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.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Great shot! (Is that Delphi Road in the background?)

[HairOfTheDog]

No - but close.... There is another road leading south out of town....

[JenB]

I'm so very thankful for this Hobbit Hole, where I know I can talk about basically anything and find someone who's interested, or just hang out and talk about nothing. Everyone here is the greatest!

[HairOfTheDog]

Me too Jen.... must be almost time to eat for you!

I am still trying to get out of the house, it is 10:00. I should be going. Dinner is at 3:00 but I want to get there early!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Good morning/afternoon, all...

Just finished second breakfast here (eggs over easy, pork sausage links, and toast) and am watching football, yay! Rose will begin preparing dinner in a little while (we're late eaters) Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving, again! :)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

That has to be the most polite multi-person sneak we've ever had here. :)

[SuziQ]

The passage I like starts just after the Gandalf flashback before Sam gets back to Frodo.

I like that part, too. You play it very well!!

[JenB]

Our dinner is going to be late, around 5 or so, and we're not eating much before. The turkey smells really good but you should have seen what my mom was doing to it - herb butter all up under the skin, it looked gross, and then stuffed it. MMMmmm, I can hardly wait.

We just got out all the Christmas music so tomorrow we can kick off the season properly!

[HairOfTheDog]

OK - I have got myself together and I am headed out the door! See you all later on, either from the beach house or late when I get back.

Sam, I am gonna get Dave to take those potato gun pictures, if not possible today, then this weekend sometime for you!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

The turkey sounds delicious!

Unfortunately, my Mom is not a very good cook. When I was growing up, all of our big holiday meals (Thanksgiving and Christmas) were at my Grandma's house... and she was a very good cook! It was always a big family gathering... about a dozen or so adults and anywhere from 10 to 20 kids of various ages all crammed together in one not-very-big house. Just finding a place to sit down to eat was a challenge! But it was fun. :)

[JenB]

My mother is a very good cook. I can smell things already. We never really have people for Thanksgiving, just us and Grandma, but one year we had my other grandparents and uncle, so we had five adults and eight kids that year. That was not really very fun.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

It was always interesting, seeing which relatives would show up and when. And there was always so much going on that it was easy to find a corner to sit in and be ignored if you wanted to... and of course there was football to watch and good food to eat. ;)

[JenB]

Good food is right! I don't really care for football, though.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

During the Christmas get-togethers there wasn't football to watch of course... so after the gift-giving and the food-eating, we'd usually wind up playing chess... myself and various cousins challenging each other or our uncles to see who had improved over the previous year. I never did beat any of my uncles at chess, although I put up some good battles once or twice!

[JenB]

For Christmas, ah... we have a large breakfast, then open presents, which takes us until early afternoon, then we eat Christmas dinner and look at our new things. One advantage of a large family is that it takes forever to ger everything out from under the tree!

I usually get some books for Christmas and do my best to put a big dent in them before New Years. Though last year, I got the "Big Book o' Amber" and didn't read it until nearly March...

[SuziQ]

We just got out all the Christmas music so tomorrow we can kick off the season properly!

I listened to my 'Celtic Christmas Spirit' and 'Bells of Dublin' CDs last night when I was chopping onions and celery and getting the dressing ready to go into the slow cooker! Chatted with our #1 son after he got back from an evening with his friends and finally crawled into bed at 3 am! I didn't even put the turkey in the oven til NOON, so we're gonna eat about 4:30 or 5. Sir SuziQ just started a fire in the fireplace, so it is nice and cozy here. Hmmm....I think I'll turn that Christmas music back on; Anonymous 4 this time!

Many Blessings to all my friends at the Hobbit Hole. Sir SuziQ asked the other night what we all had in common. I told him our love of Tolkien for starters, but we're all Freepers, too, so I guess we share a basic political outlook. But mostly I've enjoyed becoming friends and sharing everyones' good news and bad patches. I am thankful we're all in the Hobbit Hole together, and I wish you all a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. And mostly I wish that all the calories I consume today won't settle on my hips!!

[JenB]

What have we got in common? We are Tolkien fans and Freepers, like you said. That means we love good writing, a good debate, and this country. We all have families we love, and jobs we maybe don't like so much. We have mostly a common religious heritage, even if some of us are more laid back about it than others. We're all polite and helpful.

Oh, and we have this weird obsession with posts that have multiple 0s on the end!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

For Christmas we'd have a two-tier celebration... breakfast and gift-giving at home with my parents, brother and sister, then in the afternoon going to my grandparents for more gift-giving and dinner with them and my uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Would usually get books here too, although I also got toys... Legos especially!

By the way, I just recently read "The Dawn of Amber" by John Gregory Betancourt, and I enjoyed it a lot! I wasn't sure I would like it, but I did, and I'm looking forward to the second book in the series.

[BibChr]

Wasn't there supposed to be a new, unseen, extended TTT trailer on the extended FOTR? If so, we haven't seen it yet. Anyone?

Dan

[Sam Cree]

Thanks, Hair.