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.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

See you when you get back. Like your home page and the 'Go tell the Spartans' quote. Leonidas was a figure who could have fit very well into Lord of the Rings.

[Overtaxed]

I would suggest a bow....

Oh I could do a lot of damage with one of those! Only it's not always certain to whom the damage would be done. :) But I'm pretty good with a BB gun.

[osagebowman]

Even the English Longbow Archers carried secondary weapons, a short sword and commonly a hammer. A bow is just a really nice stick when you run out of arrows. The bowmen would pound a six or eight foot long stake into the ground then sharpen it with the sword or ax. The rows of sharpened stakes provided some safety from the mounted knights. The bodkin point was armor piercing at ranges of 200 yards. The pull on an English War Bow was 120 lbs and up. The average hunting bow nowadays is about fifty to sixty lbs pull. I'll quit before the reader's eyes glaze over. :-) dvp

[2Jedismom]

Ok...it seems to cut in and out, but I could hear it well enough to say it sounds great! I don't know if the trouble is with my connection or the problems you had with yours.

Don't you just love this instrument, though? I carry mine everywhere...keep it in my purse and play it at stoplights!

[Overtaxed]

Of course, in a pinch, a mace will do:

Or Sam Gamgee's weapon of choice:

[Overtaxed]

I usually have a problem with streaming audio when net congestion is bad and I end up downloading the files instead. If you want, I can e-mail them to you.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

I'll quit before the reader's eyes glaze over. :-) dvp

Your description of English longbow techniques was nicely illustrated in Kenneth Branagh's version of Henry V some year's back. It was particularly good at showing the sharpenned stakes, and not just the flights of arrows, like most movies of archery. Of course archery in war is not like the close up stuff they showed in Fellowship of the Ring, I hope they show this properly in The Two Towers.

[Sam Cree]

"Any rightful claim they had "

I think they never did

[JenB]

Dibs on the Frying Pan of Doom!

Hey guys, hi to the new friends! I'm tired and depressed - read a space article this morning and it's been haunting me all day. Feeling a little depressed. I think I'm a star-struck Elf today, or maybe just a Human who's been spending too much time considering the numinous. (Not much else to do when you're scrubbing pots!)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Oh, what the heck...

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

... let's start a new page!

[JenB]

Oh, we don't care about 50s. Don't know why, but we don't.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Just kicking off a new page for 2JM. :)

[Sam Cree]

Hi, Overtaxed, I managed to log back in...now I need a pint.

Too bad they don't make those nice skillets any more. I've got a couple for frying...They're like heirlooms.

[HairOfTheDog]

Awww... Are you depressed because you don't think you can go to space? - Or because you won't make the NBA?

[Overtaxed]

They don't? I've seen them in the grocery store...they need seasoning, but they're iron.

Iron pans are my utensil of choice! My 12 inch pan does a great pizza crust too.

[JenB]

Heh - I doubt I'll do either, but it's the stars that make me want to cry. We should be there by now, the Moon at least... Luna City, Tycho, Tombaugh Station, they should be there! But they aren't, and at this rate I'll see an Elf before I see Earth from outside.

[Sam Cree]

Those Lodge pans are heavy iron, like the old ones, but are finished much rougher. I'm sure they'd still work fine, once cured, they just don't seem equal to the old ones as far as finish is concerned. I'd be lost without my cast iron skillets.

But I don't envy Sam carrying one all over the place.

[Overtaxed]

I can hear it now:

"You have my sword."
"And my bow..."
"...my axe..."
"and my fry pan!"

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Turning in early here... hope everyone has a good night...