Gaffer Gamgee
Hamfast Gamgee | |
---|---|
Hobbit | |
"Gaffer Gamgee and the Black Rider" by Stephen Hickman | |
Biographical Information | |
Other names | Gaffer, Old Gamgee, Ranugad Galbasi |
Position | Gardener |
Location | Hobbiton |
Birth | S.R. 1326 |
Death | S.R. 1428[note 1] (aged 102) |
Family | |
Family | Gamgee |
Parentage | Hobson Gamgee |
Siblings | Andwise Roper, May and Halfred of Overhill |
Children | Hamson, Halfred, Daisy, May, Samwise and Marigold |
Physical Description | |
Gender | Male |
Hair color | In later life, grey |
Gallery | Images of Hamfast Gamgee |
- "Elves and Dragons! Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you."
- ― The Gaffer[1]
Hamfast Gamgee, better known as the Gaffer, was a Hobbit of the Shire, and the father of Samwise Gamgee.
History
Hamfast was born in T.A. 2926, the third son of Hobson Gamgee, who was a roper by trade. He had three: siblings Andwise Roper, May and Halfred of Overhill.[2]
He entered the service of his relative, "Cousin Holman", and became a gardener. One of his first jobs was tending the garden of Bag End.[3] On 22 June, T.A. 2942, he and Holman tried frantically to keep the garden in order during the auction of the presumed-dead Bilbo Baggins.
Hamfast resided in Number 3, Bagshot Row and Daddy Twofoot was his next-door neighbor[3] and had never been as far as Bucklebury.[4]
Hamfast became a gardener in his own right in about T.A. 2961, and a local expert on potatoes and other roots; "Master Hamfast" (as Bilbo called him) appreciated Bilbo's politeness and respecting his knowledge.[3] He married Bell Goodchild, and they had six children: Hamson, Halfred, Daisy, May, Samwise and Marigold.[2] Sam became Hamfast's apprentice.
Sam took over most of his father's work, who had become too old for the laborous work.[3] He became known as the "Gaffer", a name Sam uses more often than "Hamfast".
Prior to the Farewell Party, the younger hobbits sought information about the legendary Mr. Bilbo Baggins at the Ivy Bush. Always a man of loquacity and knowledge, he argued with Sandyman, Old Noakes and Daddy Twofoot about the Bagginses and the Sackville-Bagginses. After the party, Bilbo had left him two sacks of potatoes and a new spade; and as he suffered from creaking joints, also a woollen waistcoat and a bottle of ointment.[3] By T.A. 3018 he also began to lose his sight.[4]
In T.A. 3018 his new neighbor Frodo Baggins had to leave the Shire, and Gandalf had obliged Sam to go with him. Frodo pretended to be moving to Buckland, and sold Bag End to Lobelia, for which Hamfast was not so happy. He allowed Sam to go with him to help and tend the garden of his new house, as he said.[4]
On 23 September, the night of the departure of Frodo and Sam from the Shire, Khamûl, one of the Nazgûl rode up the lane as the elderly hobbit was taking his air, and asked about "Baggins". The Gaffer told him that he had left for Bucklebury and it's not their business to know why, and refused to leave any message. The stranger hissed making him sudder. Soon after Sam came to let him have the keys to Bag End before leaving, and the Gaffer told him about the stranger.[4]
A week later, he was visited by Gandalf who also informed about Frodo's whereabouts.[5][6]
When Lotho and eventually Sharkey took over the Shire, the Gaffer was evicted from Bagshot Row.[7] After the Battle of Bywater, in which he only had a marginal role, he moved back into the newly restored New Row, while Sam moved into Bag End. He was looked after by the Widow Rumble, and died in Fourth Age 7.[8]
His son, Sam, named his seventh child Hamfast after his father.[2]
Etymology
The name Hamfast is a modernization of Old English hám-fæst, meaning "Stay-at-home", or literally, "Home-fast". It is a translation of his Westron name, Ranugad Galbasi.[9] In the King's Letter, the name (referring to Hamfast Gardner, the fourth son of Sam and Rose, not the Gaffer) is translated into Sindarin as Baravorn.[10]
"Gaffer" is a colloquial word for "old man". It is a contraction of "grandfather."
In other stories
In the illustrated short story Mr. Bliss, there is a resident in the village named Gaffer Gamgee who struggles to listen to the discussion between Mr Binks and Sergeant Boffin about whether Mr Bliss should be locked up for failure to pay for his car. Sergeant Boffin also has a son named Sam.[11]
Inspiration
In Letter 257, J.R.R. Tolkien recounts a holiday to Lamorna Cave in the early 1930's. To amuse his sons, he named a local Gaffer Gamgee. This "curious local character" was "an old man who used to go about swapping gossip and weather-fashion and such like". The surname was chosen because it alliterated with Gaffer.
Tolkien had several encounters with actual Gamgees, however. Gamgee Tissue, a word young Ronald considered comical, was named after J. Sampson Gamgee (1828-1886), a famous Birmingham surgeon,[12] whilst in the Black Country dialect cotton wool was referred to as "gamgee".[13] The Gamgees were notorious surgeons - years later, Dr. Leonard Gamgee tended those war-wounded, including Lieutenant Tolkien.[14]
Portrayal in adaptations
1981: The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series):
- John Church plays Gaffer Gamgee. He used a thick peasant accent for the role. He is included in early episodes including a full dramatisation of his encounter with the Nazgul. He also features towards the end of the adaptation when he admonishes the returning Hobbits for wearing "ironmongery."
2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
- Gaffer appears in the film's Extended Edition, where he is played by Norman Forsey. The conversation in the Ivy Bush is moved to the Green Dragon Inn, though the dialogue remains much the same. He does not appear at Sam's marriage in The Return of the King.
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game):
- Gaffer appears twice; at first, he drinks at the Green Dragon, but during the night, he informs Frodo of the Ringwraith that stalks the Shire. He was voiced by an uncredited Jim Piddock.
Notes
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, "The Longfather-tree of Master Samwise"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Three is Company"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Scouring of the Shire"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Grey Havens"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "On Translation"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part One: The End of the Third Age: XI. The Epilogue"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Mr. Bliss (2011 edition), p. 63
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 72, (dated 31 May 1944)
- ↑ "Black Country Dialect", The Ancient Manor of Sedgley (accessed 9 September 2014)
- ↑ John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, "Part Three: Castles in the air", p. 206