LogFAQs > #890659317

While the Tooks (and the Oldbucks before them) were the hereditary line of Thains, they only commanded an armed force in emergencies to protect the Shire from invasion.

The Shire did have a police force known as the Shirriffs or the Watch. And Hobbits specifically working the border were known as Bounders. But their numbers were inadequate to thwart a determined invasion force.

The real reason the Shire was mostly undisturbed is because the Rangers guarded the borders outside the Shire.


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The only reason lightning never strikes in the same place twice, is that the same place isn't there the second time.