Chapter Text
Hobbits are known to be the most peaceful race, farmers more than warriors. They truly are, but the other races believed that they are helpless when it came to battle, that they would perish out of their safe haven, The Shire. And The Hobbits never proved this wrong as they never actively looked for battle, as well as being very protective of their traditions. Not many outsiders will ever see a Hobbit fight and even when they do they believe that they are outliers; that not all Hobbits fought like that.
The truth of the matter is while Hobbits did not actively seek war or battle, perfectly content in their Shire; they were great fighters, some of the best. Quick and efficient, able to outmanoeuvre almost any foe that they should come their way. They are like phantoms, light on their feet and merciless, should they want you dead, no matter how much larger you are. And they are quite a protective race.
Fighting is a large part of their culture, just not in the way it is in other cultures. When Hobbits come of age, they enter The Sunless Forest, to venture to The Hanging Place up in the treetops and return with a trinket. When they complete that, they are officially considered an adult and are given their First Blades, as well as being allowed to leave the Shire whenever they please or move to The Hanging Place, though it was rare as Hobbit don’t enjoy leaving their families.
Some Hobbits moved to The Hanging Place to meet their true family because they resided there. Children were not allowed to live in The Hanging Place as it lacks the protection The Shire holds. Belladonna and Bungo Baggins used to live in The Hanging Place before Belladonna found out she was pregnant. Gerontius gifted her her Bearing Blade, Nettle, when he heard the news.
Nettle was the last blade she ever used, as she used it in her final moments to kill the wolf that killed her and her husband, and was handed down to their son, Bilbo, as his Mourning Blade. Bilbo brings it and the rest of his parent’s blades as well as his own when he joins Thorin Oakenshield’s Company to reclaim Erebor.