poetry, since the '80s when I discovered in my grandparent's house an old paperback of the Tolkien Reader, which included The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Tolkien's original compilation of verse, which was released in recent years in an expanded edition, also edited & annotated by Hammond & Scull.

I'm debating whether I will pick this up myself. I always find Scull & Hammond's notes to be fascinating, but my shelves are already groaning under the weight of other unfinished Tolkien books...

Earlier Tolkien Posts on this blog:

Smaug versus the Sutherland Dragon

"Until the Last Ship Sets Sail Into the West" (Christopher Tolkien RIP)

A Brief History of Tolkien RPGs by John Rateliff

1973 Preview of Mythical Earth Minifigs

Green Dragon Miniature (Mythical Earth Minifig)

Beren and Luthien (2017)

Gygaxian Orc Tribes (originally derived from Tolkien)

Tolkien's Wild Hobbits

Hobbits as the Rangers of Basic

And find a list of more older Tolkien posts here.

"D&D and Fantasy Fiction: Giants in the Oerth": a talk by John Rateliff

On 1/28/21 there was a online talk, open to the public, titled "D&D and Fantasy Fiction: Giants in the Oerth", given by John D. Rateliff, who is both a Tolkien scholar (author of the History of the Hobbit) & a former TSR employee (author of the Return to the Keep on the Borderlands module among others). The talk was recorded and is now available here:

https://youtu.be/b5Kynx0NZQA

I watched the talk & enjoyed it, particularly Rateliff's concluding "fantasy crossroads" image  from the last issue of the Strategic Review. Knowing that Rateliff had written his doctoral dissertation on Lord Dunsany, I asked a question about his influence on D&D, having been listed in Appendix N of the Dungeon Masters Guide.

The talk was co-hosted by the University of Glasgow Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic , which has a page for the talk here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2021/01/06/dd-and-fantasy-fiction-giants-in-the-oerth/

Rateliff blogs regularly at Sacnoth's Scriptorium: sacnoths.blogspot.com/

(Updated 1/29)

Smaug vs the Sutherland Red Dragon

Left: Smaug by Tim Kirk (1975). Right: the cover of the Holmes Basic Set (July 1977). 
Click on the image for a larger view

David Sutherland painted a cover for the Holmes Basic Set that remains one of the most iconic early D&D illustrations. It literalized the title of Dungeons & Dragons, showing a dragon in a dungeon. The viewpoint is as if we are members of the party of adventurers who have just entered the chamber and disturbed the huge red dragon resting on its seemingly endless bed of gold and treasures.

This image has influenced the cover art of many successor sets ranging from later TSR D&D Basic Sets to the Pathfinder Beginner Box. Sutherland's take on the Red Dragon appeared in other D&D products of the era, including the Monster Manual and Monster Cards.

The 1975 Tolkien Calendar

Sutherland's dragon was in turn possibly influenced by an earlier image of red dragon on a pile of gold that was published about two years before Holmes Basic. This was a stunning depiction of Smaug by Tim Kirk that appeared in the 1975 Tolkien Calendar, which included works done as part of his MFA from Cal State. In particular, note the similar (but not identical) poses of the dragons, the head "whiskers" of the dragons, and the wide ventral neck scales. There are also similarities in the treasures embedded in the pile of gold, including urns, chests and embedded swords. There's even an arching shape over the head of each Dragon (vaulted ceiling for Smaug, entrance archway for the Sutherland Dragon).

Source: The Complete Guide to Tolkien Calendars

Kirk's illustration in turn appears to be a modernization of Tolkien's own "Conversations with Smaug", which appears in the Hobbit itself. Note how Tolkien has placed skulls on the floor around the pile of gold and compare this with the skulls in Kirk's pile of gold:

Source: The One Ring

Additional Evidence: Pig-Faced Orcs

By the mid-70s, Tolkien's Middle-Earth books had grown extremely popular and the 1975 calendar was the first to feature art from an artist other than Tolkien himself. It's easy to imagine that a fantasy artist such as Sutherland would have encountered this calendar. But there is one other bit of evidence that Sutherland was familiar with the Tolkien Calendars. The 1976 Tolkien Calendar (which would have been published in mid-to-late 1975) included art by the Brothers Hildebrandt, including this image of very pig-faced orcs: 

And Sutherland was the one who slightly thereafter introduced pig-faced orcs into D&D, via his illustrations in Swords & Spells (July 1976, per the Acaeum), Holmes Basic & the AD&D Monster Manual.

