Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish doctor. However, he is best known for collecting Finnish folk tales during the mid-1800s and producing the Kalevala. The Kalevala is considered the national epic of Finland (kind of like the Sagas of Iceland).
So, why would I include Lönnrot here?
There are actually a couple of reasons.
The main impetus is this drawing of Lönnrot.
Elias Lönnrot
In order to compile the Kalavala, Lönnrot traveled the Finnish countryside collecting the tales. The picture is described as a “caricature” of him doing so. Now, I don’t know if that means that he really did so barefoot or not. I suspect not, but there would be a reason to show him barefooted and wearing the kind of open folk clothing of the area: that would be because the locals really did go barefoot. I talked about that in my last blog entry: Bare Feet in Scandinavia.
There is another reason to include Lönnrot. You may recall that J.R.R. Tolkien was a folklorist and linguist. Tolkien actually taught himself Finnish to that he could read the Kalevala, and it is considered one of the sources that Tolkien drew upon to write The Lord of the Rings. Even more so, the elven language Quenya is based on Finnish.
I have no idea if the caricature of Lönnrot influenced Tolkien to have the hobbits perennially barefoot, but it is an interesting idea.
There were undoubtedly other influences. The book Ents, elves, and Eriador: the environmental vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, by Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans, suggests it is because the hobbits were to be considered truly connected to the earth (which is why the scouring of the Shire was so awful). The book talks about their environmentally friendly underground houses, and notes:
In any case, their dwelling in the ground is fundamental to the nature of Hobbits, and although in Buckland and in Bree some live in houses aboveground, Hobbits of the Shire consider this aboveground life to be unnatural. Hobbits are close to the earth, and they are closely associated with the material substance of the soil. They wear no shoes, and their walking around barefoot keeps them in direct physical contact with the earth. This literally down-to-earth image is extended further when we learn in the fourth paragraph of The Hobbit of their uncanny ability to blend in with nature: “There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along”—a point repeated at the start of the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings.
The hobbits barefootedness really is fundamental to their nature, and keeps them “down-to-earth”. That barefootedness is also undoubtedly part of their being able not to “blunder” around. As we all know, going barefoot provides an elegance to one’s movements.
I am also then reminded of our of our own, quite-large hobbits, Cody Lundin, of Dual Survival and survivalist fame. He, too, has a environmentally friendly underground home:
How’s that for a blog entry? Started out with a Finnish folklorist and ended up with an Arizonan survivalist?
Wow, that was one amazing blog! I didn’t anticipate the connection to Lord of the Rings, but looking back I see exactly where you are coming from with this one. The close connection to the earth and desire for physical contact does fit. However, I would suspect that this aspect could have also possibly come from a number of other cultures around the world ranging from the America, to African and Austrailla. As a point of refrence, J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State (now Free State Province, part of South Africa). As you know, South Africa is well known for being very pro-barefoot, leading me to suspect that Mr. Tolkien may have gotten a substantial amount of his pro-barefoot views/ideas from early childhood experiences in South Africa and experieriences with the culture there. This is not to say that the caricature of Lönnrot didn’t build on what was already there to start with. Good theory though, I’m sure it was a factor in some way.
Actually, I like your reminder about Tolkien being born in South Africa. That really may influenced him regarding barefootedness (or maybe his mother even after they moved back to England).