#read the hobbit just for this

[probablyaseamonster]

I love Bilbo Baggins so much

Like-

He was in his 50s when he went on that adventure

He’s a naturally adventurous free spirit but buried it under heaps of social expectations

He has entire ROOMS dedicated to clothes

He never married or had kids, even before he got the Ring

He literally stumbles on his first conversation with Gandalf. “An adventure? That sounds interrrr I MEAN very uncomfortable.” Like it cannot be more explicit

His entire Mom’s side of the family are weirdos/pos that are looked down on by society but are tolerated because they’re richer than rich

He has “after supper morsels”

“Something Tookish awoke in him” “the Took side won” LIKE you see what I mean right?

This man was BUILT for queer/neurodivergent headcanons and you can TELL the story would be a bit different if Tolkien hadn’t lived in the 1930s

[aarchimedes]

for context: I read the hobbit first over the course of two years when I was like 13, but I'm only now starting to read lotr. having a blast tho!

anyways, reblog if you feel like it 🙌🏻

[kindlythevoid]

Friendly reminder that Frodo named his pony Strider when he got back to the Shire. Friendly reminder that all the hobbits continued to call Aragorn “Strider” (at least on occasion) even after his coronation. Friendly reminder that Aragorn said that the name meant so much to him that he was going to make it his family name. Friendly reminder that the hobbits and Aragorn considered themselves close friends, even with everything going on. Friendly reminder that Merry and Pippin are buried with Aragorn.

[brethilach]

Thorin and Bilbo

[inkskinned]

sometimes we just need someone to pay enough attention.

for the longest time i had been trying to read The Lord of The Rings. everyone had sung the praises for it, over and over. i'd seen clips of the movie and it seemed like it could be fun, but actually reading it was fucking horrible.

my parents had the omnibus - all the books squished into one big tome - and in the 4th grade i started sort of an annual tradition: i would start trying to read TLR and get frustrated after about a month and put it back down. at first i figured i was just too young for it, and that it would eventually make sense.

but every time i came back to it, i would find myself having the exact same experience: it was confusing, weird, and dry as a fucking bone. i couldn't figure it out. how had everyone else on earth read this book and enjoyed it? how had they made movies out of this thing? it was, like, barely coherent. i would see it on "classics" list and on every fantasy/sci-fi list and everyone said i should read it; but i figured that it was like my opinion of great expectations - just because it's a classic doesn't mean i'm going to like experiencing it.

at 20, i began the process of forcing myself through it. if i had to treat the experience like a self-inflicted textbook, i would - but i was going to read it.

my mom came across me taking notes at our kitchen table. i was on the last few pages of the first book in the omnibus, and i was dreading moving on to the next. she smiled down at me. only you would take notes on creative writing. then she sat down and her brow wrinkled. wait. why are you taking notes on this?

i said the thing i always said - it's boring, and i forget what's happening in it because it's so weird, and dense. and strange.

she nodded a little, and started to stand up. and then sat back down and said - wait, will you show me the book?

i was happy to hand it over, annoyed with the fact i'd barely made a dent in the monster of a thing. she pulled it to herself, pushing her glasses up so she could read the tiny writing. for a moment, she was silent, and then she let out a cackle. she wouldn't stop laughing. oh my god. i cannot wait to tell your father.

i was immediately defensive. okay, maybe i'm stupid but i've been trying to read this since the 4th grade and -

she shook her head. raquel, this is the Silmarillion. you've been reading the Silmarillion, not the lord of the rings.

anyway, it turns out that the hobbit and lord of the rings series are all super good and i understand why they're recommended reading. but good lord (of the rings), i wish somebody had just asked - wait. this kind of thing is right up your alley. you love fantasy. it sounds like something might be wrong. why do you think it's so boring?

[la-pheacienne]

George Martin, 2013: "In a very basic level winter is coming for all of us. I think that’s one of the things that art is concerned with: the awareness of our own mortality. “Valar morghulis” – “All men must die”. That shadow lies over our world and will until medical science gives us all immortality… but I don’t think it makes it necessarily a pessimistic world. Not any more pessimistic than the real world we live in. We’re here for a short time and we should be conscious of our own mortality, but the important thing is that love, compassion and empathy with other human beings is still possible. Laughter is still possible! Even laughter in the face of death… The struggle to make the world a better place… We have things like war, murder and rape… horrible things that still exist, but we don’t have to accept them, we can fight the good fight. The fight to eliminate those things.There is darkness in the world, but I don’t think we necessarily need to give way to despair. One of the great things that Tolkien says in Lord of The Rings is “despair is the ultimate crime”. That’s the ultimate failing of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, that he despairs of ever being able to defeat Sauron. We should not despair. We should not go gentle into that good night".

JRR Tolkien, 1962 : "One reviewer once said, this is a jolly jolly book, all the right boys come home [...]- this isn't true of course, he can't have read the story. [...] Human stories are practically always about one thing, really, aren't they? Death. The inevitability of death. . . . . . (He quotes Simone de Beauvoir) 'There is no such thing as a natural death. Nothing that ever happens to man is natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident, and even if he knows it he would sense to it an unjustifiable violation.' Well, you may agree with the words or not, but those are the key spring of The Lord Of The Rings".

"Lotr is all rainbows and unicorns and Asoiaf is nihilistic and grimdark". Wrong, and wrong. In all its hope and radiance, lotr often gets very dark, and despite all the death and suffering, the hopeful moments in asoiaf shine bright. The meeting point of these two is this: having hope while in despair, and even better, refusing to give up because you have to go on despite not having any hope left.