This illustration is spread across two pages in Swords & Spells. 
Source: OldSchoolFRP

See also:

David Sutherland Day

"Until the Last Ship Sets Sail Into the West"

Christopher Tolkien reads from the end of the Lord of the Rings

I was saddened to learn that J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christoper Tolkien passed away on January 16th at the age of 95. Christopher's older brothers, John and Michael, predeceased him; his younger sister Priscilla survives him, as well as his children and grandchildren. Of his siblings, Christopher was by far the most involved in father's writing, having edited around twenty volumes of his father's unpublished manuscripts. He was the best positioned to do so, having become an academic at Oxford like this father.

Christopher was heavily involved in Middle-Earth throughout his life, from hearing the Bilbo stories that became The Hobbit as a child to drawing the beautiful maps for the Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien passed away in 1973, and the first posthumous product was The Silmarillion (with the help of Guy Gavriel Kay) in 15 September 1977, just a few months after both Holmes Basic D&D and the Tolkien-derivative The Sword of Shannara, and the same fall that the animated Hobbit was released. This was all part of the late '70s cultural stew that lead up to the early '80s fantasy/sword & sorcery fad, which included D&D's first round of wide-spread popularity (we are in the second round now).

Christopher was around 55 when the Silmarillion came out and it kicked off a publishing era that did not end until the Fall of Gondolin in August 2018, when he was nearly 94! In a way this work was a continuation of his participation in the Inklings, the literary club at Oxford that would listen to and critique each other's writings. Christopher participated in this with his father, and I read somewhere in the past few days that Christopher was the last surviving Inkling. Thus, his passing truly marks the end of an age - the last ship setting sail into the West.

I have a shelf or two full of his books myself, including the entire HOME series (History of Middle-Earth). As I've noted previously, my blog series on the Holmes Manuscript owes something to his style of text analysis.

The other night I started re-watching the Tolkien biopic - I saw it in the theatre when it was released - and it is just as enjoyable on second viewing. I need to dig out and listen to my J.R.R. Tolkien Audio Collection that includes Christopher reading selections from the Silmarillion. Above I've posted a link to a clip of Christopher reading from the ending of The Lord of the Rings.

Namárië, Christopher.

A Brief History of Tolkien RPGs by John Rateliff

It's once again Tolkien Week, the week containing Hobbit Day (Sep 22nd, Bilbo & Frodo's birthday). Recently there's been some talk on EnWorld and the Piazza about TSR's failed attempt to license Middle-Earth in 1992. A post on the Piazza thread by Falconer led me back to where this was originally revealed: a very interesting talk entitled "The Brief History of Tolkien RPGs" by John Rateliff, given as his guest-of-honor speech at MERPcon in August 2008. Rateliff is the author of the History of the Hobbit and also a former TSR editor and author, where his works included the excellent Return to the Keep on the Borderlands.

His talk is available in two formats: 

(1) A series of posts of the same name on his blog, Sacnoth's Scriptorium. I've been following this for years (since ~2012), but this series is even older (2008) and I'd never come across it before. 

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

(2) A video/audio recording posted on YT. It's over an hour long and is interrupted by many audience questions & comments, but is an enjoyable watch/listen (but if you just listen you'll miss out on some of his exhibits, like the prototype cover for TSR's canceled ME game).

Tolkien Moot 2008 MerpCon IV John D. Rateliff solo speech History of the Hobbit author

http://tolkienmoot.org John D. Rateliff, author of The History of the Hobbit at MerpCon 4 Tolkien Moot 2008. Tolkien Moot is an annual Tolkien convention sponsored by the Inland Empire Tolkien Society for fans and scholars, enthusiasts, and Tolkien role-playing gaming gamers of J.R.R.

