Middle-earth

Location

The Shire

Also known as Sûzat (in the Red Book)

The green homeland of the Hobbits in the west of Eriador, sheltered and largely overlooked by the great powers.

Tolkien’s textsSupported by the narratives published in Tolkien’s lifetime.
Type
Region
Region
Eriador
Age
The Third Age
On the map
20%, 32%
The Shire

On the interactive atlas

Coordinates shown here are approximate, marking this place on the shared atlas map for orientation rather than cartography. It sits on the Third Age layer.

View on the interactive atlas →

Geography

A rolling, well-watered land between the Brandywine River and the Far Downs, divided into the Four Farthings and the Westmarch. Its mild climate and small rivers make it ideal for farming.

History

Granted to the Hobbits by King Argeleb II of Arthedain in T.A. 1601, the Shire flourished in obscurity after the fall of the northern kingdom, protected unknowingly by the Rangers of the North.

People & inhabitants

Hobbits, chiefly of the Harfoot, Stoor and Fallohide strains; a few Dwarves and Men passed through.

Significance

The Shire is the story’s moral centre: the ordinary place worth preserving. Frodo’s quest is undertaken to keep it untouched, and the Scouring shows what happens when it is not.

Connections

Bree lies to the east; the Old Forest and Buckland to the southeast; the Grey Havens to the west.

Events here

Figures of this place

Bilbo Baggins
Character

Bilbo Baggins

A respectable Shire hobbit who is swept into the quest of Erebor and becomes the first hobbit to bear the One Ring.

Frodo Baggins
Character

Frodo Baggins

The hobbit of the Shire who carried the One Ring across Middle-earth to Mount Doom and destroyed it.

Samwise Gamgee
Character

Samwise Gamgee

Frodo’s loyal gardener and companion, who carried him — and, briefly, the Ring — to the end of the quest.

Meriadoc Brandybuck
Character

Meriadoc Brandybuck

A clever Brandybuck who rode to war with Rohan and helped slay the Witch-king at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Peregrin Took
Character

Peregrin Took

The youngest hobbit of the Fellowship, who became a knight and guard of Gondor and saved Faramir from Denethor’s pyre.

Gandalf
Character

Gandalf

A Wizard of the Istari, keeper of the Elven-ring Narya, and the chief architect of the resistance to Sauron.

Sources

  • The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55

    Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.

  • The Hobbit · 1937

    Published in Tolkien’s lifetime. The primary narrative of Bilbo’s journey.

Related places