Why where there so few working class heroes?

I think that is an intelligent question. It probably deserves a more intelligent answer than I can give.

On the most basic level, I think you craft the story that way so your true working class hero, Sam - the main hero upon whom all the important people are ultimately dependent - stands out more.

The Hobbit features fewer characters of royal lineage and more 'working class' types, especially in Peter Jackson's version. I don't find it the better for it. I don't find myself going "Thank God for the Tauriel story. Finally, a working class butt kicker! Finally, an upstairs-downstairs Elvish romance!"

Maybe that's just me.

IMO Hobbits are inherently working class.

The simple answer is "they were all off working". They had jobs and they did them. They didn't have the luxury of heading off on quests, nor did they want to do so.

The average joe in the story knew little of what existed beyond the borders of their own lands, and most of what they heard about it was scary. Breelanders heard news from many places, but none of the showed the slightest desire to actually *travel* to any of those places, and the Rangers were largely shunned, or just barely tolerated. The people of Rohan feared Lorien and had an antagonistic relationship with Dunland. Gondor they respected, but there still wasn't a ton to-and-fro-ing between them, even though they were allies.

However, for a nation like Gondor to stand up to Mordor,countless "working-class heroes" had to keep doing what they did. Soldiers are working-class heroes, mostly. And even farmers are doing important things since soldiers will starve if someone does grow and prepare the food they eat. Also, in the Shire, gardeners are held in high-esteem, not soldiers or quest-takers who go gallivanting off into the Blue.

Tolkien's biographer stated that Tolkien wanted to create a mythology for England. Tolkien himself stated the LotR was "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision." Whatever the case, the dude LOVED mythology and wanted to create his own.

Now, he wasn't simply inspired by his love for all the various mythologies... he wanted to do his own version and that means mostly playing by the same "rules."

The heroes in these tales tend to almost always be noble and if they're not then they eventually achieve nobility, often kinghood... assuming they don't just become actual gods. That's just sorta how it's always worked.

And even if we were to do some modern day made-for-television "mythological spoof" or something then the show wouldn't be about random guy that does taxes... it'd be about movie stars and such. But Tolkien being Tolkien... the real hero is Samwise Gamgee, the most simple and honest little feller, who's pretty outta place with all those overly-fancy folk.

Tolkien was making mythology. He presents kings, gods, demons, etc., because of the demands of the story.

That said, he also gave quite a few interesting subversive pieces which hint that royal lineage, or rather, what "the world" finds impressive, is not what really counts, in the end.

Frodo comes from a well-to-do Hobbit family, but he is from the "weird" branch. And once outside of the Shire, he is looked on as insignificant, a silly, quaint rural chap.

Samwise is a major hero and definitely working-class. His carrying of much of the weight of the Quest is a very interesting subversion to tropes.

Gollum plays a big part, mostly inadvertently, in helping the heroes. He certainly is unexpected, and definitely is not regal.

Aragorn is the true King of Gondor, but does not flaunt it. He goes about as a Ranger, scorned by men until the time is right.

The top players are always Hobbits, and they are the last people you'd expect to be heroes.

Gandalf is a wizard, a whole other Being compared to the mortals of Middle Earth (even more than the immortals of Middle Earth), yet his role is never to aggrandize himself and his power, but rather to serve others and remain humble.

Tolkien was going after myth, but he was also trying to work in some of his Catholic Christian values, precepts, and themes, including the idea that good work (God's work) is done by the humble, the unexpected, the outcasts, and the ignored, while the powerful and strong must learn to be servants and not abuse or distort their power (lest it distort them in return). To that end, he provides readers with all kinds of twists and turns on the "usual" mythological types.