* * * * *

Earlier Tolkien posts on this blog that you may have missed:

1973 Preview of Mythical Earth Minifigs

Green Dragon Miniature (Mythical Earth Minifig)

Beren and Luthien (2017)

Gygaxian Orc Tribes (originally derived from Tolkien)

Tolkien's Wild Hobbits

Hobbits as the Rangers of Basic

RIP Arthur Rankin Jr

Beornings [Aurania]

The Endless Caverns of Tu (D&D in Middle-Earth campaign idea)

Tolkien Lives at Waldenbooks

Hobbit Day 2013

Hobbit Day 2012

Two new Hobbit Books

The Hobbit Animated (1964)

Centaurs and Samurai and Werebears, updated

Balrog by Greg Bell

Holmes on Tolkien

Summary of Tolkien references in the Blue Book

Balrogs in the Blue Book

Balrog PCs gone missing 

Green Dragon Inn

Green Dragon Inn, part II (Greyhawk's version)

1973 Preview of Mythical Earth Minifigs

"Middle Earth wizard painted as Saruman in his 'coat of many colours'; a vicious-looking man-orc; a rather stocky elf; axe-wielding dwarf, and of course, a hobbit. Dwarves are sold in strips of two, the second figure armed with a spear, hobbits in strips of three armed with sword, short sword and spear." - original caption 

In 1973, Miniature Figurines, perhaps better known as Minifigs, a British-based manufacturer of metal miniatures for wargames, began production on one of the first lines of fantasy miniatures. (Another very early line by Jack Scruby Miniatures is discussed in this recent article at Playing at the World.)

The line of 25 mm minis was called 'Mythical Earth' --- obviously inspired by Tolkien. The preview photo is from Airfix Magazine, August 1973, and shows some of the first figures in the line, including (from left to right) painted versions of ME4 Wizard, ME1 Man-Orc with Sword, ME2 Wood Elf with Bow, ME3 Dwarves (one of two figures) and ME6 Hobbits (one of thee). Chainmail was in existence at this time, but the publication of D&D in January 1974 was still a number of months away. 

In the Playing at the World article linked above, Jon mentions that the "Mythical Earth" was not the original name for this line, but was a rebranding to avoid suit by the Tolkien Estate. This appears to be reflected in this preview as it only uses the name "Middle Earth" and not "Mythical Earth".

It's stunning to realize that when this article was first published, in August 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien was still alive, though not for long as he passed away the following month on September 2nd, 1973.

The preview was part of the "New kits and models" column in Airfix, author unlisted but probably Editor Bruce Quarrie or Editorial Director Darryl Reach:

"In their 25 mm range. Miniature Figurines  have sent us the first samples in a new series of ‘Middle Earth' figures. Wargamers who are also addicted to Professor J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings will be delighted with these figures, which currently include a wizard, man-orc, dwarf, elf and hobbit, illustrated here. Future releases will include Riders of Rohan. Dunedain, and Nazgul mounted on pterodactyl-like winged  beasts. Orcs and further examples both of the Free Peoples and Sauron's minions. Readers of Wargamers Newsletter will realise that there is considerable demand for fantasy figures of this type, and Miniature Figurines are to be congratulated on such an imaginative venture. The figures will undoubtedly be especially popular in America, where Tolkien is a great cult figure, and in this context it is worth noting that the firm are soon to be opening a factory in the States."

Thanks to Shining Knight pointing out this article in this thread on the Dragonsfoot.

A pdf of the magazine can be found over on the Internet Archive.

A gallery of the entire Mythical Earth line can be seen on the Lost Minis wiki.

The line eventually grew to 101 figures. Despite the focus on Middle Earth, it had a few oddities, such as ME51 Frog Man (perhaps Gollum? But why avoid using his name when you already using Hobbit, Huorn, Rohan, Dunland and Harad?), ME100 Centaur, and the final figure ME101 Pan.

J. Eric Holmes owned minis from this line. I previously wrote about his Green-Painted ME58 Dragon and also about a ME4 Wizard in the photo from the Tales of Peril dust jacket.

(Article originally drafted in April 2018 but just revised & posted today)

Green Dragon Miniature

This is a Green Dragon, painted & mounted on wood, from the J. Eric Holmes collection. Billy Galaxy Toys out of Portland, OR has been auctioning hundreds of miniatures from his collection on Ebay. This auction sold, but others are still available.

Of note, Holmes used the name of the Green Dragon Inn from Tolkien as the name of the tavern in Portown in the Holmes Basic Sample Dungeon, and in the Boinger and Zereth stories. This was apparently independent of the same usage in Greyhawk City. 

The figure is from the Minifigs Mythical Earth line, one of the first line of fantasy minis, produced starting in 1972 per the Lost Minis wiki. They were meant to represent Middle-Earth characters, although were named generically. This mini is ME58 Dragon, obviously representing Smaug from the Hobbit.

