Q: Where Did Gollum’s People Come From?
ANSWER: Gollum’s people were Stoors, the “third” sub-group among Hobbits who were larger and stronger than the more numerous “common” Hobbits (the Harfoots) or the tall, slim “adventurous” Hobbits (the Fallohides). The Stoors tended to be friendlier with Dwarves than other Hobbits and they liked to live near rivers.
According to the appendices in The Lord of the Rings, the Stoors were the southernmost group of Hobbits to cross the Misty Mountains into Eriador. They used the Redhorn Pass to enter Dunland around Third Age year 1150 (NOTE: The Prologue says the Stoors followed the Loudwater south); some of the Stoors migrated north to the Angle (the point of land between the Bruinen and Mitheithel rivers) in Rhudaur. So far as I can determine, the Stoors of Dunland settled near the Gwathlo river.
In the year 1356, when the breakaway kingdom of Rhudaur (now controlled by a hill-lord loyal to Angmar) attacked Arthedain (King Argeleb I was slain in this war), the Stoors of the Angle fled Rhudaur. Some of the Angle Stoors passed over the Misty Mountains and returned to the Vales of Anduin. These appear to have been the ancestors of Gollum’s people. The remaining Angle Stoors seem to have joined the other Stoors in Dunland.
The Stoors of Dunland became divided again when many of them migrated to the Shire in the year 1630. Six years later the remaining Dunland Stoors perished in the Great Plague.
See also:
- Was Gollum a Hobbit?
- Did Hobbits Live by the Anduin?
- How Many Independent Hobbit Countries Were There in Middle-earth?
- Where Do Hobbits Come From?
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