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The Stoors (Éo."Storas") were one of the three original tribes of the Hobbits. They were generally the heartiest of the Little People. Their culture later persisted as a subculture of the Shire Commoners, though it was mingled somewhat with Harfoot practices.


Appearance[]

The Stoors were very broad and stout, stronger than the more petite Harfoots but stockier than the rather finely Fallohides. They had large hands and feet with thick legs and strong arms. Their skins were rather swarthy and ruddy and their hair was dark brown, sometimes almost black, and even more curly than that of the Harfoots. Some male Stoors grew thin and downy facial hair, a practice and trait almost unknown among their kin, and many elderly Stoorish males were quite proud of their side whiskers. Some, too, were born with remarkably swarthy skins, almost akin to those of Haradrim and other foreign Men, but this trait waned with history, and only the most ancient folk of this tribe demonstrated this strange trait.

Culture[]

The Stoors were generally best suited to riverine valleys. In these they dwelt along the Anduin and River Gladden, and later the Baranduin. As a result, their culture was based somewhat on aquatic trades and practices, and many of them were fishermen, with small round boats; some of the only to be found among Hobbits. If they were not fishermen, they were often farmers dwelling on and governing large properties. Many could swim quite well, were skilled runners and were strong in the arm, and some wore Dwarf-boots in muddy weather, in addition to thicker and denser garb in general.

As a rule, they were a rough, blunt, and hearty people, whose values were territorial and emphasized the importance of loyalty, nationality, and provincialism. They did not take kindly to mischief, even of the most innocent and harmless kind, and they were generally rougher and harsher on their children than most Hobbits, who were otherwise easy-going and gentle with their offspring, though blunt in speaking to them. They were also more militant than most of their relatives, and many of the Shire-Sheriffs were drawn from these people, and although their tasks were usually limited to seeking for wayward beasts, correcting erring children, or managing arguments between troublesome locals drunken or bitter, the Stoors fulfilled these tasks more attentively, and not as gently, compared to most Sheriffs. It was with the Stoors that the practice of "canning" (that is, beating a delinquent individual with a walking-stick) originated and was propagated for the most part.

The Stoors were a somewhat adventurous folk, though less than Fallohides, and were known in ancient times to follow female matriarchs who presided over individual clans, as chieftenesses of sorts. Even in later days, women in Stoor communities held a degree of respect that was only outmatched by the ancient dignity of Fallohide-wives. These were beautiful, according to Hobbit-standards, and also very proud as a rule, as well as self-sufficient. Some Stoor-females even owned their own properties. The Stoors were thought to have traded goods and ideas with the men of Dunland, and possibly the ancestors of the Beornings in more ancient times, and as such both their culture and their bodies resembled, more than any others of their race, those of Men.

History[]

Hobbittribes

The Stoors were the tribe of Holbytlan that remained in the middle Anduin Vales for the longest time. Only after T.A. 1150 and 1300 they started to migrate westwards and took the Redhorn Pass towards Enedhwaith. There many settled in northern Dunland, Hollin and the region of the Tharbad-marshes. Only a small group moved northwards to the Angle of Rhudaur and mingled with the Harfoots and Fallohides that lived there. With the growing threat of Angmar however many of these Angle-Stoors fled southwards and reunited with their kindred in Dunland; these Dunland-Stoors became a woodland people and came into contact with the Dunlendings and adopted their language; some Stoors even returned to Rhovanion. Later most of the Dunland-Stoors joined the Harfoots and Fallohides in their migration to the Shire.

Groups[]

  • Gladden-Stoors
  • Hollin-Folk
  • Rhudaurian Stoors
  • Southern Stoors

Renowned Stoor-individuals[]

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