When The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power came out in 2022 with its wide range of original characters, it was hard to see how they were all relevant to the story, but it looks like the Harfoots may be telling the story of the Shire. Set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the events of The Rings of Power occur thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings was fantasy genius J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterwork, and Peter Jackson based his trilogy on it, featuring numerous Hobbits.

While Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies portrayed Third Age Hobbits like Frodo and Bilbo, The Rings of Power depicts Harfoots and Stoors. The Lord of the Rings’ prologue listed Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides as the three pre-Hobbit breeds that combined to create the Hobbits of the Third Age. Tolkien didn’t create any pre-Hobbit characters, so The Rings of Power’s Harfoots and Stoors are all original characters. It seems like The Rings of Power season 2 is showing how these characters led up to the creation of the Shire, with one character, in particular, standing out.

Theory: Nori Will Establish The Shire In The Rings Of Power

Nori May Be The Shire’s First Hobbit

It is starting to look like Nori could be the one to establish the Shire. The Rings of Power season 2 has seen Elanor Brandyfoot, also known as Nori, reach the eastern land of Rhûn with the Stranger, with her friend Poppy Proudfellow following shortly after. This comes after she left her home and community westward in Rhovanion, which equates roughly to The Lord of the Rings’ descriptions of pre-Hobbits in “their Wandering Days.” Nori is a wanderer among wanderers – her adventurous spirit makes her a dead ringer for the one to lead the whole clan west over the mountains into Eriador.

The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) tries to use his magic to obtain food from a dry tree in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 1

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Tolkien stated that some early records situated pre-Hobbits “in the upper vales of Anduin” (Rhovanion), informing the show’s Harfoots. Pre-hobbits eventually moved westward into Eriador, founding the Shire. In her travels in Rhûn, Nori is discovering signs of the danger posed by Sauron, as well as Stoors. Indeed, Sauron is rising in the southern lands of Mordor. After she helps the mysterious Stranger find his path and goes back west, Nori may have cause to lead her people further westward away from Mordor into safer lands, perhaps taking some of the Stoors – or their ideas – with her.

How The Rings Of Power Season 2 Has Teased The Shire’s Origin

Season 2 Foreshadows The Creation Of The Shire

Nori (Markella Kavenagh) crying in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 4

The Rings of Power season 2 shows Nori, Poppy, and the Stranger uncovering the Stoors and their homes, which foreshadow Hobbit-holes. Tanya Moodie’s Stoor leader, Gundabel, introduces Nori to the concept of the Stoors’ permanent homes, which she calls Smials. By contrast, Nori’s Harfoot community is nomadic. Tolkien said of Hobbit-holes that “The oldest kind were, indeed, no more than built imitations of Smials,” Smials being synonymous with Hobbit-holes. When she inevitably journeys back west, Nori will bring knowledge of Smials with her, and possibly some Stoors to boot.

Tolkien described these primitive Hobbit-holes as “thatched with dry grass or straw, or roofed with turves, and having walls somewhat bulged.” This certainly squares up with the crude architecture and interiors on show in the Stoors’ community, making their Smials likely precursors to those in Hobbiton. “All Hobbits had originally lived in holes in the ground,” making the Stoor Smials seem like the first Hobbit-holes. Since the show is following Nori as one of its main characters, it would make sense for Nori to play some kind of wider role in The Lord of the Rings.

Nori Being Friends With The Stranger Could Explain Gandalf’s Shire Connection

The Stranger May Be Gandalf

Daniel Weyman as The Stranger in Rings of Power

The Stranger in The Rings of Power may be Gandalf, if the hints that the show has been dropping are anything to go by, and this would explain Gandalf’s love of Hobbits in wider Tolkien lore. While the show’s Harfoots and Stoors are original characters, and its storyline placing Nori in Rhûn with the Stranger is original material, it could be providing its own origin story for the Shire, and Gandalf’s relationship with it. Gandalf has a huge affinity for Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings, but they are mysteriously unknown to the wider world, including Sauron. The show may be tackling this enigma.

If The Rings of Power manages to embellish its source material with an original but canon-friendly arc describing the start of Gandalf and Hobbits’ beautiful friendship, it would be truly telling the start of the story of The Lord of the Rings.

In showing how Gandalf originally met pre-Hobbit Harfoots, the show would be explaining Gandalf’s unique knowledge of Hobbits and their whereabouts. Hobbits were instrumental to Sauron eventually losing the War of the Ring – to the saving of Middle-earth from Sauron’s tyranny. Gandalf’s relationship with Hobbits was critical here. If The Rings of Power manages to embellish its source material with an original but canon-friendly arc describing the start of Gandalf and Hobbits’ beautiful friendship, it would be truly telling the start of the story of The Lord of the Rings.

If the Stranger is Gandalf, and Nori does found the Shire, then the show’s darkness is being offset by its origin story for the Fellowship of the Ring, and Sauron’s victors.

What’s more, this arc would powerfully contrast Rings of Power’s Sauron arc. Sauron rises to power in the Second Age and the show details this closely, offering an unprecedented glimpse into its logistics and into Sauron’s own thoughts and feelings as it happens. If the Stranger is Gandalf, and Nori does found the Shire, then the show’s darkness is being offset by its origin story for the Fellowship of the Ring, and Sauron’s victors. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is bringing a new perspective to Middle-earth either way, and it will be intriguing to see how it informs future stories.

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