How this shield (or rather lid?) made it's way all overfrom the Shire and through Fornost not only to the Rift, but to the very Balrog's chest?
Concerning the Shire, Gandalf said to the dwarves at the very beginning of The Hobbit: Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers (...).
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Hobbit lore claims that they sent some men to battle along side the king of old in his last battle. Presumably poor Godelot didn't fair well and had his "shield" taken from him. Obviously such a fine prize would have been then handed down through the years until one day the Balrog's monions gave it to him as a tribute.
ReplyDelete"His name is Peregrin, a very valiant man."
ReplyDelete"Man?" sand Ingold dubiously, and the others laughed.
"Man!" cried Pippin, now thoroughly roused. "Man! Indeed not! I am a hobbit and no more valiant than I am a man, save perhaps now and again by necessity. "