What did Tolkien mean by this?

What did Tolkien mean by this?

"oh shit I forgot to have something bad happening to the Shire, now it looks like some paradise that's never affected by anything and our heroes will just be ignored when they return"

"maybe if I sneak in this completely out of place subplot about them being enslaved for like a week the reader will get a feel for the stakes"

It kinda makes sense that the shire was attacked, though. It wasn't at all defended, and it was Saurons way of fucking with Frodo.

First of all, yes it was defended by the Rangers and justing by what Aragorn said, there was some serious shit around there. Second, there was absolutely no point in taking over the shire. There are no resources there and the hobbits are total crap for labor because they're small and weak. And besides, how long could this whole operation realistically last with the war won and the new king AND Gandalf being massive hobbitboos?

It was just a clumsy way to demonstrate everybody could get hurt by evil even if they hide in their home and to kill off Saruman

Are you trying to tell me that Sauron needed a good reason to fuck with his enemies? He symbolized pure evil: he doesn't need a reason to do anything. What's the point of having this big bad guy who's threatening the entire world when most of the world is relatively safe. The hobbits were probably just going about business as usual while Frodo and Co. were busting their ass to destroy the ring and save middle earth.

It just makes no sense whatsoever. I mean I guess you could say it's the equivalent of the villain kicking his cat, just a lashing out but it was too methodical and organised, they had set up prisons and everything. It just never made sense to me and I can only assume he glued it on after the rest was done

You're probably not wrong. I wouldn't really be surprised if it was kinda an afterthought, as it doesn't really impact the plot in any significant way. Everything Sauron did was really organized, though. It's not too unbelievable that he would spend a day or so plotting a revenge scheme against the hobbits. Even if it was an afterthought, I don't really feel like it was out of place. Imagine fighting your way through a giant army that's trying to destroy the world, trekking all over middle earth, nearly dying a dozen times and then when you get home everything is chill and all your family and friends barely know that anything happened at all. That was kinda the ending we got in the movie and it didn't feel very great.

The hero being covered in plaudits after saving the world and then returning to his home village and being a regular nobody again is a tried and true trope. The Shire's charm is its refusal to change in any way. To me there would be nothing more fitting than for Frodo to return home and to have Lobelia give him shit for hiding Bilbo's golden door hinges from her or something. The hero ignores her and smugly lays back with some pipeweed, the end.

>Second, there was absolutely no point in taking over the shire. There are no resources there and the hobbits are total crap for labor because they're small and weak
Wow you are fucking stupid

Not an argument, retard