Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Characters: The Took Cousins

When Frodo invited his twenty closest friends to his annual celebration of Bilbo’s birthday, these young hobbits were most likely his cousins from the Took branch of his family, as I cannot imagine a Baggins displaying such ridiculous behavior. By the time of Frodo’s generation and that of his younger cousins, members of the Took clan had married into nearly every other respectable clan in the Shire, bringing their wealth and quirky behavior with them. Besides reviewing the Took family tree and a potential cause of their unusual actions, I will explain how the clothing of wealthy hobbits changed from the time of Bilbo’s 111^st birthday to seventeen years later when Frodo was again visited by Gandalf. Finally, I believe the Took cousins were based upon a group of young people in the Real World who were contemporaries of Tolkien, and I will compare the behaviors of the two cultures.

The Took Family Tree

Last discussed during “Appendix C: Family Trees”, this branch of the Took family was the descendants of Thain Gerontius “Old” Took and his wife Adamanta. Descendants along a male line still bore the surname or clan name of the patriarch, only the hobbit-lads held positions of authority, and the eldest surviving sons claimed hereditary titles. This method of inheritance was precarious, as a Thain disinterested in marriage or kept from marrying by his aggressive mother would end his line. Due to these rules, Pippin Took become a Thain despite being the youngest of his generation. The first son of Old Took, Isengrim Took III, had died without issue and ended his line. The second son, Isumbras Took IV, had a single son, Fortinbras II, who in turn had a single son, Ferumbras Took III, who died without issue and ended his line. The third son, Hildigrim, had a single son, Aldalgrim, who had a single son Paladin, who was the father of Pippin.

Hobbit-lads from other branches of the family were eligible to inherit the title should Pippin die without issue and end his line. No information was recorded on the numerous descendants of the fourth son, Isembold, perhaps hinting at illegitimacy. If that was the case, the only other claimants to the title exclusively through a male line were Reginard and Everard, great-grandsons of the sixth son, Isembard. Fifth son Hildifons had disappeared, the line of seventh son Hildbrand ended with a single granddaughter, youngest son Isengar never married, and the four other children were hobbit-lasses.

A clear effort was made by the family to keep their power within it. Second cousin marriage appeared to be encouraged. Rosamunda Took, the sole grandchild of Hildibrand, married Odovacar Bolger, grandson of Donnamira Took, who was the second daughter of Old Took. Esmeralda Took, granddaughter of Hildigrim and younger sister of Paladin, married Saradoc Brandybuck, grandson of Mirabella, who was the youngest of the Old Took’s daughters. A generation later, their only child Merry would sometimes appear on family trees as the husband of Estella Bolger, the daughter of Odovacar and Rosamunda. The pair is not listed with biological children, who would theoretically have two great-great-grandparents instead of the usual thirty-two. At least when Pippin married Diamond Took, she came from a distant branch of the family.

This limited genetic pool with a focus on maintaining power from a shared ancestor is known as the “founder effect”. People from these communities are more likely to have rare genetic diseases and disorders. Highly noticeable conditions include kidney problems for some Anabaptist populations, a wide range of disorders for Ashkenazi Jews, and an enzyme malfunction that cascades into severe physical and mental disabilities for Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints.

This branch of the Took clan does not appear to have common physical disorders, but the family is generally regarded as “peculiar” by other Hobbits, with many members showing traits that are consistent with mental health conditions currently under the neurodivergent umbrella. During my Middle-earth psychology case studies, I have already noted how Bilbo had traits aligning to attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) and an antisocial personality (ASPD), while Frodo seemingly had complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and autism with attention deficit hyperactivity (AuDHD). Based on this knowledge, I will describe possible conditions of other close family members during future essays, with Case Study #4 debuting next week.

Changing Clothing Styles of the Early 19^th Century

While illustrating “Wealthy Hobbits of the Late Third Age” for Bilbo’s 111^st birthday part, I designed outfits aligning with the 1810s. Since seventeen years passed between the party and Frodo’s departure from the Shire, the clothing would likewise change. In the Real World, women’s wear did not greatly change between the mid-1810s and the early 1830s. Women continued to wear bonnets while outdoors, keep their waists trim with corsets, and employ low necklines for evening wear. While hobbit-lasses were rounder than their woman counterparts, they would generally wear a similar outfit throughout the period.

A greater change was seen in men’s wear. Men of the Real World were concerned with making their bodies appear what we would now consider more feminine. Fashionable young men wore corsets to tuck in their waists and padding to expand their chests. A new style of coat showed off these physical features. Men had traditionally worn a frock coat that fully buttoned in the front if needed and sloped back into a long tail. The new tailcoat or dress coat was too tight to button in the front, and cut abruptly to the tail in the back. The silhouettes of hobbit-lads would be markedly dissimilar from men of the Real World due to the different distribution of body fat. Hobbit-lad corsets may have provided breast and back support similar to women’s corsets, as hobbit-lads had wide waists and likely would not need padding to expand their chests.

