Today is April 27th. On this day (2941, the Third Age of Middle-earth) the hobbit Bilbo Baggins left the Shire with the company of Thorin Oakenshield and the wizard Gandalf. The adventure begins! 

Tolkien said that one of the things he didn't like about LotR was that the book was too short.

In a way I agree with him, because I found the ending so rushed [others always say "that evil" is destroyed in the middle of the book and everything after is just an long epilogue] and yet I found it rushed. And I wanted a lot of the appendices to be narrated chapters, it was interesting to see what the lives of each member of the Fellowship were like in the appendices, but I wanted chapters about.

And I would also like to have seen, narrated chapters, of the Battle of Dale, with Brand (Son of Bain, son of Bard) and Dáin fighting three days against enemy armies and dying. I wish had read a narrative of Thranduill and Celeborn uniting in Mirkwood and destroying Dul Guldur once and for all, and then dividing the region between them. When LotR informs that the others would not come to battle because they already had war at their gates, I wanted the plot to split to show this in other parts.

A better development of the romance between some characters would also be interesting, the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen already makes me cry every time I read it, but I feel like it would be more interesting as a narrative than an appendix. If their marriage went on for another 100 pages I wouldn't mind. And I would like Arwen and Elrond's conversations not to be just subtext.

Faramir and Éowyn, I really love them as a couple, but I think more pages dedicated to their romance would also be interesting. Sam and Rose? I would have liked it more if we had more mentions of the girl throughout the journey, if Sam mentioned her more often throughout the plot, so maybe the end wouldn't seem so sudden. When I say that don't like the development of the "love pairings" in LotR, it's not that I don't like the characters or the ships, but that the narrative wasn't enough for me. Don't get me wrong, I love LotR. But I wanted there to be more to be "narrated" than "told" or "implied" or "pointed out in the appendices."

Yes, I also thought the book was too short. There is a lot between the lines that could come to light more. It could have been another thousand pages. And perhaps it still wasn't enough. How could anyone think that LotR is a very long book?

Maybe that's the problem with Tolkien creating such a complex Universe with such interesting characters: no matter how long the book was, it would never be enough. Because as a fan, I would always want more and more of it. More immersion at all points. Is it always like this with authors who create universes that seem so incredible to read? And when it's gone, it's not enough to fill the void.

And all the posthumous books, like The Silmarillion, or Unfinished Tales (and others), with the tone of "organized drafts" and "told" instead of narrated most of the time, weren't enough for me. I still wanted so much more. And I never will have it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the posthumous books, I think Christopher Tolkien did a good work. But still, when reading, I always asked myself "if this had been published by Tolkien during his lifetime, would it have been like this? What would he have changed yet? What would he have more refined?".

Because, as much as other fans like to see posthumous books as a "canonical" part of the work, like complements. I can only see as unfinished drafts, which it truly are. No matter how well organized are, even The Silmarillion is just a draft organized in the best way, Christopher T says this.

The letters don't count for me either, because Tolkien changed his mind about several things, just like in the drafts.

So I feel that, although the Tolkien Universe is vast, there are a lot of drafts and letters, and little work is actually completed. I liked the posthumous books and the fact that they expanded the universe even further and provided more information. But it becomes a “vicious cycle”, as the information contained there also brings more desire for it be narrated by Tolkien himself in an book he finished (but will never be! Unfortunately).

And that saddens me. Because I wanted so much more. And Tolkien didn't live long enough to give it. In the end, it's a mix of happiness for what Tolkien gave, and sadness for what he still could have given.

Imagine the elves of Mirkwood forming an alliance with the spiders and using them like horses because the thought of domesticated giant spiders makes me giggle.

It kills me that Elrond’s Council in the book is like ten people going like “er I think we are in trouble cuz like weird things are happening what should we do Elrond wisest between the wise give us advice!”

And he’s like “sure but first- here is our special correspondent Gandalf. Would you mind also telling them about the last 30 years of your life? Thank you”

I'm re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and here's something I just stumbled upon.

In the chapter following the Council of Elrond, the Hobbits are sitting around discussing what's going to happen next and who will be involved. Pippin makes his famous comment about how he should go because there needs to be someone of intelligence in the party, and Gandalf famously comes back with his remark that under those circumstances, Pippin definitely won't be chosen.

But I want you to notice this:

"'Then you certainly will not be chosen, Peregrin Took!' said Gandalf, looking in through the window which was near the ground."

And then a little later in the same scene:

"So great was Frodo 's delight at this announcement [that Gandalf would probably be accompanying them] that Gandalf left the window sill, where he had been sitting, and took off his hat and bowed."

So first of all, Gandalf is "looking in through the window," which implies he was outside, right?

And then he's standing up from the window sill and taking a bow, presumably now in the room with the Hobbits, right?

So that means . . .

