Fans Are Sharing Obscure Lore About Hobbits

From Redditor u/Billy_Fish:

At one point Tolkien had Bingo (Frodo) putting on the ring at Farmer Maggot's, prancing around with a mug of beer then stealing the farmer's hat on the way out the door. All pretty much contrary to how the story as a whole would come together after it veered away from being a simple sequel to The Hobbit.

From Redditor u/naner00:

In the early drafts of The Hobbit, Bilbo kills Smaug using the power of the Arken Stone.

I like to imagine that this was the way that the oral story was told by Tolkien to his children.

Later on he had to adapt it to fit into a book.

From Redditor u/svantevid:

Originally it wasn't Frodo and Sam, but Bingo and Sam. I hope I remember this correctly because it can only be found in some pencil scribbles in Tolkien's notes and I couldn't check it.

Also, Tolkien started LOTR as a light-weighted, Hobbit-style story. But then the story took a really dark turn with the black riders and Tolkien went back and rewrote earlier chapters. Also, publisher's son said he really liked the black riders. Well, this publisher's son ended up actually publishing LOTR. This is how much time Tolkien needed.

From Redditor u/belcrumov:

I only learned recently that Sam's 'real' Hobbit name is Banazir Galpsi. Never knew, though I guess bigger fans than I at least are vaguely aware of this.

I never took a big detailed interest in Tolkien's etymological efforts in writing his books, so it was a funny surprise to read, but I do appreciate that Tolkien did it because it makes his stories feel real all the more.

From Redditor u/valrond:

Frodo's real name is Maura.

From Redditor u/amarie54:

The very first thing Bilbo Baggins thought of when he first picked up the Ring was bacon.