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Bad at fighting? Sam stabbed Shelob, the progeny of a cosmic horror that had killed elves, orcs and men barely taking a scratch. Merry and Frodo both stabbed a Ringwraith. Pippin killed a troll at the gates of Mordor. Merry and Pippin also killed men at the Scouring of the Shire.
Bad at fighting.
Sure buddy. Sure.
Merry delivered arguably the most important blow to the Witch-King of Angmar himself. Not to diminish the importance of Eowyn, but her stab wouldn’t have killed the Witch-King if Merry hadn’t dispelled his magic first.
(Merry’s enchanted blade, found in the Barrow-downs and given to him by Tom Bombadil, was specifically-designed by the Dunedain of Cardolan as an anti-Witch-King weapon.)
Every instance of a hobbit being ‘good at fighting’ is a case of highly contextualised, highly circumstantial violence that involved more determination and luck than skill or aggression. They’re written as unlikely heroes, and it’s at best disingenuous to reframe that as their having any particular facility with combat.
Tolkein is very explicit in that you should not fuck with a hobbit who’s got a rock and a sling.
Or an apple, yes I know
Reminder that the hobbits won the Shire from the goblins through battle and mettle while inventing the game of Golf for Middle Earth.
That was just Bullroarer setting the standard for Tookishness, an unpleasant chore that couldn’t be avoided under the circumstances. I’m sure after the battle he was back to eating soft cheeses and twitching his curtains at the neighbours like a normal hobbit.
Yeah, that’s probably part of why D&D halflings get luck bonuses. But still, they get results!
Reminded of Sean Aston being told he’s too little to show off how good he was at stunt combat training - and I always figure, they should’ve had him 1v1 the biggest motherfucker on set. Grab a foam sword and see what he can do against one of the 7’8" orc actors that John Rhys-Davies kept smacking.
I confess that to this day (having seen the movies and read the books multiple times) I cannot tell Merry and Pippin apart. They’re the same hobbit.
Pipin is the one that sings and looks like a goof.
Merry was a drug addict in lost
Merry looks like a toad. Pippin looks like he keeps one in his mouth.
…I always have to look it up.
Merry has lighter hair, thats the easiest way.
Sam is bad at fighting? Could have fooled me.
None of the hobbies have any real training. Sam is capable, probably owning more to having a physically demanding profession than the other hobbits, but he wins more by persistence than fighting skill.
Persistence or skill, seems irrelevant because he’s good at fighting. He has a habit of kicking ass.
“Where’s Boromir? Where is my son?”
“Somewhere directly behind this giant crosshair, I think.”