[k8lynjoy]

Something I absolutely adore about The Lord of the Rings is the healthy depiction of masculinity, and how it's not seen through just the Hobbits - who are known for valuing friendship, love, and a quiet, simple life. It's Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Boromir, Faramir, Eomer, and Theoden. All of the men love, they laugh, they cry, they express themselves, they grieve, and they're never weaker for it. In fact, it's this emotional vulnerability - their capacity for love - that helps them succeed in saving Middle Earth. It's such a refreshing and beautiful thing to see.

Just props to JRR Tolkien for writing the characters the way he did and to Peter Jackson and the cast for bringing it to life so beautifully.

[pilkypills]

ladies ✨

[thorin]

AU where bilbo doesn't go to erebor with the company on that day where they all first met

half a year goes by where bilbo sometimes wonder what happened to those dwarves that raided his pantry. did they succeed in their crazy quest? were they safe? was gandalf safe?

gandalf was alive, but had been banished by thorin himself after he'd fallen to dragon sickness. now, gandalf needs bilbo to steal the arkenstone from thorin in order to give it to either dáin or fíli so he can become king instead, as thorin is clearly unfit to rule.

now what would happen next is the question......

[spinnenpfote6]

I just re-read some pages of The Fellowship Of The Ring and I don't get why so many people take issue with around-20-y/o Elijah Wood being cast. While Frodo Baggins is indeed canonically about 50 years old, the book specifically mentions how he looks like someone fresh out of his teens because he kept the One Ring for multiple years, which is known to keep their owner young and fresh (at least at the beginning until they rapidly age after getting rid of it) - not to mention that since hobbits age slower than humans, Frodo would only be in maybe his 30s. On one page we are being told that multiple people gossip and wonder about how young he still looks, including Gandalf. So if anything, you could say that Elijah Wood was too skinny or too attractive (though I do think he looks like Frodo is described), but not too young.

And I actually like that he looks young because it not only does it make him look cute and innocent, but we also get the notion of someone who has had a relatively quiet and happy, sheltered life before (aside from the terrible death of his parents) and of someone who is visibly sensitive and innocent and gets taken care of a lot. The BIGGEST reason I like his young looks however, is the parallel to young soldiers who are ripped out of their homes by outer forces, by older men who are the ones who started the wars. Young soldiers whose lives are practically destroyed before they even really begin, just like Frodo's - even if he's already half a century old. He comes back traumatized and sick/disabled having saved the world but having lost so much. Most likely his innocence too.

[ineffible-chaos]

anyone else suddenly get hit with a total wave of feelings thinking about bilbo and thorin?

all of their lost what-ifs, could have beens and maybes?

thinking about bilbo, planting those trees in the springtime just as Thorin told him but knowing his heart wasn’t into it as it was buried with his lost King hundreds of miles away in Erebor.

Thinking about how hard it might’ve been in the beginning for Bilbo to look at Frodo, who’s dark hair reminded him so, so much of Thorins.

idk, smth about lost soulmates makes me weep ☹️

[aliensurvivalist]

Okay but imagine one night Bilbo is sitting talking with Bofur on his night watch, curious about all the instruments Bofur plays, and Bilbo mentions that although he can’t play an instrument, he likes to write rhymes and he’s written a full nursery rhyme that he’s proud of but too shy to show off or publish.

Bilbo is hesitant about singing it for Bofur, but because of how comforting and friendly Bofur’s been on their journey so far compared to the others, he’s persuaded into singing it for him and it’s the Merry Old Inn rhyme, and Bofur is blown away and thinks it’s amazing. Bilbo’s ego is obviously a little inflated by this but he’s still too shy to sing it for the company when they’re awake like Bofur wants him to, so he gives Bofur permission to sing it for them in the morning.

When they set off again per Thorin’s instruction, Bilbo is anxiously waiting for the opinions of the group while Bofur introduces the rhyme to the company. As soon as he’s done singing, they all love it and Bilbo is so grateful for the justice Bofur’s performance served his song. Eventually it gets sung so much, the company all learns it themselves, so by the time they get to Rivendell they all know it off by heart when Bofur performs it at dinner, and although Bilbo is a little embarrassed at how rude of guests they’re being to the elves, he is so excited that they love it so much.

[fluentisonus]

also really funny when tolkien is like 'now I am satirizing small town english xenophobia' and people are like 'wow! the ideal society'

[kindlythevoid]

Friendly reminder that Merry knew about the Ring before Bilbo even left. Friendly reminder that all of Frodo’s hobbit friends were spying on him through Sam to make sure that he was alright and that he wasn’t going to leave without saying goodbye. Friendly reminder that Merry and Pippin knew about the Ring and its importance to the Enemy and still decided to go with Frodo. Friendly reminder that Frodo wasn’t going to ask them to leave the Shire. Friendly reminder that Fredegar Bolger was one of Frodo’s close friends and knew about the Ring as well, but stayed behind in order to keep Frodo’s disappearance a secret for as long as possible.

[edwardallenpoe]

thinking about how all the gayest scenes between Bilbo and Thorin were added to the movies. Thinking about how Bilbo and Thorin didn't even have more than two seconds of talking to each other in the book. Thinking about-

[as-kind-as-summer]

I love people who know so much about Tolkien lore. The people who know all the family trees and all the weapons names and all the little tidbits. I am over here just fully vibing and I love to see people who are a little feral about these works.