For Cooner 1987, I don’t think there is any similarity between Hobbits and the Two Rivers folk. The Two Rivers people are based on a lot of country people I have known, and among whom I did a lot of my growing up. I did try to make the first roughly 100 pages of Eye seem somewhat Tolkienesque. I wanted to say, “This is the place you know, guys. Now we’re going somewhere else.” And then the Trolloc kicked in the farmhouse door. But I didn’t take it to the point of trying to make the Two Rivers folk seem like Hobbits. I mean, I love The Lord of the Rings and have read it at least a dozen times, but when you have too many Hobbits together, they can be so bloody cute that I need a stiff drink.
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