Another photo from the same auction, showing the dragon with two other unpainted Minifigs minis that it was auctioned with, ME49 Gondor Knight and ME59 Eagle. Unfortunately, the right wing is missing from the dragon: 

Beren and Luthien (2017)

Tolkien's "Beren and Luthien" story will be published next year in a stand-alone format edited by Christopher Tolkien and fully illustrated by Alan Lee. This is per a Harper Collins press release, as reported on Too Many Books, a blog by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull, who have written many annotated Tolkien books. 

This format should give the story the attention it deserves; to the general public its currently just another part of the often-overlooked Silmarillion.

Apparently the main portion of this book will be the original form of the story as written by Tolkien in 1917 (and published in the Lost Tales), supplemented by material from later versions. I believe the later source text for the Silmarillion chapter has never been published in full, so this book may include be some unpublished material last prose version has never been published in full so there may be some unpublished material included.

Update: Great post by John Garth discussing the possible content of the book.

Gygaxian Orc Tribes

Fighting Man, Magic-User and Cleric take on dungeon orcs. By David Sutherland III.

Gary Gygax on the orc tribes of Castle Greyhawk, EnworldQ&A 2/2/04:
"The orcs in the dungeon were of two separate tribes, but I have forgotten the names I gave them. As near as I can recollect, one was the Grinning Skull and the other was the Bloody Axe. They were all cut down or made into vassals by Robilar and Terik, with a good deal of assistance from Tenser."

Chronology of Orc Tribes in Gygaxian D&D:

Lord of the Rings: Tolkien is, of course, the original source of orcs and their tribes. Aragorn refers to Saruman's Isengarders as "Orcs of the White Hand" (TT, Bk 1, Ch 2) after seeing shields with a "small white hand in the centre of a black field" (TT, Bk 1, Ch 1). He notes that orcs "in the service of Barad-dur [Sauron's tower] use the sign of the Red Eye" (TT, Bk 1, Ch 1). Pippin and Merry later see Mordor orcs with "a red eye painted on their shields" (TT, Bk 1, Ch 3). Also called the Evil Eye in at least two instances; for example, "One [orc-helmet] fitted Frodo well enough, a black cap with iron rim, and iron hoops covered with leather upon which the Evil Eye was painted in red above the beaklike nost-guard" (RoTK, Bk 2, Ch 1). There is at least one further group; In Cirith Ungol, Sam notices two liveries, "one marked by the Red Eye, the other by a Moon disfigured with a ghastly face of death" (RotK, Bk 2, Ch 1). The Moon device is that of the Witch-King, ruler of Minas Morgul, formerly the Tower of the Moon.

Chainmail (1971): The names of five tribes are given, all based on Tolkien:

• Orcs of the Red Eye

• Orcs of Mordor

• Orcs of the Mountains

• Orcs of the White Hand

• Isengarders

These are from the 2nd print (1972), but are presumably also in the 1st. They were removed from later printings along with other Tolkien references. The list is duplicative because in the Lord of the Rings, the Orcs of the Red Eye are the same as the Orcs of Mordor, and the Orcs of the White Hand are Isengarders. The Orcs of the Red Eye and White Hand also appeared in Patt's earlier Rules for Middle Earth (The Courier, 1970). Falconer pointed out that Arneson used these same five names, as seen in the First Fantasy Campaign (1977, Judges Guild).

Battle of the Brown Hills (pg 8-10 of the Wargamer's Newsletter #116, November 1971):
In this article, Gygax describes a fantasy battle between the forces of Law and Chaos, played using the Chainmail rules. Notably, the forces of Chaos include three tribes: Orcs of the Mountains (wielding sword & shield or bows), Orcs of the Vile Rune (wielding sword & shield) and Orcs of the Longspear (presumably wielding long spears). We can surmise shields would feature each tribe's device.

OD&D Vol 2 (1st print, 1974): "the number of different tribes of Orcs can be as varied as desired, basing the decision on Tolkien or random chance". No tribe names are given. The reference to "Tolkien or random chance" was deleted in later printings.

Scruby Fantasy 30mm minis (1975): Per Gygax on Enworld (10/8/07), "Jack Scruby began casting orcs, so we had real miniatures for them -- the Orcs of the Vile Rune whose symbol was a fist with a raised digit."

