One of two Bree-hobbits who were killed during the troubles there at the beginning of III 3019. He seems not to have come from Bree-town itself: according to Barliman Butterbur's description (he came 'from up-away')2 he was probably from either Archet or Combe.
The Banks family seems to have been a populous and wide-ranging one, and Hobbits with this name were found as far away as the Shire. It's unclear whether these two branches were related to one another, but it is at least possible that Willie was distantly related to Eglantine Banks, the mother of Peregrin Took.
Notes
1 |
'Willie' seems to be a abbreviated name, and in modern use that would suggest the full name 'William' (meaning 'helm of resolve'). That is not impossible (one of the Stone-trolls who captured Thorin and Company was given the name 'William', so it is at least conceivable that a Hobbit of Bree might have had the same name). Alternatively, 'Willie' might be short for some quite different name, such as Wilimar or Wilibald (both of which are attested as Hobbit-names for members of the Bolger family in the Shire).
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2 |
From The Return of the King, VI 7. In the same passage, Butterbur names the other slain Hobbit as 'one of the Underhills from Staddle'. So, wherever Willie Banks came from, the fact that Barliman uses 'up-away' as separate from 'Staddle' indicates that we can rule out the latter as Willie's home. |
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- Updated 12 July 2024
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