Harfoots Were the Creepiest Part of Rings of Power: "Uncomfortable Cult Vibes"
The harfoots in Rings of Power were supposed to be something between a comic relief and a bunch of 'normals', powerless people caught in struggles of lords, kings and wizards.
They are hobbits, but dirtier, more rugged, and more desperate from all the nomadic roaming in dangerous wilderness. But, what if someone told you that they ended up as the creepiest part of the show?
Well, that makes a certain amount of sense. They have a mentality that, if you look at it from the certain angle, can be seen as cult-like – everyone from the outside is to be suspected at best and likely to seen as an active threat, we already know everything there is to know, leaving the group is unthinkable and even temporarily getting from under the watchful eye of the group is frowned upon ("nobody goes off the trail and nobody walks alone" – and this catch-phrase of theirs becomes a creepy chant during their creepy celebration in Episode 3), standing out is frowned upon as well.
Oh, and they have a custom of leaving behind those who can't keep up with the tribe during their migrations, so, think on the meaning of the above-mentioned catch-phrase in the light of this.
So yes, it makes sense. But not complete sense. It is no accident that this opinion was listed in the Reddit thread dedicated to unpopular opinions about the Rings of Power, although ironically the thread ended up pretty popular.
"The Harfoots also gave me some uncomfortable cult vibes. The way the ''Nobody Goes Off Trail'' song starts... There's some creepy ancient pagan stuff going on there." – u/radiorules
Yes, there are unsympathetic and unlikeable aspects to harfoots in the show. But come on. Hobbits to start with were stereotypes of small village folk, so isolationism and, so to speak, aggressive enforcement of normalcy were common to them, as they were common for their British peasantry prototypes.
But hobbits lived in a cozy little country, where foes and monsters existed only in legends of the past. Harfoots, their ancestors, are a small, weak nomadic group, which cannot take survival and prosperity for granted. Consequently, they also cannot afford to care for those who become a burden for the group (though there is a valid argument that the show takes this trait of harfoots way too far even compared to historical examples of such behavior, to the point of making them downright unsympathetic).
And, importantly, unlike nearly any sort of actual cultists, harfoots do not have an oppressive internal hierarchy, do not proselytize aggressively, and though certain scenes with them invoke "evil freaky pagans" vibes, they have never attempted to make a sacrifice out of anyone!