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.
LOl! Yeah, that WOULD cause a stir!
The healers can find no cure for me and while the Istari search, I fear that even they have no hope. At their suggestion I write this account. They believe that merely writing my story may ease my mind. So I begin though writing corrie-fisted is harder labor than working the forge.That's all I've been able to make out so far. The handwriting is rather erratic.My name is Dain Stormfoot now known as the Poisonhand. Grimshod Stormfoot, original owner of the famous foundry, was my father and Gordin Copperhelm (later known as Threadkiller) is my cousin. I did not begrudge cousin Gordin. He was ever better at blades and armor than I. My delight is the fine crafting of toys for the children of Men, filigree for the Elven armor, and musical flute whistles. I came late to the art of blade making with the onset of the Troll Wars.
It was I who picked up G'nad the Magnificent after that fateful battle with the Eessennet. G'nad's blade forged from the last Eerf Cilbuper steel by the master resisted the bile where no other substance would. To keep the blade from harming innocents, I took it with me back to the foundry. No cloth, leather, or water would wipe or wash the blade clean of that foul bile and it formed an acid steam that seared the lungs when it dripped into the forger's fire. However....when dripped on hot metal made a blade wondrously light and tough. Tough enough to cleave boulders. Tough enough to cleave Troll hides.
So need for the new blades was great, and I, foolishly, would allow no one else near G'nad the Magnificent for the bile of the enemy is treacherous until burned into metal. So it was that I worked late at the forge, my thoughts more on home than on the blade in my hands when the bile of the Eessennet thickened and splattered on my right hand, burning it, searing it even as it did Cousin Gordin. And so, I am known as Dain Poisonhand.
But still, I am content. The Trolls are beaten back and I am not isolated like poor Cousin Gordin. I run the foundry and my forge again crafts the beautiful objects as before. However, all is not quite right for my hand drips the noxious bile into my craftwork and while all are as beautiful as my skill can make them, I hear that if ever a child plays with those toys, or musician plays my flute whistles, all playmates leave off playing and all other instruments fall silent so that child or musician plays alone.
As for G'nad. It is hidden safe against the day when it may be needed again. I would not risk such injury to a friend.
Yeah, they always fly near your ear, with that high pitched whine (though, in the daytime, they seem to prefer ankles)...Give me cold temperatures for sleeping, which here in S. Florida, means air conditioning. Mosquitos don't fly much when it's cold either, it's a good way to cut down their activity when they're around.
There's alot of writers here, seemingly. Very nice.
Sunday, g'nad jr. threw his head back laughing before church and split his head on the pew...got an inch long gash...didn't bleed much, and he didn't fuss much but it needed to be closed...we had to Drive 20 miles to Ft Belvoir, because none of the clinics in town take TriCare (don't pay enuff)...long story short, 2 1/2 hours in the waiting room, and the doc glued it shut...next time I'll save myself the trouble and superglue it myself...that or duct tape...
BTW,I'm just not seein "slightly pudgy" in any of yer fotos...yer bein' too hard on yerself...
Or we could have the Entmoot in the Turn 4 grandstands the second week of Feb.
There's alot of writers here, seemingly.
Sam, here's the best I can do...
Bad gUys coME...g'nad CHOP!!! Bad guys go SPLAT!!! g'nad make beer...g'nad hAppy...
Whaddaya think?...
Mine behave. It's just that currently they're not talking to each other...because they apparently aren't in the same story...
SQUIRRELS GO SPLAT!!!
check this out, Squirrel Defamation League...love their store...
SQUIRRELS GO SPLAT!!!
check this out, Squirrel Defamation League...love their store...
Argh! I'm drawing a blank on the folk song (was it James Taylor?) about a man named Bill who wouldn't get the cat down from the tree...
Not to mention the cost of a new manure cart...
Interesting...the squirrels must have infiltrated your network nazis...be watchful...be afraid...
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