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.

[Corin Stormhands]

I don't pull teeth, you know...

Just another reason for your Mom to be disappointed...

Maybe you should knock out a couple of HER teeth...

[2Jedismom]

LOL! I've been chastised more than once for letting that tooth just dangle in his head like that! But I don't care...I asked his doctor about it when I took him in (he's got bronchitis). His doc said "It'll fall out eventually...don't even bother with it."

Dancing a loose tooth out sounds like the way to go to me!!

[Sam Cree]

So the Rangers protecting the Shire was just a part of an overall Middle-Earth protection system?

I remember it that way, at least for the parts that couldn't really protect themselves too well. But sort of undercover, didn't someone liken them to the CIA?

[RMDupree]

Corin, my humble prayers for you and your family.

[Corin Stormhands]

Seems like I'd only worry about it if there's a chance he could swallow it in his sleep.

You can't really convince a kid that pulling a loose baby tooth isn't going to hurt. I agree with your doc. Leave it alone.

[Corin Stormhands]

Thank you.

[Sam Cree]

Welcome aboard, FL hobbit.

[ksen]

I remember it that way, at least for the parts that couldn't really protect themselves too well. But sort of undercover, didn't someone liken them to the CIA?

Or the Jesuits. ;^)

[2Jedismom]

I was concerned about that too, only because how would the tooth fairy come if he swallowed it? Otherwise it would've just come out in the wash, so to speak. I tried to get him to flick it out (that's all it needed) but he wouldn't and I didn't press it. I would start feeling green if we talked about it too much.

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

didn't someone liken them to the CIA?

That is the way I think of them. Just as Morgoth in the olden days, Sauron was in the habit of continually sending out spies to find out what was happening in the land. The Rangers were there to intercept, assassinate, mislead, and or divert them as seemed best. Ever vigilant they were in the protection of the free lands... "Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty"--(wasn't it Barry Goldwater who said that?)

[RMDupree]

My dad used to tie our loose tooth up with a thread and yank it out of our heads. *shudder*

I haven't gotten to that stage yet with my eldest (she's 5), so I have no idea what to do.

My sister gave my nephew an apple and told him to take a big ol' bite. Voila! The tooth got stuck and he didn't even notice.

[Overtaxed]

Squirrels? If which kind do you speak?

Those sorry little nut thieving, corn eating, pot digging, bushy-tailed tree rats!

Not to mention flea bearing.

[RMDupree]

Thank you Sam.

As a hobbit resident of Miami-Dade county, let me assure all of Middle-Earth that I do know how to vote properly!

*grin*

[ksen]

Can you post the Tom Bombadil quote again (or link to it)?

Here’s a serious one from “Fog on the Barrow-Downs”:

’Few now remember them[men of Westernesse],’ Tom[Bombadil] murmured, ‘yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless.’

A reference perhaps to the rangers?

There ya go.

[Corin Stormhands]

We "lost" a couple of Corin, Jr.'s. So I would draw a tooth on white paper and we'd cut it out and put it under his pillow. We still have the paper teeth in with his real ones.

[RMDupree]

They haven't been in my garden yet, but I assure you that when and if they do, I'll be thinking of new recipes that include squirrel as the main course.

Hobbit dogs have to eat, you know! I'm sure Farmer Maggot's little "angels" would just love some.

[Corin Stormhands]

A reference perhaps to the rangers?

Certainly seems like it.

[ksen]

For the two of mine that have lost teeth already I must have pulled at least ten of them.

[Sam Cree]

I do know how to vote properly!

Yeah, me too, I think it was the dwarves in Boca that voted for Buchanan by mistake.

[2Jedismom]

Oh my stars, how barbaric! That's just the way it was back in the olden days I guess!!

My doc says don't even mess with them. They come out naturally. My son even had teeth come in before the baby teeth were out and we just left them alone and eventually they fell out.

Except twice, I knocked them out accidently...once when I was goosing him with a little firefighter toy and then once I bonked it with his toothbrush (he brushes in the morning, and in the evening, but in the evening, I go over them really good) and it fell out. Both times I nearly passed out.

Once, my youngest came into the kitchen with his hands behind his back and proceeded to tell me a story saying "One day, I was playing with Matthew and I knock him toof out wif my knee." I dropped everything and ran into the bathroom to find a tooth on the counter and Matthew spitting blood into the sink! LOL Thankfully it was very loose and ready to come out!