Gandalf climbed in through the window. 😂😂

Gandalf the Grey accompanied by Frodo and Sam. Made this little drawing back in the spring of 2021, while rereading both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. 🧝‍♀️🧙‍♂️🔮✨🍁

✨elrond's boys✨

When I was younger I always used to skip infodumps in books because I thought they were boring. So when I read the silmarillion I was like 'lets skip over the infodump' just that the whole book is basically infodump.

I'm going to try to read it again soon, and this time I am all in for the infodump!😅😅

At last!

All my Tolkien books on the same shelf! (for less than two days bc then I’m packing everything to move room. But I’ll have a dedicated Tolkien shelf in my new room too.)

Tolkien Reading Day is Monday, March 25! If you've been promising yourself that you'd finally read The Lord of the Rings, it might be time to make good with this amazing volume:

For the first time ever, a very special edition of the J.R.R. Tolkien's classic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, gorgeously illustrated throughout in color by the author himself and with the complete text printed in two colors, plus sprayed edges and a ribbon bookmark.

Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivaled magic and otherworldliness, Tolkien's sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike. More than 150 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors' editions become prized and valuable items of publishing.

This one-volume, jacketed hardcover edition contains the complete text, fully corrected and reset, which is printed in red and black and features, for the very first time, thirty color illustrations, maps and sketches drawn by Tolkien himself as he composed this epic work. These include the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, marvelous facsimiles created by Tolkien to accompany the famous 'Bridge of Khazad-dum' chapter. Also appearing are two removable fold-out maps drawn by Christopher Tolkien revealing all the detail of Middle-earth.

Sympathetically packaged to reflect the classic look of the first edition, this new edition of the bestselling hardback will prove irresistible to collectors and new fans alike.

PURCHASE

My friends and I were debating who was most important in destroying the One Ring...

Gandalf, who liked the Hobbits very much and trusted them and urged the Hobbits (first Bilbo/ after Frodo and Sam) to go on their respective journeys. Bilbo, who found the One Ring and later spared Gollum's life, as well as adopted Frodo, leaving the One Ring to him. Frodo, who volunteered to destroy the One Ring when he knew they needed to do so, and was the only one who trusted Gollum to take him to Mordor. Sam, who accompanied Frodo and was by his side in his darkest hours and carried Frodo and the One Ring to Orodruin/Mount Doom. Or Gollum who, even if it was not his real intention, was the one who actually led to the destruction of the One Ring by disputing possession of the object with Frodo, resulting in his own death and destruction of the item.

In the end, after much deliberation, we came to the consensus that this was like a Relay race; where not only the one who crosses the finish line with the 'baton/stick-like', in this case the One Ring, is responsible for the victory, but rather that everyone involved was necessary. If any of them no performing their actions, the victory would not have been possible. We all found the conclusion satisfactory, regardless of which character we are most fans of.

BUT let's remember Gandalf's phrase:

 "You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit. You are only quite a little fellow in a wide world".

There was more than luck guiding each of them, and it wasn't 'plot armor' but rather 'divine providence'. In the end, all things worked together for good, this providence which does not choose the skilled but enables the chosen. And no matter how hard Sauron tried to undermine his enemies, the good proved more ingenious in the way that wove destiny and led the evil to downfall.

In the end, none of these characters we love is the true hero, it turns out that Tolkien is very subtle about pointing out his Catholic inclination in the plot. But it is there.

In honour of my Legolas post getting 5,000 notes, I have more weird Legolas for you. This elf sleeps with his eyes open. He can speak more than one language, so he's weird in more than one language. He SHOOTS DOWN A NAZGUL just on a whim in the dark because he saw it, Let's not forget "oh, yeah I went to fetch the sun and she was chilling in a field so I've come back to watch you struggle". In the films it always confused me that Legolas is at the front with Gandalf in the mines of Moria until I realised that he can actually see in the dark so it's beneficial for him to be there, looking into the distance with his freak eyes (affectionate).

Tolkien collection coming along nicely. And it'll look even better once I can get the new hardbacks for the History of Middle-earth that are coming out soon (although, I still want to complete my paperback set of them, and rebuy the mismatched copies into ones that match.

I'm also planning on getting the new illustrated by the author copy of the Hobbit at some point, and I do plan on getting all of Tolkien's other non Middle-earth related works. Kind of hoping that they release new hardbacks of his other books to match the current hardback set, though. Probably not going to happen, but it would be nice if it did so they all match.

The collection is a bit cluttered, I know, but I don't really have many other options for display, so this'll have to do.

Close ups of each shelf below. Plus my DVDs and other related items. With the exception of the Funkos, most of the figurines, most of the hardbacks, and the black spine editions of HoME, everything was bought secondhand.

I haven't shared my Tolkien collection on here for a while. Here are my favourite shelves. I do have more replica's and Weta Sideshow statues. The crown of Elessar is on another shelf. The phial of Galadriel is standing next to her bust. I hope that I will find Merry one day.

Fall before Us🐉💨🗡

By:

https://www.deviantart.com/breath-art/gallery