New Zealander builds Hobbit hole

Ananova / The Evening Post ^ | 1/26/02

[John Farson]

New Zealander builds Hobbit hole A New Zealand man has built a Hobbit house. Carl Gifford, a stonemason from Wellington, says he used a 10-tonne digger to make the hole. He's put rocks either side of the front door and plans to install a chimney and lantern on top. He told the Evening Post he was embarrassed as he was constructing the home. He said: "I must admit I was hiding as the cars were driving past. I thought, 'These people think I'm an idiot'." The house is part of a series of stonework mounds, designs and sculptures dotted around his land. "I'm just having a bit of fun. Things that were built by those ancient people like caves have always fascinated me."

[BibChr]

LOL! You and I are starting to sound like Legolas and Gimli comparing orcs downed!

So many subtle things elude me because (A) I'm a guy, and (B) I'm caught up in the moment. But now I notice more clearly that [SPOILERS] Aragorn puts on Boromir's wristguards after he falls, and that Aragorn wears Arwen's necklace. I noticed too the designs on Boromir's clothes, marking him as upper-class.

I remember my Josiah's (6) first watching. He did know the story, and I'm sure that helped. But I was concerned for him during the tenser scenes, and covered his eyes three times.

But one of the first tenser scenes is where the 5 Nazgul confront the hobbits on Weathertop. The hulking figures close in on the little circled hobbits, holding out their little swords...

... and Josiah leans over to me and whispers, "Red alert!"

Dan

[JenB]

That's a precious story about your little guy, if you don't mind me jumping into this conversation.

I've only been five times, but one of my sisters has been 8 or 9 times! Of course, she's still being homeschooled so has more free time than I do off at college.

I'm lucky - my Dad was a huge Tolkien fan and so I always had someone to talk to, though I don't suppose my comments, as an 11-year-old, really were that intuitive. Now both my little sisters love LotR, and all my friends are obsessed too! I tell you, it's a great time to be a fan. You think Mr. HobbitholeBoy will give tours if you ask him nicely?

[2Jedismom]

Yes, I noticed those things gradually and even last night discussed with my husband (who has proven very indulgent concerning this) about Boromir's appearance and that in the absence of the king, the stewards are as close to royalty the White City has.

Do you notice that Arwen puts the necklace in Aragorn's hand and he doesn't even realize it at first and looks to her...ahem, well the place it previously was and sees that it's not there now?

Did you notice that Boromir kneels before Merry and Pippin for a minute, while defending them? This is just after he cursed them (Frodo and all the halflings), but has a change of heart.

Matthew is much the same in his response. He's six too, you know and hides his face during the bad parts. I just can't justify waiting for him to see it till I can edit it, because it's so beautiful on that big screen. I will edit it onto a VHS tape, when it comes out on DVD, taking out the gruesome parts, so that Joshua (the three year old) can watch. He already has a dime-store ring that he wears around...it's pretty funny.

[2Jedismom]

And I believe the jewel Arwen is wearing is a Silmaril. What do you think, JenB?

[JenB]

Can't be a Silmaril. The only one left is with Earandil (sp) on his ship, sailing across the sky... the others were lost forever. Maglos threw the one he took into the sea after it bruned him, and Maedhros threw himself and his silmaril into a fiery crevice.

Don't know what Arwen's wearing but it's not a silmaril.

[BibChr]

Jump right in! Josiah is one of the brighter lights of my life. Just the other night (alluding to your post, now, in the Tolkien & Religion thread), we were talking about how Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends," and how Boromir did exactly that.

You were blessed with your dad in that way. I love and miss my Dad very much, but he shared almost none of my literary tastes.

Happily, my wife is a big fan, and was long before we met (as was I). We're on about our 4th read-through for our marriage. She was critical after her first viewing because of the changes and omissions, but now is a 6-timer and such a big fan that she successfully bid for the complete set of LOTR action figures on E-Bay.

For herself, not the boys! (c8

Dan

[2Jedismom]

She sounds like me! I went to the sports card shop and bought LOTR trading cards...for the kids, you know. . .;-)

[BibChr]

Yes, I did notice that about Aragorn.

And something that really struck me for the first time on seventh viewing was just how close Gondor is to Mordor, how it does form a fragile buffer-zone against its advance. It's in that scene (one of my very favorite) right at the beginning, just after the Black Riders have burst out of Minas Morgul, and Gandalf reigns up his horse, watching the dark thunderclouds over Mordor. Then he spurs the horse on for Gondor, which you then see in the forground, with Mordor in the background.

