There's a post somewhere out there about Smaug being a one-hobbit problem and the War of the Ring being a four-hobbit problem, and it is a very good and funny post but I would like to refine it further. No single event in the War of the Ring was so cataclysmic as to require four hobbits. It's just that they had several hobbit-level problems simultaneously, and even the best hobbit can't be everywhere at once.
So, the scale as I understand it:
Smaug: one-hobbit problem
The Witch-King: one-hobbit problem
Denethor: one-hobbit problem
Saruman: honestly could have been a one-hobbit problem but having two hobbits on it made them both less stressed
The Ring: two-hobbit problem
(Although then of course there's the Scouring of the Shire, which, judging by hobbit involvement, is a whole new category of Problem.)
From @melliabee 's tags:
I would like to point out that the Witch-King was actually a two-hobbit problem, because the Witch-King almost killed Merry and Pippin had to search for him to fix him up.
I would also like to note that the One Ring actually turned out to be a three hobbit problem, considering the involvement of Gollum.
Correct! Which means we have a spectrum!
Regular kings of any size: 1 hobbit
Supernatural kings of any size: 2 hobbits
The devil himself: 3 hobbits
