The New Hobbit Hole

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The New Hobbit Hole
Concerning Hobbits
The New Hobbit Chronicles

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.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

heh heh heh... no, his behavior was never so bad as to earn being called a Finnlander (sorry LCS!)... it was mostly just drinking and carousing. Black Norwegian she called him! But he finally settled down... eventually...

[2Jedismom]

Well, I'll be! I ping you to see Matthew's picture and you become a Hole-Dweller!

This is a great group...

[HairOfTheDog]

Interesting.

Really, Interesting. I think it is great that my ancestry conjurs up a few interesting images of scroundrelism still. I need that. I like that. Around here, I am just surrounded by the Uff-Da types.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

his behavior was never so bad as to earn being called a Finnlander

Hey there, remember that even though we Finns were the first of the Hunnish people to enter Europe, (and kick the Scandinavians out of Finland), our cousins the Huns, lead by cousin Attila, knew how to kick butt!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I'm relieved! I was afraid I was putting your nose out of joint. I grew up surrounded by Scandihoovians... watching the movie "Fargo" was like a trip home for me!

Are you of 100% Norwegian extraction, or is there something else mixed in?

[Sam Cree]

Good Sneak - Good Job! :-)

[HairOfTheDog]

I have an English name on my father's side. Shame really... that I am not pure.

My grandparents on my Mother's side were the young children of several immigrant families who came to Minnesota by boat from Aurland Norway. They settled, I am sure, in Lake Wobegon, though in the family history we call the town Flom. Revisionism I am sure.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Well, I won't tell you what my Swedish-Norwegian grandmother thought of Finns (or Finlanders, as she called them.) Really, growing up where I did, it's a little amazing that I'm as open-minded of other races/nationalities/religions as I am.

[HairOfTheDog]

I missed a step... The boat landed in New York Harbor... I think they actually had to walk the rest of the way to Minnesota! heheh

Pints. I should not have gotten pints.... I had a whole half already!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I dunno, I like being a mutt. I grew up eating Cornish pasties (granpa's family was from Cornwall) and partaking of lutefisk at Christmastime (grandma's Scandinavian influence).

Now, of course, I love Mexican food... or really Tex-Mex, to be accurate. Not to mention Italian and Chinese food!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

The boat landed in New York Harbor

I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt... they could have come down the St. Lawrence seaway into the Great Lakes.

[2Jedismom]

Well, our Tulsa Line Party had a FOTR DVD viewing at one of the member's house (they had a big screen TV). The movie started at 7pm and the boys were pretty sleepy by the time it was over. Joshua actually fell asleep for about an hour there at the end. Here he is sleeping while I'm watching.

[HairOfTheDog]

Even I don't eat Lutefisk! Nor does anyone in my Norwegian family.... Oh they make it during holidays, but we generally only serve it to the outsiders... the dates the cousins brought along... just to enjoy watching them eat it!

[2Jedismom]

So that's what my in-laws did to me!! They are all swedes.

[HairOfTheDog]

How fun! - So did you know the folks from the line party before? I have wondered about joining one of those here so I had company if I decided to go to the midnight show on the 18th!

[Sam Cree]

"partaking of lutefisk "

?

[HairOfTheDog]

Yup... and laughed about it when you were gone! ('she actually ate some!' - 'I know.... I almost choked on my lefse laughing!'

[2Jedismom]

Yes, I knew them from the preview party! I joined after the movie came out but supposedly they had a huge turn-out and had give-aways and all kinds of promotions before the film started. Then they got to go in first before they even let the crowds in at midnight. I'll definitely be at the midnight showing. I'm ashamed of you for even thinking of not going! ;-)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Great picture, 2JM! Uhm, has Joshua ever actually seen the movie all the way through...? :)

[2Jedismom]

Now there is nothing in the world like a good lefse! My husband got me hooked on it.

I'll have to send you some scans of a cook-book my in-laws gave me of recipes mostly from my mother-in-law's mom and grandmother. Pure-Dee swedish!

My husband makes sandbackels (sp?) every Christmas. We even have a special tin for them! It's fun having someone so culturally pure...I'm a mutt too.