Holmes (July 1977): "There are many tribes or nations of orcs".

Monster Manual (Dec 1977): Here we get Gygaxian tribe names, including: 

• Vile Rune (as seen previously in the Battle for the Brown Hills)
• Bloody Head (perhaps the actual name for Grinning Skull?)
• Death Moon (perhaps inspired by the Moon device of Minas Morgul?)
• Broken Bone
• Evil Eye (perhaps an update of Red Eye?)
• Leprous Hand (perhaps an update of White Hand?)
• Rotting Eye
• Dripping Blade (perhaps the actual name for Bloody Axe?)

Gone are the names directly from Tolkien, but he sticks to a similar two-word style.

Gygax further notes that a "standard is always present where the tribal chief is" and "Their garments are tribal colors, as are shield devices or trim".

Dungeon Masters Guide (Aug 1979): This introduces a major new facet of humanoid tribes, including orcs, that departs from Tolkien: shamans & witch doctors (pg 40). These became a standard part of humanoid tribes, as shown by the citation from WG4 below.

B2 Keep on the Borderlands (1979): In the Caves of Chaos, there are two rival orc tribes in Caves B & C. This is the only type of humanoid having two different groups. The tribe in Cave B decorates its cave entrance with "cheerful greetings" - heads and skulls placed in niches in a wall - perhaps a reference to the Grinning Skull/Bloody Head/Bloody Skull tribe. And Falconer notes that the leader of Cave C wields a magic hand axe - a possible reference to the Bloody Axe tribe. So the two tribes of the Caves of Chaos are in some ways analogous to the two tribes of the Greyhawk Castle dungeons. 

World of Greyhawk Folio (1980): Includes a series of shield devices for various kingdoms, including a grinning human skull for the "Orcs of the Pomarj" (the dominant humanoid of the Pomarj). This device was retained in the World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983). It's possible that Gygax was remembering this device when he mentioned "Grinning Skull" as the possible name of the Greyhawk Castle tribe.

Orcs of the Pomarj

Developments from Stonefist to South Province (Dragon #57, Jan 1982): "Three major groups vie for control of the whole of the Bone March. The most powerful group, until the Battle of the Loftwood, was the humanoid group under the orcs of the Vile Rune. Now paramount are the orcs of the Death Moon tribe. Both groups have considerable numbers of various sorts of humanoids serving them. Both are also led by half-orcs and assisted by evil humans. The third power group is a force of ogres and gnolls based in the hills at the head of the Teesar Torrent" (pg 15).

The Gods of the Orcs (Dragon #62, June 1982): "The division of orcs into separate tribes (Evil Eye, Death Moon, Broken Bone, etc.) is usually made along cult lines. The tribal symbol is the holy symbol of the orcish god the tribe holds as its patron" (pg 29). "Luthic’s worship is one of the few that allow male and female orcs to become clerics ... Orcs in her tribe (Vile Rune) generally dwell underground, and seem to commit fewer raids against other creatures, though they are especially fierce if their lair is threatened" (pg 32). This is an article by Roger E. Moore detailing the gods of the Orcs other than Gruumsh, who appeared in Deities & Demigods (1980). Gygax later incorporated the article into Unearthed Arcana (1985) with credit to Moore.

WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1982): "These are Orcs of the Rotting Eye tribe, belonging to the clan of the Jagged Knife. The standard is a huge, glaive like knife blade with a serrated edge ... colored a rust red and atop a long shaft, beneath it being the circular target depicting a rotting eye colored yellow green and red. This symbol is repeated on the shields of the soldiers, with the jagged-bladed knife seeming to grow out of the rotting eye device. Guards and ranking figures wear dull red clothing. The sub-chief, shaman, and chief also have cloaks of yellowish green, the chief‘s being striped with red, the shaman’s merely bordered with that color" (pg 8). This module is set in the Yatil Mountains of Greyhawk.

Castle Zagyg (2008): The first dungeon level ("Storerooms") has a Bloody Skull orc tribe. Bloody Skull may have been the actual name, or was used to replace Bloody Head as the name was already published in the Monster Manual. Update: I also checked the earlier Yggsburgh hardcover (2005). There are some orc encounters, but no mention of tribes.

Tolkien's Wild Hobbits

This is a follow-up to the earlier, "Hobbits as the Rangers of Basic". I started on it right after that post but didn't get a chance to finish until now.

