Posted: March 13, 2000 at 09:59:33: by Gungnir
: Well, everyone has their own mental picture, but Frodo received the One Ring when he was 33, and the other hobbits were all pretty young compared to him. They hit the road for Rivendell when Frodo turned 50.Frodo was 33 but, as Hobbits were longer lived than ordinary humans and matured later, he appeared to be about 20-ish. Hobbits "came of age" at 33 and, when Tolkien was writing, people were considered to have "come of age" at 21. His possession of the ring for the next 17 years will have slowed down (or stopped) his ageing so, at 50 years of age, he should look rather like a 21 year old human. Well apart from being 3 foot tall with hairy feet (and 'slightly pointed and elvish ears'?). Sam should look older than Frodo as he is about the same age but hasn't been protected from the ravages of time by the Ring. I believe Tolkien said somewhere (possibly in The Hobbit) that, for Hobbits, 50 was about the age when they started behaving more sensibly and settling down. I always took this to mean about 30 in human years but that's just my opinion. Peter Jackson seems to share this opinion; I believe Sean Astin (Sam) is about 30 years old. The other Hobbits (Merry and Pippin) should appear to be about 20 (human years) as they are both very near their "coming of ages".
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