i’m not sure if it’s ever been explicitly stated but the movie and book follow different timelines
in the books, bilbo leaves the shire 60 years after his first adventure, giving frodo the ring. seventeen years pass before frodo sets out on his quest
in the movies, seventeen years cannot have passed while gandalf goes all nancy drew in denethor’s basement - for one, pippin is obviously not 10 in the party scene - but the story does allow us some wiggle room - maybe a few months, even a year or two? (I DUNNO DID JACKSON EVER SPECIFY GIMMIE NUMBERS)
this also accouts for a lot of the confusion re. aragorns age following thranduils advice to legolas at the end of BOFA - in the books, aragorn is about ten during the events of the hobbit, but in the contracted movie timeline, he tells eowyn he’s eighty seven, putting him somewhere around 27+ when legolas goes off to find him
also i think i heard some messing around was done with thorins age? i dunno BASICALLY THE MOVIE TIMELINE IS CONTRACTED AND FUDGED AROUND WITH AS MUCH AS THE MOVIE MAPS dont even get me started on those
so pippin does indeed become the thain, merry also become the head of his ginormous family - the master of buckland, in fact
but you know whats best of all
SAM BECOMES MAYOR OF THE SHIRE
SAMWISE GAMGEE BECOMES ELECTED MAYOR OF THE SHIRE SEVEN TIMES
k so to understand the importance of this you gotta remember that sam is poor
he comes from a poor family - so poor, in fact, that i’m fairly certain that sam was the only one of them who could read - and only because bilbo taught him. in the very first scene of FOTR, the Gaffer (sam’s dad) says
"But my lad Sam will know more about [Bilbo’s treasure]. He’s in and out of Bag End. Crazy about stories of the old days he is, and he listens to all Mr.Bilbo’s tales. Mr. Bilbo has learned him his letters - meaning no harm, mark you,and I hope no harm will come of it.
“Elves and Dragons’ I says to him. ‘Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you. Don’t go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you,”I says to him. And I might say it to others,” he added with a look at the stranger and the miller.”
firstly im super fascinated by class divides in the shire - and there is a huge gap between the workers and the landed gentry- but not the bitter feud between proletariat and bourgeoisie of the industrial england that tolkien so despised. the poor of the shire are the poor of an idealised rustic england. there are no slums in the shire, and i imagine that the homeless vagrants (if they exist) are more akin to Wordsworth’s Old Cumberland Beggar IM SO SORRY TO BRING WORDSWORTH INTO THIS, I REALLY AM but yeah does anyone wanna talk pre industrial revolution englands social structures and how they relates to the shire cause im pretty sure thats what tolkiens aiming for here
SORRY im off topic im talking about how hella rad it is that sam becomes mayor of the shire and pippin becomes the thain and merry becomes master of buckland and between the three of them they lead the shire into a golden age of prosperity and happiness and good external relations with gondor and arnor and rohan
ALSO SAMS DAUGHTER AND PIPPINS SON GET MARRIED HA HA IM GONNA GO HIDE FOR A WHILE ITS TOO CUTE
