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.
OT, that croissant is making my mouth water!
Two classics of the genre... I would also recommend Blish's short story 'Beep', and Asimov's Robot stories (many of them collected in I, Robot.)
Bester's 'The Demolished Man', and Heinlein's (?) 'The Stars My Destination'
As Jen pointed out, The Stars My Destination is also by Alfred Bester... both of these are classics. I call Stars my "wow" book, because the first time I read it I kept saying "Wow!"
classics of the 40's and 50's
Don't leave out the dean of early SF, E.E. "Doc" Smith and his Lensmen series. The first space opera, it introduces a lot of SF ideas that became commonplace later.
the only previous real captain of the Enterprise was Jean Luc Picard
You mean that French guy who couldn't get past the first hour of the first episode without bleating out, "We surrender"? (rolling eyes)
Not that anybody asked me, but I keep thinking a waltz would be appropriate for Dwarves... something slow, stately, and very dignified.
Well, isn't that how Dwarves view themselves?
-Sleepy hobbit
I did, I did! IIRC, as Isildur holds Sauron's finger on his palm, the finger turns to ash and blows away, and then the ring shrinks down to human-sized.
Aragorn is wearing a ring on his index finger.
If I remember the earlier discussion of that ring correctly, it's supposed to be the Ring of Barahir. Barahir was the father of Beren; the ring was given to him by the Elf king Finrod Felagund as a token of friendship (back in the First Age, natch.) The ring was passed down through the descendents of Beren and Luthien to the Kings of Numenor, and was one of the relics brought out of the destruction of Numenor by Elendil and his sons.
Well remember 'Q' had godlike powers. If Picard hadn't surrendered, as far as he knew the Enterprise would have been destroyed, and they would have taken it out of his salary. You know that a Frenchman wouldn't put up with an unjustified expense like that!
Well there was that show when he visited his brother at the vinyard in France, and the last show of the series when an old Picard was trimming the grape vines, isn't that French enough?
Well, I wouldn't know about that... all I know is Kirk beat up aliens with godlike powers every other week! No surrendering for him! ;)
Yeah....but it didn't have cheese in it (or did it? I don't remember) Anyway, this is the closest I could find:
OMG!! An actual cheese-eating surrender monkey! I didn't know they'd been filmed in their natural habitat! (Other than the bridge of the Enterprise-D, I mean.)
Kirk, Kirk, isn't he the only captain of a Galaxy Class Starship to get himself killed twice?? And in the same movie!!
This is Liberty Hall. You can spit on the mat and call the cat....
Hey, now, most captains only manage to get themselves killed once and it's game over! Not Kirk though, he found a way back so he could do it again! ;)
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