* * * * *

How might one envision a Hobbit Ranger? Tolkien considered this idea in the late '30s when he was working on the sequel to The Hobbit, which eventually became Lord of the Rings. In these drafts, published in The Return of the Shadow (1988), the role of Strider was served by Trotter, a Hobbit Ranger. 

As the Hobbits approach Bree, the idea of "Wild Hobbits" is introduced:
"For not all hobbits lived in the Shire by any means. But the Outsiders were a rustic, not to say (though in the Shire it was often said) uncivilized sort. Some were in fact no better than tramps and wanderers, ready to dig a hole in any bank, and to stay there just as long or short a time as it suited them" (pg 132 of the Return of the Shadow). This sentence survived in edited form into the published Lord of the Rings as part of the introduction to Bree.

When Trotter first appears, he is described much as Aragorn in the Prancing Pony:

"...a queer-looking, brown-faced hobbit, sitting in the shadows behind the others, was also listening intently. He had an enormous mug (more like a jug) in front of him, and was smoking a broken-stemmed pipe right under his rather long nose. He was dressed in a dark rough brown cloth, and had a hood on, in spite of the warmth, - and very remarkably, he had wooden shoes!" (pg 137 of RotS).

Mr Butterbur, proprietor of the Prancing Poncy, describes him:
"O! that is one of the wild folk - rangers we call 'em. He has been coming in now and again (in autumn and winter mostly) the last few years; but he seldom talks. Not but what he can tell some rare tales when he has a mind, you take my word. What his right name is I never heard, but he's known around here as Trotter. You can can hear him coming along the road in those shoes: clitter-clap - when he walks on a path, which isn't often. Why does he wear 'em? Well that I can't say. But there ain't no accounting for East or West, as we say here, meaning the Rangers and Shire-folk, begging your pardon" (pg 137-138 of RotS).

Gandalf equates the Rangers with Wild Hobbits in his letter:
 "...I am giving this to a ranger (wild hobbit) known as Trotter: he is dark, long-haired, has wooden shoes! He is an old friend of mine and knows a great deal. He will guide you to Weathertop and further if necessary" (pg 154 of RotS). Tolkien considered having the wooden shoes be wooden feet - Trotter having lost his feet in Mordor (pg 413 of RotS), though he never developed this story further.

Trotter goes on to serve the same role in the following chapters as Strider; much of his dialogue and actions are unchanged in the final book, and the wild hobbit Rangers are much like the human Rangers. It's striking how much of our concept of Rangers in D&D comes from material that Tolkien originally wrote for a Hobbit character.

In one outline, "Trotter takes them to a wild hobbit hole, and gets his friend to run on ahead and send a message to Weathertop by pony" (pg 162).
In draft form, this becomes: "Trotter also had a notion that if he came across any of his friends among the wild hobbits, one that he could rust, they might send him an ahead on the pony to Weathertop" (pg 166). 

In a later draft, Tolkien considers having the Rangers be a mix of Hobbits and Humans:
"In the wild lands east of Bree there roamed a few unsettled folk (men and hobbits). These the people of the Bree-land called Rangers. Some of them were well known in Bree, which they visited fairly frequently, and were welcome as bringers of news and tellers of strange tales" (pg 332 of RotS).

In a draft of the Prologue of Lord of the Rings, Tolkien also writes:
"For [Hobbits] existed now only in the Shire, Bree, and lonely here and there were a few wild Hobbits in Eriador. And it is said that there were still a few 'wild hobbits' in the eaves of Mirkwood west and east of the Forest" (pg 10 of The People of the Middle-Earth). In the published Lord of the Rings, the area west of Mirkwood is identified as the ancestral home of Hobbits (see the Prologue), and also the place where some Stoors, possibly Smeagol's ancestors, returned after trouble appears in Eriador (See The Tale of Years in Appendix B). Eriador is is where the ancestral Hobbits migrated before settling in Bree and The Shire (Prologue), so it makes sense to associate remaining wild hobbits with this region.

An interesting back-story for Trotter was tried out in the later drafts:
"Peregrin was the grandson of Bilbo's mother's second sister Donnamira Took. He was a mere babe, five years old, when Bilbo came back from his journey; but he grew up a dark-haired and (for a hobbit) lanky lad, very much more of a Took than a Boffin. He was always trotting round to Hobbiton, for his father, Paladin Boffin, lived at Northope, only a mile or two behind the Hill. When Peregrin began to talk about mountains and dwarves, and forests and wolves, Paladin became alarmed, and finally forbade his son to go near Bag-end, and shut his door on Bilbo.

