Stoors of the Angle

	Stoors
	Stoors of the Angle
Stoors of the Shire		Stoors of the Vales of Anduin

Through the early years of the Third Age, the branch of Hobbits known as the Stoors dwelt in the Vales of Anduin. As the numbers of Men increased in that region, and the Shadow fell on Mirkwood, the Stoors elected to leave their homes by the Anduin. In about the year III 1150, they travelled through the Redhorn Pass to cross the Misty Mountains into the west. Some settled along the northern borders of Dunland, but most made their way to the Angle, the place where the Loudwater and Hoarwell rivers met.

The Stoors of the Angle seem to have dwelt in relative peace for about a hundred and fifty years, but around the year III 1300 the influence of the power of Dol Guldur began to be felt west of the Misty Mountains, with Orcs increasing rapidly in numbers, and the evil realm of Angmar emerging in the north. Some fifty more years passed, but at last the Stoors chose to move on again, and at this time they became divided. Some went west, and joined other Hobbits at Bree; it was from these Bree-hobbits that the first settlers of the Shire would eventually descend.

Another group of the Stoors chose to travel southwards. At least some of these passed back over the Misty Mountains, and formed a community by the Anduin near the Gladden Fields. These Stoors survived for at least a thousand years, and it was from this branch of the people that Gollum came. Indeed, if not for the choice of these Stoors of the Angle to settle in the Vales of Anduin, Gollum would never have acquired the Ring. Thus it may well have fallen into the hands of either Sauron or Saruman, both of whom later searched this stretch of the Great River's course.