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.
Hm...guess that just goes to show opinions differ. I LOVED Persuasion (the book), but I really didn't like the movie at all. I felt like it assumed that you'd read the book, so it didn't explain a lot of the back story, but then it changed so MUCH of the book that I would have liked it better if I saw the movie first. And I didn't like the people in it. They didn't match their characters in the book at ALL, with the possible exceptions of Charles Musgrove (?) and Wentworth's friend...what was his name? Began with an "h".
One thing to keep in mind with reagards to Jane Austen's books is that the older ones tend to be more difficult to read. The language is more confusing and the characters aren't as richly developed. Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion are probably my favorites.
I am back from voting and I bought brand new tires for my Ford truck! I feel like an American!
Couldn't tell you. From where I'm sitting, southern NH is the deep south. ;-) My knowledge doesn't go much further south than Lebanon, NH, if that far.
Nice exit post later though. Now go forth and sin no more!
I don't think the Republicans have a snowball's chance in heck, but I did my best. Of course, even our Republicans are RINOs, but that's the best you can hope for in this state.
Welcome to the Hobbit Hole!
(one of the things I never expected to say in my lifetime!) Hope there are no hard feelings about the whole ring thing.
OK, I'll give them another try, especially 'Persuasion'. Which adaptation did you see, by the way? I went looking for it on video or DVD today, and the only one I saw was from 1995 or so, and it starred Colin Redgrave as Wentworth, I guess. The one I saw seemed to explain the story pretty well, but it may have been one of those Masterpiece Theatre things that had several parts. It starred Ciaran Hinds, who also played Rochester in the most recent version of 'Jane Eyre'. And if you saw 'Sum of All Fears' last year, he played the Russian President.
Yeah - me too. I am still registered in the next district over, Gig Harbor. I can move my registration now, and should. I kept it in Gig Harbor last time (and I am a property owner there so I felt ethics were on my side) because there was a local bridge issue I wanted to retain a vote for... (A bad plan for a new Tacoma Narrows bridge) That decision has been made now, for good or ill, and I should move it down here for next time around.
Same one. Maybe it was just the knowledge of the additional back story that made me feel like they didn't explain things, I don't know. In any case, I didn't care for it.
I really wish the people who did the series of "Pride and Prejudice" would do more! That is perhaps the best book to movie adaptation ever made, IMO.
I don't remember him proposing, it seemed that his appearing there was HER answer that he did still want to marry her. I think at that point neither of them cared what anyone else said. She was a grown woman, and she'd marry who she pleased. She had already wasted a lot of time she could have been with the man she loved in the useless attempt to please her family! I actually thought it was the PERFECT way for her to inform her family of her decision.
I'm an opinionated little hobbit, ain't I? ;-)
Way to go!
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