Approaching The Green Dragon Inn
Hobbiton, in The Shire
Posted on 02/15/2002 7:01:31 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Green Dragon Inn
Approaching The Green Dragon Inn
Hobbiton, in The Shire
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And wither then? I cannot say.
- JRR Tolkien
Politics also goes ever on and on.
This is a place for FReeper Tolkien fans to come and take a break from the impure reality of conservative activism and relax a little with a great story. We (the other co-conspirators and I) would like to study together the writings of Tolkien, beginning together, and discussing as we go through The Lord of the Rings together.
This is a chapter discussion, roughly one chapter per week, with the discussion mostly centered on the books, though of course the movie will be contrasted and compared, and perhaps used to illustrate another interpretation of the story.
When we are ready to move on, someone from the group (maybe me) will ping The Green Dragon List to the new Chapter, but we will continue this one thread until it becomes too cumbersome…. Let me know if you would like to be on - or off - this list. I will for now serve as the Thain of the list.
If you are joining late, jump right in, but please stick to the chapter currently being discussed.
Some have loved this story a long time, and some are newly discovering it. If you fit either category, we invite you to join in, but we would like this thread to stay mostly focused on the chapter at hand and keep moving, but at a pace everyone can keep up with… No jumping ahead, and no lagging behind! If you have other news to report or wish to discuss something Tolkien in more general terms… May we recommend the equally homey Hobbit Hole where my co-conspirators and I frequently have plenty of good talk.
One other request…. This thread will get long. In recognition that images slow down the thread for many and take up bandwidth, let’s keep the posting of images to a minimum on this thread. If there is a great illustration you wish to share, let’s try to use links instead of images wherever possible.
So lets read, listen and become inspired by the many aspects of The Lord of the Rings that touch us deeply and reconnect us to the values we aspire to. Many great discussions have already been had, and I hope that this thread will produce even more. Many FReepers have wonderful things to say about LoTR, whether the fantasy reconnects them with their faith, with their relationships with friends and family, or simply illustrates the splendor of great acts of heroism and sacrifice in the constant battle of virtue versus corruption.
Though it is a work of fiction, we believe the inspiration to be gained can only help us in our larger political goals: to guard and defend our freedom, our culture and our political ideals. May the fellowship and insight gained from this discussion help us to work through the issues that are the basis for our many shared ideals.
Besides, we Tolkien fans* need something to keep us busy during the next two years of waiting for the next two films. If you do not enjoy this story, then please simply leave us be.
*Also known as Geeky Hobbity Weirdos, obsessive fanatics, you name it, we have heard it and we see these names as compliments. In other words: don’t act like a troll, or we will distract you with our endless babble until the morning sun turns you to stone.
Shall we sing you an Elven song?
Only if the Nazgul happen to be coming to call!
I was beginning to wonder where everyone had gotten to...
Have you looked at the script that I posted the link to a while back? FOTR Script. I was just browsing through it looking up things that I'd not been able to quite "catch" in the dialogue, and stumbled across something I didn't know about. When the ring whispers in response to Frodo saying "Sauron was destroyed!" it whispers "Isildur." I thought that was a pretty cool detail....
(That was my on-topic part of my post...now for the off-topic--movie related--stuff...):
When the ring is calling Aragorn's name it calls him Aragorn Elessar.
Have you noticed the slowed-down speech in Lothlórien yet?
I will meet you over in the hobbit hole for the rest... hehehe
Traveling once again through Middle Earth, my eyes found the welcome sign of the Green Dragon Inn.
A bit odd to see so many travelers on the roads...but then again ....one does hear strange rumors.
A round of the inn's best on me, and add me to this "ping list" if you please.
Selara
May I be added to this fellowship too, please?
Prompted by the popularity of the LOTR movie in the US (I'm in Japan), I just recently picked up the series for the first time in twenty years, and I'm slightly past the halfway point of The Two Towers now. The movie hasn't arrived here yet; it's scheduled to open in theaters on 2 March, though there will be a late night/early morning preview showing this coming Saturday. Since the movie will not end until after train and subway service stop, it'll be an all-night affair...I guess we'll know then who the real Tolkien fans are.
Despite Tolkien's fame in the English-speaking world, none of my Japanese friends had even heard of LOTR prior to seeing the TV ads for the movie, though the Lord of the Rings series, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion have been available in Japanese for some years now, and such texts as The Atlas of Middle Earth can be found alongside them in bookstores. Most bookstores of any decent size have the entire LOTR series displayed prominently (right next to the Harry Potter books), and Tolkien is likely to gain a considerable number of new fans on this side of the Pacific once the movie arrives.
I actually went out and bought the Japanese-language versions of The Hobbit and the first two volumes of the paperback LOTR today -- hey, if you think three volumes of Tolkien in English is daunting, try nine volumes (albeit not very thick ones) in translation! -- and, if this discussion group doesn't tear through chapters like Ents through stone, I might try to keep up. For those most unquenchably curious hobbits out there, the first volume of LOTR is entitled Tabi no Nakama in Japanese, which translates as "Traveling Companions."
Has anyone else out there read LOTR in translation? I think it might be interesting to discuss some of the differences between the original English version and translated versions -- including variations in literary style, approaches taken to convey dialects, the care taken to maintain the rhyme and rhythm of the poetry/songs, etc. Having skimmed through the Japanese books I bought today, it struck me just how much of Tolkien's appeal lies in his use of language and not simply in the ripping good yarns he tells.
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