The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is offering viewers a history lesson on Hobbit-holes. The Rings of Power season 2 has been powering through the range of fantasy races and species popularized by the esteemed J.R.R. Tolkien, including pre-Hobbit races like Harfoots and Stoors. With the Fallohides now being the only ancient pre-Hobbit race that The Rings of Power has left to adapt, the prequel show is providing a deep dive into the history of Tolkien’s beloved Third Age Hobbits. The Stoors are taking center stage and giving viewers an educational insight into their creatively designed homes.

Rings of Power’s Stoors are living in the eastern land of Rhûn, an area unexplored by Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies. Stoors living in Rhûn is an invention on the show’s part, as Stoors were never associated with Rhûn in Tolkien’s writings. Instead, the source material placed Stoors “by the banks of the great river Anduin,” which ran parallel to the Misty Mountains. These Rhûn-dwelling Stoors are, nonetheless, occupying homes with strong ties back to Tolkien’s canon. These homes visualize crude, Second Age versions of familiar Hobbit dwellings.

The Rings Of Power’s Stoors Provide An Origin Story For Hobbit-Holes In The Shire

The Stoors Are Teaching Viewers The History Of Hobbit-Holes

In The Rings of Power season 2, Stoor leader Gundabel explains to Nori what Stoor homes are like. Tanya Moodie’s Gundabel lets Nori know that Stoors have been living in Smials for generations. These holes are dug into the arid rock and earth of Rhûn. Like Tolkien said in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, “All Hobbits had originally lived in holes in the ground.” It seems that the show is creating an origin story for Lord of the Rings’ Hobbit-holes, also known as Smials, suggesting that they could’ve been originally devised by Stoors in Rhûn.

Will Nori Become The Founder Of The Shire In The Rings Of Power?

Nori Could Become A Key Figure In Hobbit History

The Rings of Power may be building towards Nori founding the Shire. By depicting pre-Hobbit Smials in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the show is likely suggesting that this concept somehow made its way to the Shire. Tolkien didn’t specify whether it was Harfoots, Stoors, Fallohides, or all three that first developed Smials, leaving the show able to apply some creative license. There were no Harfoot, Stoor, or Fallohide characters specified in The Lord of the Rings; the Hobbit ancestors were just outlined roughly. So, Nori is an original character, making any Shire origin story non-canonical.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Prime Video, with new episodes out every Thursday.

All pre-Hobbits in the show are original characters. This imagination on the show’s part is entailing luscious landscapes, scenery, and set designs, if not faithfulness to the text. There’s currently no better candidate than Nori for bringing the idea of the Stoors’ Smials back west. Nori is a traveler by nature and will go west once she has helped the Stranger find out about his past. Plus, Nori’s conversations with Gundabel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power reveal her longing for a true home, which she may have to establish herself with the well-known Shire.