MovieChat Forums > The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Discussion > Feet Fur

Feet Fur

posted 6 years ago by Cookie.L.A. (2117)
6 replies | jump to latest

I got in an annoying online "conversation" once when I was saying I got annoyed with the characters being all battered and weathered as they dragged themselves across that mountain...yet they didn't even pack shoes.

This fan of the books informed me haughtily that hobbits have FUR on the soles of their feet, and I was stupid to criticize the (intended) drama of that sequence. And I was saying, Well, if they don't need shoes, why not establish that instead of making them look like barefoot little orphans as they trod across the wilds?

It did not end well.

Anyway....did anyone else find it curious they didn't wear shoes, yet sobbed about how rugged the terrain was? I was confused.
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[–] janelsenor (2044) 6 years ago

No, but that may be because I read the books first.

However, the movies do establish that Hobbits never wear shoes. I just assumed their feet were rough and calloused enough to withstand rugged terrain.

Not sure where that dude got the idea that they have fur on the soles of their feet though. Lol.

[–] Fletch (166) 6 years ago

They had furry feet but a nice pair of GoreTex hiking boots surely would have helped.

[–] Costumer (1821) 6 years ago

Yes. Pity they wouldn't be invented until 10,000 or so years later.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

Nope, not curious. Knew what was going on.

FYI, Abbebe Bikela, the great Ethiopian long-distance runner, won both the Boston Marathon AND the Olympic Marathon running barefoot.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Humans who don't have access to shoes develop very strong calluses on their feet, and are able to get around wilderness areas without undue drama. There are people who live in high mountains and thorn-filled forests without shoes, even today! And hobbits apparently have better feet than humans, tougher and less vulnerable to cold.

Nobody really knows why Prof. Tolkien gave his hobbit characters tough furry feet that didn't need shoes, but yeah. When the time came to put them on film, the visual effect was a bit like a barefoot urchin.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

In the Extended Edition, and maybe in the theater release as well, in TFOTR, at Bilbo’s birthday party, one of the Proudfoot Baginnses put his foot up on the table so we could have a gander. I think John Ronald wanted to make the point that Hobbits are pastoral creatures who belong in nature, and to whom the scholarship of magic (the Elves, Mordor) is foreign.