Another stylistic change was in the neckcloth or cravat. While Beau Brummell had fastidiously tied his neckcloth, the style was fairly plain. The modern trend called for a fancier neckcloth, which rich young men loved and everyone else did not. The first book mocking neckcloths, called Neckclothitania; or Tietania, an essay on Starchers, by One of the Cloth, appeared in 1818 and was published by John Joseph Stockdale. The book illustrated increasingly complicated and ridiculous ways of tying a neckcloth, apparently based on what was familiar at the time. As for Stockdale, he produced other satire mostly of the political nature but was best known for publishing the memoirs of English courtesan Harriette Wilson.

A proponent of fancier neckcloths, along with tighter waistcoats and taller hats, was Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, comte d’Orsay. A Frenchman from an aristocratic family who moved to London, he added more flair to his outfits than Brummell had a decade before. Even though dark colors were still preferred for outerwear over bright colors, details like jewelry and perfume were back in style. Top hats would continue to grow throughout the 19^th century, evolving into a “stove-pipe” style. Hats in the Real World were generally dark colors like black and brown, but hobbits-lads would likely want their love of green and yellow to extend to their hats.

The growth of wardrobes during these decades came as a result of our old friend, the Industrial Revolution. While clothing was still comparatively more expensive than today, the availability of machine-woven fabrics substantially lowered the cost. For the first time, people could purchase ready-to-wear or prêt-à-porter, trying on clothes off the rack in a department store rather than sewing individual garments by hand. Tailoring was still of greater importance than today, between the demand for form-fitting outfits and fabric with less stretch than modern materials. However, being able to hop into a shop and pick out new clothes greatly cut down on the end user’s time to create a new outfit.

Bring Young Things

While I take inspiration from clothing of the early 19^th century, the attitude of the Took cousins felt more modern to me. Here I turn to the attitudes of the Bright Young Things or Bright Young People, wealthy young adults of the 1920s. This period has received many names, including the Roaring 20s, Jazz Age, Gilded Age, and Progressive Era. In the years following World War I, the Bright Young Things used London as their playground while the less privileged members of a half-generation older had died in trench warfare or suffered from its effects. According to Historic UK, the group was best known for its constant partying as members “drank to excess, took drugs… danced and drank till dawn”, while the National Portrait Gallery of the United Kingdom noted “their decadent parties, riotous practical jokes, and hedonistic behavior”. Their extravagance was parodied in stories written by British author P.G. Wodehouse featuring the character Bertie Wooster, a young aristocrat constantly rescued from parties and schemes gone wrong by his harried butler, Jeeves.

Modern interpretation of the Bright Young Thing revealed a darker side to their partying. Despite their fun, they were deeply unhappy, part of a nihilistic “lost generation”. Although they had not experienced combat, their childhoods were overshadowed by the war, and some felt guilty for having been too young for the draft while slightly older community members had served and died. Many belonged to what we currently call the LGBTQ+ community; even without partying, their lifestyle was not accepted by their families and considered illegal. With this modern understanding, it is unsurprising that many had poor mental health and developed addictions. Those who survived the Great Depression and World War II lived to middle age. They distanced themselves from their hedonistic past with varying success, but their names frequently turned up in books and articles on the subject.

Tolkien was a contemporary of the Bright Young Things, although from a lower social class. He lived sixty miles away from London and was unlikely to have rubbed shoulders with them. However, Tolkien was an avid reader and well-acquainted with the culture of his day on top of his knowledge of history and literature. Frodo’s annual, exclusive parties that “snowed food and rained drink” bore resemblance to the parties of the Bright Young Things, although the Catholic veneer to the text suggested the Took cousins would not engage in “licentious behavior”, unlike their Real World counterparts. Similarly, some of the cousins seemed to disappear after Saruman took over the Shire, perhaps dying during occupation or distancing themselves from Frodo.

Conclusion

The Took cousins were part of a tight-knit family with defining personality traits aligning with forms of neurodivergence that may have been the result of “founder effect” or inbreeding. I interpreted their clothing style to mimic wealthy early Victorians, including dresses, hats, coats, neckcloths, and corsets, while their decadent lifestyle was similar to the Bright Young Things from the 1920s. By layering modern medical understanding with historical costumes and lifestyles, I designed a plausible subculture within the society of the Shire at the end of the Third Age that juxtaposed both the culture of older wealthy hobbits and ‘rustic’ hobbits of the same generation. This would allow viewers of the animated musical to quickly understand what set the Took cousins apart from other members of society, even if the viewers were not as familiar with English history and culture.