Originally Posted by pendell
Presumably a large part of the arc of this story will be their encounter with the elves and subsequent journey from superstitious, savage people to the beautiful Shire in the books.
Was there ever any hint of this in the books? I can’t say I recall anything about the elves having been the spark that kindled the hobbits’ placid and comfortable fires. The elves woke the trees so they could talk with them, but they didn’t create the ents, and offhand I can’t think of any case where the elves “uplifted” an entire people.

Originally Posted by pendell
From this we learn…
Your first point seems like quite a stretch, and in fact several of them do. If the heathen kings were under the dominion of the Dark Power when they killed themselves and their families, it’s hardly fair to describe this behavior as part of their “customs,” since presumably the Dark Power was driving them to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily consider.

I won’t go through the rest, but I wouldn’t expect this series to give a full survey of hobbit development ending with smoke rings. At best they might show us the Harfoots pointed in that direction, perhaps hearing the name "Baranduin" as they wander along its banks. But even given what I’m reading from many sources about certain elements, I’d still be very surprised if we see a single encounter with elf-kind having such a transformative effect. Sam was beside himself with delight at his first sighting of elves, but he was still the same person the next day.