How evil was Lotho?

[dreamflower]

Anyone who has read very many of my fics *knows* I have a very strong antipathy to Lotho Pimple, self-styled "Chief" of the Shire. The last couple of weeks though, I've been having a very interesting debate wtih a gentleman on the rec.arts.books.tolkien/alt.fan.tolkien newsgroups on the subject.

He seems to think Lotho was simply doing what he thought of as "good business", and that as soon as the ruffians arrived, they took over and were responsible for all the wickedness that took place afterward.

We've just about argued to a standstill.

He's pretty entrenched in his position, as am I. But I'm wondering if anyone else sees this as a likely scenario? Was Lotho just a victim, like the other hobbits?

(Not bloody likely. But anyway...)

Comments

[shirebound]

I've always felt great sympathy for Lotho! He was teased as a kid (and adult) with a nickname he must have been aware of ("Lotho Pimple"), which would make anyone antagonistic and wanting to "get even" if his chance ever came. He grew up with two people (his parents) who felt resentful, underappreciated and snubbed by Bilbo, which must have rubbed off on him also. I was sorry he didn't get a chance to redeem himself in the end, like his mother did.

[dreamflower]

I'm afraid I've never had much sympathy for him. I never thought of the nickname as being something he grew up with--I always thought it was something the hobbits came up with after he decided he was "Chief".
Granted, his parents were nasty pieces of work as well, but I don't see that as an excuse.

The thing is, though, you are not denying that he did anything wrong (as this other person does) you are just saying there are some mitigating circumstances in his life. This other person maintains that all Lotho did was make some poor business decisions.