Bilbo took this to heart, for he was extremely fond of Peregrin, but he did nothing to encourage him to visit Bag-end secretly. Peregrin then ran away from home and was found wandering about half-starved up on the moors of the Northfarthing. Finally, the day after he came of age (in the Spring of Bilbo's eightieth year) he disappeared, and was never found in spite of a search all over the Shire.

In former times Gandalf had always been held responsible for the occasional regrettable accidents of this kind; but now Bilbo got a large share of the blame, and after Peregrin's disappearance most of his younger relations were kept away from him. Though in fact Bilbo was probably more troubled by the loss of Peregrin than all the Boffins put together.

He had, however, other young friends, who for one reasons or another were not kept away from him. His favourite soon became Frodo Baggins..." (pg 385 of RotS).

The reference to Gandalf is based on Chapter 1 of the Hobbit:
"...and once in a while members of the Took clan-clan would go and have adventures" (pg 12), and "'Not the Gandalf who was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad ventures? Anything from climbing trees to visiting elves - or sailing in ships, sailing to other shores!" (pg 14; the original 1937 version of the Hobbit said "...to stowing away aboard the ships that said to the Other Side?").

As he continued to draft, Tolkien eventually decided that having a human Trotter as a  worked better in the chapters following Rivendell, and the larger story, and changed his character and all of the Rangers to all humans. While Trotter didn't make it into the published LOTR, there are still references to hobbits acting more like the 'wild hobbits' than the typical Shire resident:

-The Fallohides, who are the ancestors of Tooks like Pippin, love the woodlands, prefer hunting over farming, and are elf-friends (pg 12 of the Fellowship of the Ring). This is later echoed in the 'Scouring of the Shire' where the Tooks that Pippin brings out of Tuckborough are described as hunters, with bow & axes. The history of the Hobbits in the Prologue also retains a strong association between the early Hobbit migrants and the Dunedain (who became the Rangers) in Eriador.

-Hobbit bowmen are sent to fight for the last King of Arnor against the Witch-King at the Battle of Fornost against the Witch-King (pg 14 of FotR). The draft of this section reports that they "took some part as allies of the king in the wars of Angmar (sending bowmen to battle)" (pg 9 of The Peoples of Middle-Earth).

-The 'Bounders' patrol the borders of the Shire to "see that Outsiders of any king, great or small, did not make themselves a nuisance" (pg 19). Aragorn & the human Rangers also  guard the borders of the Shire so we could imagine some contact here. ('Bounder' might be might be used as the name of a dedicated 'Hobbit Ranger' class).

-Sam's cousin Hal goes hunting up in the North Moors in Northfarthing, where he encounters a "Tree-Man" (pg 53 of FotR). This is the same location where a runaway young Trotter was found wandering (see above). Some of the farmers in the 'Scouring of the Shire' also have hunting bows.

-Smeagol's people, perhaps related to Stoors who returned to the vicinity of Mirkwood (see above), have an affinity for swimming & boating (pg 62).

-Hobbit Outsiders: "There were probably many more Outsiders scattered about in the West of the World in those those days than the people of the Shire imagined. Some, doubtless, were no better than tramps, ready to dig a hole in any bank and stay only as long as it suited them" (Chapter 9). This is an edited version of the first sentence I quoted above, and the strongest remaining reference to the 'Wild Hobbits' remaining in the published book that I could find. The stereotypical view of a Hobbit is influenced by the Shire and may not accurately represent all Hobbits. 

-In some ways, the idea of Wild Hobbits is preserved in the Woses or "Wild Men" of Chapter 5 of The Return of the King, who (like Hobbits) are a short and secretive branch of humanity: "Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as the beasts ... Let us be thankful they are not hunting us: for they use poisoned arrows, it is said, and they are woodcrafty beyond compare".

Hobbits as the Rangers of Basic

A Hobbit Ranger? From OD&D, Vol 1, Men & Magic, pg 9

Last week I was thinking about how Hobbits (later Halflings) are the 'Rangers' of Basic D&D, due to their abilities to disappear in the outdoors and their skill with missile weapons, implying they are good at hunting. Give them a tracking skill and you've got a great ranger in vein of Trotter, Tolkien's original hobbit version of Aragorn. And then I read a post by Wayne R at Semper Initiativus Unum where a hobbit in his game of his acted in just this manner.

