causes of death for hobbits?

[muduri]

I've been writing up some hobbit family trees for my low-fantasy game and realizing that it hasn't been that easy to justify pre-old-age death for the older generations. Many of the usual go-tos don't seem like they'd be as common for a what's stereotypically a high-HT (disease, infection, apoplexy), conservative (fall from horse, boating accident, animal attack, disappearance) and well-behaved (random violence, execution, duels of honor) population.

Of course we're still at TL2-3 here so I'd expect that childbirth would still be dangerous, and widespread but occasional events like famines, epidemics, and goblin incursions would take their toll.

So I'd like to put it out there and see what comes to your guys' minds - maybe I've missed something big, or should some of the factors at the top still get a fair amount of weight? Or is living into your second aging-roll bracket just the norm rather than the exception in the Shire or its TL2 equivalent?

All thoughts welcome and appreciated!

[ericthered]

well, hobbits are a subrace of men that live to be fantastically old (over 100 is not rare, like it is for us...)

old age will conquer all. raising HT just slows it down. Keep rolling, and you'll kick the hobbit.

[Flyndaran]

Frodo Hobbits are TL 3-4, not 2.
Aging doesn't really kill on its own. It just makes all the other risks riskier.

Childbirth isn't "that" dangerous with non-idiot practices for healthy women at least. Washing your hands before delivering babies is a massive life saver, for example. And many dangers to Western pregnant women now relate to obesity and unhealthy lifestyle.
Aside from previously stated issues with diseases, parasites, etc.

[dcarson]

Even if you are a cautious type farming is a dangerous occupation. Accidents from panicked plow-horse to bale of hay landing on you to killed and eaten by pigs.

[Celjabba]

Frodo parents died in a boating accident, iirc.

[adm]

Flooding, earthquakes, run over by a pony cart, wolves or large dogs. While it may be relatively safe in Hobbiton, dangers are still there.

[Phantasm]

Cattle stampede.

Mining accident in the North Farthing.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by muduri

I've been writing up some hobbit family trees for my low-fantasy game and realizing that it hasn't been that easy to justify pre-old-age death for the older generations. Many of the usual go-tos don't seem like they'd be as common for a what's stereotypically a high-HT (disease, infection, apoplexy), conservative (fall from horse, boating accident, animal attack, disappearance) and well-behaved (random violence, execution, duels of honor) population.

Of course we're still at TL2-3 here so I'd expect that childbirth would still be dangerous, and widespread but occasional events like famines, epidemics, and goblin incursions would take their toll.

So I'd like to put it out there and see what comes to your guys' minds - maybe I've missed something big, or should some of the factors at the top still get a fair amount of weight? Or is living into your second aging-roll bracket just the norm rather than the exception in the Shire or its TL2 equivalent?

All thoughts welcome and appreciated!

Poisoning your relatives for the inheritance of course!

[whswhs]

There was one of Bilbo's relatives that Tolkien writes about somewhere, who got really old and was confined to a wheelchair. Then the younger hobbit woman who was assigned by the family to wheel her around lost control of the chair at the top of a staircase. I seem to recall Tolkien saying that the young woman was seen not long after wearing a really nice piece of jewelry from the family vaults, so perhaps they were relieved to be rid of the old lady. Actually, that's about the least idealistic account of hobbit behavior I've read. . . .

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by muduri

I've been writing up some hobbit family trees for my low-fantasy game and realizing that it hasn't been that easy to justify pre-old-age death for the older generations. Many of the usual go-tos don't seem like they'd be as common for a what's stereotypically a high-HT (disease, infection, apoplexy), conservative (fall from horse, boating accident, animal attack, disappearance) and well-behaved (random violence, execution, duels of honor) population.

...

So I'd like to put it out there and see what comes to your guys' minds - maybe I've missed something big, or should some of the factors at the top still get a fair amount of weight? Or is living into your second aging-roll bracket just the norm rather than the exception in the Shire or its TL2 equivalent?

All thoughts welcome and appreciated!

You're working from a false premise.

Hobbits are mortal Men, subject to the same causes of death as other Men. Now, in the Shire, certain causes of death that are normally common at TL2-4 or so are much less common, but others will still apply pretty normally.

Death by violence is probably very rare in the Shire, except during rare wartime situations, but I guarantee you the occasional murder does happen, since we are talking about Men. It would probably be the talk of the Shire for a long time, though, because it's going to be a very low rate by Mannish standards.

JRRT himself relates, in his Letters, a reference about a slightly suspicious death in the Took family, though he may have been speaking tongue-in-cheek.

Outsiders do occasionally enter the Shire and cause trouble, they even have a police force, the 'Bounders' specifically for that purpose, too.

But accident won't be that rare. The Hobbits tend to be a careful, prudent bunch, so again the rate will be lower than for typical equivalent Mannish societies, but it'll be there.

The Bucklanders use boats, Frodo's parents died in a boating accident, or so the story goes.

Farm animals can be dangerous, esp. if you're 4 feet tall. Tools can slip in the hands of a blacksmith or carpenter, and injuries, when they do occur, can get infected fairly easily. A woodsman cutting lumber can have a limb or a tree fall the wrong way, or a saw catch on a knot or rotten spot in the tree.
Any Hobbit can trip on a tree root or a rock and fall badly.

Residential holes can collapse, houses can catch fire.

Hobbit society ameliorates some problems, but does not entirely remove them. For ex, the Hobbits tend toward cleanliness and hygienic surroundings. That helps a lot with disease...but does not make you exempt from it. Hobbits tend to be careful and attentive, but mistakes still happen.

The Hobbits are still subject to all the woes of Man.