That about Boromir struck my at about the fourth or fifth viewing. It is the second time that the orc-arrows (thick as table-legs) bring him to his knees. As he gasps for breath, he looks up and sees Merry and Pippin. As usual, Jackson is not heavy-handed about it, but you see the back of one of their heads at the left edge of the screen. Looking at their eyes, Boromir again heaves himself to his feet and dispatches more orcs, before the last arrow brings him down for the last time.

Ack, tearing up at work. Very moving scene. Wonderful movie.

Dan

[JenB]

I don't cry in public... but I've come close, watching the Boromir Death Scene. Don't know how I'm going to get through Two Towers... 'The Choice of Master Samwise' generally makes me cry anyway, and I'll bet that scene will be brilliant, don't you think?

[2Jedismom]

And the way the Hobbits conduct themselves after Boromir falls is just inspiring! Charging with their swords was futile, but brave. And Pippin is not much more than a boy, only 29, 4 years shy of coming of age.

I can't wait till the Two Towers. I just can't wait.

[BibChr]

Yes, I do. I also rather think that [SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING!] one of the most tragic scenes in the entire trilogy, where Smeagol and Gollum fight it out, only to be turned just the wrong way at just the wrong moment by Sam's innocent suspicion, could be gut-wrenching.

I think Jackson's done a masterful job, all of my quibbles aside. And what's reassuring is the knowledge that Jackson filmed all three at the same time. So if the first was good (and it was!), odds are the other two will be at least as good -- and you know they'll have the same fine actors at the foundation. Can't wait!

Dan

[2Jedismom]

I cry every time they show Pippin sobbing in Merry's lap, after Gandalf falls into the abyss. Jackson got across to me that Pippin felt responsible, after knocking all that stuff down the shaft.

[BibChr]

Oh, yes again! I know one person whose first impression of Merry and Pippin was, "Oh, great; they've been turned into Jar-Jar!", because they're more comic-relief than in the books, and their whole motivation was downplayed. But that's one of the scenes that puts the stake in the heart of the whole Jar Jar comparison -- how torn with grief and rage their faces are as they bring all of their, what, four feet to charge the (relatively) giant loathesome orcs.

Dang! Tearing up again! Stop it! I'm at work!

Dan

[2Jedismom]

Two things I discussed with my husband last night...first the way Boromir was dressed and second, that the movies will probably continue to be just as good because they were filmed at the same time!

You and I are on the same wavelength, I think!

[RosieCotton]

"...how torn with grief and rage their faces are as they bring all of their, what, four feet to charge the (relatively) giant loathesome orcs."

Oh man...that gets me every time. And then that brief moment when we see their faces as they're carried off...they KNOW there's nothing they can do, and that Boromir is giving his life for them.

Pardon me while I join the tear-fest. Ai! Poignant stuff!

[JenB]

I love Merry and Pippin, always have, and I think that although heroes in TT and RotK - their parts really expand later, too. I think that the look on their faces when Boromir gets shot is probably worth their entire salaries, not to mention their futile charge...

[2Jedismom]

I don't know, the scene at Bucklebury Ferry was pretty intense for the two young hobbits! Merry shows a great deal of spunk with no questions asked. And Pippin really is pretty funny and does actually say in the book "I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be someone of intelligence in the party" to which Gandalf replies "Then you certainly will not be chosen, Peregrin Took!" I never thought that was all that funny until seeing it the way Jackson portrayed it. Now I read it and laugh.

[RosieCotton]

The other part of that portion of the movie that hits me hard is when, right after Boromir has died, Legolas walks up and they show his face for a brief moment. I can usually handle it until then, but I totally lose it there. He's so noble, so pure, so beautiful...and so sorrowful. It's a perfect portrayal of elvish grief.

[BibChr]

You and I are on the same wavelength, I think!

LOL — be afraid, be very afraid!

I have a dear friend in Connecticut who's already planning Tolkien Day when all three movies are out on tape! Sounds good to Valerie and me!

I've found little imperfections (I've mentioned how the gate to Moria doesn't reflect in the water), but I hesitate even to mention them, because there are so many perfections! The little dust of ash on the edge of the Ring as it sits on Frodo's table, the reflection of the fireworks in the water at Shire, the leaf-brooches on the cloaks they get in Lothlorien, the wrist-guard, Arwen calling the horse "Asfaloth," the white horses in the flood at Bruinen, and on and on.

I think if I were Peter Jackson, I'd be impossible to talk to for the rest of my life. What an accomplishment!

Dan

[2Jedismom]

Another part of the book that just tears me up is the part in the ROTK where Merry asks Pippin if he is going to bury him. I cry every time I read it.