there is a cloud over the shire

"I will take the Ring," he said,
"though I do not know the way."
Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him.........
"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise
from their quiet fields,
to shake the towers and counsels of the Great.
Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it?"

JRR Tolkien