Chumbo Bobbins

Hobbit Burglar

Currently Level 75

Supreme Master Scholar, Kindred with the Scholars Guild

I have no idea exactly where the name came from for Chumbo. I wanted a friendly hobbit to level when Emma was not online and this name popped into my head. The ‘Chum’ element makes sense, as does the hobbity ending, but the ‘Bobbins’ surname is a mystery, and perhaps led to Chumbo as a character deviating from my initial intent.

‘Bobbins’ is an expression I often use if something has gone wrong; from the rhyming slang: ‘Bobbins of Cotton’= Rotten. Even though I mainly chose this as is sounded fun phonetically, ironically it seems to reflect the duality of Chumbo’s character. It is something both Emma and I have found with our characters, that they don’t always end up how we intend them, some other element seems to take part, whether it is other people responses to them, something in their name, or playstyle, we are not sure, but we love them all the same, perhaps more for this unintended deviation.

Chumbo is a burglar by profession. Initially I wanted him to be a fun-loving hobbits hobbit, and though he is often refered to as ‘Chumbers’ and seems to be quite popular, far from being the jovial fun-loving hobbit I intended he’s seems to be a quite proud and austere sort. I wonder if perhaps this character came from me revolting against people calling me cute and patting me, as my attitude was always; ‘Im a burglar, if I was to spar you you’d be dead in seconds’! Perhaps it was also that I made him a scholar, and unlikely profession for the hobbit folk, and perhaps even it was because I spent such a lot of time exploring dark parts of Angmar, Forochel, Moria, and Mirkwood alone, and the sight of a single tiny figure running through the dark abandoned halls of Khazad Dum, cant help but induce a sense of melancholia.

However it occurred, Chumbos character is definitely an oddity amongst hobbits. He is proud, serious, and well learned in the history of the world and its perils, perhaps in that he reflects the serious scholarly side of my character, in a way I always thought a dwarf character would. He is often a character I will not play for ages, then when I do wonder why I left it so long, but that seems to be the case with burglars as a whole.