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.
I am suspecting that the higher-ups probably HAD to either commit to another month (or some length of time to justify buying the new reels) OR they had to remove LoTR from the theaters before the 29th. But they don't bother to tell the people who answer the phone? The guy acted like I was asking him why Return of the Jedi wasn't in the theaters anymore.
He said: "I dunno. It has been here a long time - like almost two months, and there are new movies starting! (no I didn't correct him) Then he said this: "Maybe if it would have won more Oscars it would stay longer."
"MAYBE THE OSCARS DONT MEAN A FLIPPING THING! - MAYBE EVERYONE WAS WAITING TILL FRIDAY TO SEE IT AGAIN! Maybe more people have read MOVIE NEWS LATELY than the people who are in the flippin theater business!
GRRRRRRRRR Hobbit blood boils.
I have made comments before about parallels with the New Testament in LOTR, and this sequence is clearly one of them, it seems to me. We know Frodo thought that his duty would be done when he got the Ring to Rivendell. After the council he knew that he had more to do, but he was only one in the company of some of the Great Ones of his world. Then, after the stress of Moria and losing Gandalf, Galadriel tells him the bitter truth, that the entire weight of things is on his shoulders, that he cannot look to the Fellowship for help.
Then occurs the scene where Frodo says that he does not want to do what he has to do, and Gandalf tells him that we do not get to choose what circumstances we face, but only can choose how we will deal with them. I think that this is almost exactly equivalent to Christ's passion on Holy Thursday, when he asks the father to take away the cup which he is to drink, but finally says 'thy will be done'. Most of you reading this will see it on Holy Thursday, perhaps this dramatization of such a scene will help us all to contemplate just how bitter such a choice can be. But through Christ's choice we all may be saved, as Middle Earth was saved by Frodo's choice.
Sounds like he is about ready to write an opus, I take it. It likely will be the first FR opus to blame it all on the hobbits at Free Republic.
"I can't stand their cute little hobbit holes, I hate their furry little feet, I am sickened by their constant babbling about nothing, and their innocent little cheerfully optimistic attitudes are making me crazy!"
Well, there are a few of us down hear somewhat less cheerfull (see my comments above and in the thread summary regarding Christian references in LOTR) and even less optimistic (see my homepage). I hang around here in part because hobbits cheer me up, and I can use it.
I believe that that was before last Sunday at the Academy Awards. (I was about to call it 'Black Sunday', when I realized that could be interpreted in a way other than what I intend, which is a reference to the dissing and robbing of LOTR.) I have to say that I have just seen A Beautiful Mind and find it an ernest and admirable effort, compared to some of the trash nominated for other awards. ABM is also a well-executed fantasy, in its own way. But it simply is not comparable to The Fellowship of the Ring as a work of the imagination or the ability to inspire people.
Good night LCS... I am a tired hobbit. See everyone in the morning! :~D
I beg to differ with you. Men NEVER know anything about women, ever. Just ask my wife.
...and it takes a lot to get Hobbit blood boiling!
My viewing options are steadily narrowing. Starting Friday, the two closest theaters are down to one show a day - both at 3:30. In the next city over, they're still showing it 3 times a day starting at 1:30. Should I make the drive and catch it at 1:30 or wait and see it at 3:30? Decisions, decisions, decisions
...and it takes a lot to get Hobbit blood boiling!
My viewing options are steadily narrowing. Starting Friday, the two closest theaters are down to one show a day - both at 3:30. In the next city over, they're still showing it 3 times a day starting at 1:30. Should I make the drive and catch it at 1:30 or wait and see it at 3:30? Decisions, decisions, decisions
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