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Keith Ford, known also by his Hobbit name Kethwyn Brookfoot, was born in the Harlond, known in the common tongue as San Francisco, on the Gulf of Lune, the fifth generation of ship-wrights and porters. His ancestors were at the founding of the great city; his great-uncle, Franklin Lushbelly, walked the cables before the opening of the mighty Golden Gate Bridge. When he was young he emigrated to Hobbiton, the county seat of the Shire. There, he translated his early love of the sea to the hills, rivers, and mountains. When he was an adolescent, he lived on the Brandywine River with the hill-folk. He walked the shores with nothing but his padded feet to guard him from the hot stones and snakes. The hills taught him patience; the water, peace; the wilds, vigilance.

On reaching his majority, the young hobbit ventured into the plains to further his studies at Bree, now known as Fresno. He was not the only hobbit but was pleased to mix there with many other kinds of folk. He delighted in learning their languages and stories. They taught him to read many great stories in French, Spanish, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Occitan, and Old English. Years later, his studies would take him back to the hills along the coast, east of his of his ancestral home to Mithlond, a place now known as Berkeley. Here, he studied under wizards as brilliant as they were aloof and prickly. It was a place of concrete and iron, though, more suited to dwarven picks than to a hobbit’s heart. He longed for the people of Bree and so, after years away, he returned home to live a life of quiet service. He now divides his time between his family, his garden, and students who will listen to the stories he learned.