Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
This is a continuation of the infamous thread New Zealander Builds Hobbit Hole originally posted on January 26, 2001 by John Farson, who at the time undoubtedly thought he had found a rather obscure article that would elicit a few replies and die out. Without knowing it, he became the founder of the Hobbit Hole. For reasons incomprehensible to some, the thread grew to over 4100 replies. It became the place for hobbits and friends of hobbits to chit chat and share LoTR news and views, hang out, and talk amongst ourselves in the comfort of familiar surroundings.
In keeping with the new posting guidelines, the thread idea is continuing here, as will the Green Dragon Inn, our more structured spin-off thread, as soon as we figure out how to move all the good discussion that has been had there. As for the Hobbit Hole, we will just start fresh, bringing only a few mathoms such as the picture above with us to make it feel like home, and perhaps a walk down memory lane:
Our discussion has been light:
It very well may be that a thread named "New Zealander builds Hobbit hole" will end up being the longest Tolkien thread of them all, with some of the best heartfelt content... Sorry John, but I would have rather it had been one with a more distinguished title!… post 252 - HairOfTheDog
However, I can still celebrate, with quiet dignity, the fact that what started as a laugh about some wacko in New Zealand has mutated and grown into a multifaceted discussion of the art, literature, and philosophy that is Tolkien. And now that I've managed to write the most pompous sentence of my entire life, I agree, Rosie… post 506 - JenB
Hah! I was number 1000!! (Elvish victory dance... wait, no; that would be too flitty) … post 1001 - BibChr
Real men don't have to be afraid of being flitty! Go for it. – post 1011 – HairOfTheDog
Seventeen years to research one mystical object seems a bit excessive… post 1007 - JenB
Okay...who's the wise guy who didn't renew Gandalf's research grant?… post 1024 – Overtaxed
To the very philosophical:
…Judas Iscariot obviously was a good man, or he wouldn't have been chosen to be one of the Apostles. He loved Jesus, like all of the Apostles, but he betrayed him. Yet without his betrayal, the Passion and Crucifixion would never have occurred, and mankind would not have been redeemed. So without his self-destruction infinite good would not have been accomplished. I certainly do not mean this to be irreverant but it seems to me that this describes the character of Gollum, in the scenes so movingly portrayed above… Lucius Cornelius Sulla
To fun but heartfelt debates about the integrity and worth of some of the characters…
…Anyone else notice how Boromir treats the hobbits? He's very fond of them but he seems to think of them as children - ruffling Frodo's hair, calls them all 'little ones'. He likes them, but I don't think he really respects them… post 1536 - JenB
Yes... Tolkien told us not to trust Boromir right off the bat when he began to laugh at Bilbo, until he realized that the Council obviously held this hobbit in high esteem. What a pompous dolt… post 1538 - HairOfTheDog
…I think almost every fault of his can be traced directly back to his blindness to anything spiritual or unseen. He considers the halflings as children, because that is what they look like. He considers the only hope of the ring to be in taking it and using it for a victory in the physical realm. He cannot see what the hobbits are truly made of, he cannot see the unseen hope of what the destruction of the ring might mean--the destruction of Sauron himself, and he cannot see the unseen danger that lies in the use of the ring itself… I just feel sorry for Boromir--he is like a blind but honorable man, trying to take the right path on the road but missing the right path entirely because he simply cannot see it… post 1548 - Penny1
Boromir isn't a jerk, he's a jock… post 2401 – Overtaxed
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Oh, I think by the time Frodo reaches the Cracks, he's not even himself anymore! I think he's not only on the brink of a dangerous place physically, he's on the brink of losing himself completely during the exchange with Gollum. But for some reason, the take-over isn't complete till he actually has to throw the Ring in. The person speaking to Gollum is not Frodo, but the "Wheel of Fire" that Sam sees. After the Ring is destroyed, Frodo not only comes back to himself, but comes back with the unbearable (to him) knowledge of what it's like to be completely without compassion. I think that's why it's so important to him to be compassionate in the Shire… post 2506 - 2Jedismom
…Regarding Frodo's compassion... it's a little too much at the end. Even Merry tells him that he's going to have to quit being so darn nice. But you're right. He's learned a lesson about evil that very few ever learn since it wasn't an external lesson but an internal one. (Those kinds of lessons have the greatest impact) Not only did he totally succumb to it, but he was rather ruthless to my little Smeagol… post 2516 - carton253
Well that Frodo was a big mean bully! (to Smeagol)… post 2519 – Overtaxed
So as you can see, everything JRR Tolkien (and Peter Jackson) is welcome here in our New Row, our soon-to-be familiar New Hobbit Hole…; philosophy, opinion, good talk and frequent silliness.
