Yet another addition to my LotR cultural redesign is another Filipino-inspired hobbit: Samwise. In the books, Sam is described as being descended from Harfoots, a shorter, darker skinned race of Halflings. In contrast, Frodo had Fallohide ancestry which showed in his taller-than-average stature and paler skin. The Philippines has tremendous ethnic diversity which left a lot of room for creativity. Sam has very few descriptive traits beyond being short yet strong, “fat” (according to Gollum), and having “brown hands”. He is a gardener from a working-class family, so I based him heavily on colonial-era farmers and peasants with colorful but functional clothing. The blade he’s holding is a bolo-guna, a common gardening tool that is used for weeding, pruning, and digging.