At some point, the entire Fellowship gets high, and everyone has eventually found their chill and lazily talk philosophy and history and customs. At some point, someone (probably Boromir or Legolas) asks, ‘Where do Hobbits come from?’

And everyone just kinda stops. Like, even the Hobbits never really thought about that. ‘Because I never heard of any Hobbits in the old stories. We all know how Elves, and Men, and Dwarves were made and when. But I never heard any tales about the creation and coming of the Hobbits.’

(Fuck it, it was probably Legolas who bought this up.)

Everyone turns to Gandalf, because if anyone should know if not Hobbits themselves, surely a wizard would? Gandalf hems and haws and takes an extra big hit, before grudgingly admitting he hasn’t a clue. (Again. Because this probably came up with the Company, too.)

So they all start theorizing. Maybe Hobbits were made secretly by a Valar, and let loose to see what would happen. Maybe they were a cross between Elves and Dwarves that intermarried. Maybe they were an offshoot of the other three races. Or randomly formed from the leftover ether of creation.

After a while, the conversation trails off. They are no closer to deciding where the hell Hobbits came from, but are too relaxed to care.

And then Pippin asks,

‘What exactly is Tom Bombadil?’