The sun went down. Bag End seemed sad and gloomy and dishevelled. Frodo wandered round the familiar rooms, and saw the light of the sunset fade on the walls, and shadows creep out of the corners. It grew slowly dark indoors. He went out and walked down to the gate at the bottom of the path, and then on a short way down the Hill Road.
Goodbye old Hole.
Awesome news, Rosie!! I would think that they would want someone in place before the students get back to the grind for the Spring Semester. I hope you'll get the job and that they'll have you start right after New Year's so you can have a nice Christmas with your family! That is, unless you just WANT to start earlier :o)
PINGS and wings? Sounds like the Hobbit Hole to me!
Hope you got it all out of your system now! ;)
So to speak!
I'd better get to the New Hole before I start to cry!
The final cut of the third movie is in the can, finished, done, over with. All that's left to do is music and ADR.
Elwood was pulling someone's leg.
Hair, did we leave Paul off the invitation list?
Registered as willing to come at this point are:
ecurbh
HairOfTheDog
htur_75
JenB
Ksen
NewCenturions
Overtaxed
Penny1
RMDupree
SuziQ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are lots of regulars notably missing on that list! - Are some of y'all just being lazy? - shy? Unwilling to go on adventures?
It is really early to try and get a head-count, we know, new friends may arrive in the year to come who don't even know they want to go yet! -but it would be good to know if we are talking about a group of 10 or 30.
If you really don't think you can come, there is a place to register that. That way we can beg, plead, and then eventually stop bothering you!
If some of you are not sure what the Yahoo Hobbit Hole is, then you are not a member, but could be if you want to be. It is another place with a chat room that we go sometimes for chat-views, live events, chit-chat, and the like. I am pinging my wider list to this to see if there are any folk who would be interested in joining us in Florida for a view of RoTK, and other FReeper-social activities, Jan 2004.
I just heard on FOX news in Ari Fleischer's daily briefing that at today's speech by the President at the DC youth club where a new mentoring program was being launched, there were a number of celebrities who will be part of his program, among them was SEAN ASTIN!!! Ari said it with a smile saying, you know, Frodo's friend Sam in the LOTR movies.
Is anyone else noticing many phrases filling the President's language these days harken to LOTR? He even referred to the Two Towers instead of the Twin Towers in his speech, and his comments about 'free peoples'?
There is an interesting argument on that subject at the Tolkien Virgin site. After each of the Virgin essays is a section of comments by readers (for those who haven't found it, scroll down.) And the final essay has this discussion about Aragorn's death. ;)
"Aragorn's whole life is overshadowed by the fear of repeating his ancestors mistakes, Isuldur's failure to destoy the ring, Numenor's destruction, etc...."
"..His choice to die gracefully rather than to cling to life until he is feeble and dotard is tied to this in that, Death was a gift to men from Illuvatar. Then Sauron fooled men into thinking it was a curse and should be feared and they should crave immortality. Which was the main reason Numenor was destroyed."
"So, in a way, this is his last test, to die peacably and willingly without fear when it is his time go(lest he start Gondor on Numenor's path). ""
I've been kinda mulling this subject around in my head for a while. Tolkien was curiously a Roman Catholic who would have approved of assisted suicide? You think?
Or was he suggesting only that old kings should turn their kingdoms to younger men before they are senile old fools?
From another post there --
"And Atanamir lived to a great age, clinging to his life beyond the end of all joy; and he was the first of the Numenoreans to do this, refusing to depart until he was witless and unmanned, and denying to his son the kingship at the height of his days. For the Lords of Numenor had been wont to wed late in their long lives and to depart and leave the mastery to their sons when these were come to full stature of body and mind (Akallabeth, top p.266 in my hardcover edition)"
I'm curious where Tolkien was going here, with this?
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