The two abilities I mentioned have their roots in The Hobbit, and while they were mentioned in Chainmail they don't really feature in AD&D for PCs. Holmes played a role bringing these forward from Chainmail to Basic, and emphasizing the 'wild' aspect of their hiding ability.

Back when I posted Part 3 of the Holmes Manuscript commentary, I simply related there were no changes to the section on Hobbits from the manuscript to the published rulebook (pg 7), without further comment. So here I'll look into Holmes' development of this section.
 
Chainmail has Gygax's original description of Hobbits as they appear in D&D: 
"These little chaps have small place in the wargame, but you may want them for recreation of certain battles. Remember that they are able to blend into the background and so make excellent scouts. They can fire a stone as far as an archer shoots, and because of their well known accuracy, for every two halflings firing count three on the Missile Fire table" (pg 29).

The ability to "disappear quietly and quickly" around big people is mentioned at the start of The Hobbit, and Bilbo's skill with stones is revealed when he battles the Spiders in Mirkwood.

OD&D adds magic resistance, and refers to Chainmail for missile fire, but omits their abilities as scouts: 

"Should any player wish to be one, he will be limited to the Fighting-Men class as a hobbit. Hobbits cannot progress beyond the 4th level (Hero), but they will have magic-resistance equal to dwarves (add four levels for saving throws), and they will have deadly accuracy with missiles as detailed in CHAINMAIL" (pg 8, Vol 1).

Vol 3 of OD&D also mentions their (along with dwarves and elves) better-than-human hearing, 1-2 in 6, another skill fitting well with Rangers.

Greyhawk only adds info about thieves: 
"Hobbits can be either fighters or thieves, and as thieves they have better chances for doing most things (see STATISTICS REGARDING CLASSES) and are not limited to how high in levels they can progress" (pg 5).

But there is a Greyhawk 'Correction Sheet' that clarifies their "accuracy with missiles": 
"All hobbits add +3 to hit probabilities when using the sling." 

Synthesizing the above, Holmes gives us the following in the Basic manuscript:

The height of three feet is not explicitly stated in Chainmail or OD&D but is either taken directly from The Hobbit ("about half our height"), or extrapolated from the four and five feet stated for dwarves and elves in Greyhawk. 

Holmes clearly looked to the Chainmail entry (and perhaps The Hobbit), because he includes the ability to disappear not mentioned in OD&D. He also associates it much more strongly with wild environments than either The Hobbit or Chainmail, using the words: "out-of doors", "woods" and "undergrowth". They are really the only class/race in Basic that has an outdoor skill; not even Elves are described as having any affinity for the outdoors.

With respect to missile fire, he presumably missed the Greyhawk correction (slings at +3), and instead implements the Chainmail accuracy as a simple +1 to hit with any missile weapon. 

I couldn't find any reference to halfling-sized armor/weapons in the earlier books, so this might be a pure Holmes addition. Gygax actually takes this a bit farther in B2, mentioning elf and dwarf-sized suits of armor. Holmes also includes their enhanced hearing in another section of the rulebook.

Gygax didn't change any of the above; it all made it into the published Basic rulebook, but he also didn't include this material in AD&D. In the Monster Manual, Gygax expands the +3 to hit to also include bows, at least for NPC halflings. The Players Handbook refers to the MM entry, making it ambiguous whether PC players are meant to also have these bonuses. The PHB also omits any reference to their ability to hide in the woods, instead giving them a chance to move silently enough to surprise on 1-4 in 6, or 1-2 in 6 through a door.

Moldvay Basic (B/X) instead sticks with Holmes' version, including the 'cut down' weapons/armor, the +1 missile adjustment, and the ability to disappear under cover, here quantified as 1-9 in 10 (or 1-2 in 6 in a dungeon). They are also given two additional abilities that fit well with a 'Hobbit Ranger', including a +1 to individual initiative reaction and a -2 AC when fighting large monsters.

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Some possible Hobbit Ranger names from the Generator:

Glen Ael
Quetas the Searcher
Go I the Wary (!)
Dankrac Spoor
Ton Mun the Dun