#the hobbit ramblings

[helplessavacado]

working on dwarrow Kylen and Ama'kien and oh my god...

Kylen and Thorin Oakenshield are literally just the same fucking character aren't they 😭😭😭

[tehcherrya]

Somebody give me the rights to the LOTR cinematic productions so I can create a coming of age dramedy taking place during the seventeen years between Bilbo's 111th birthday party and Frodo leaving the Shire. I'd call it "The Shire Seventeen". It would not only include the Conspiracy as a backdrop but also a bunch of the development and growing up that was probably done within those seventeen years, that is entirely unrelated to the Ring.

It's a whole seventeen years worth of low-stakes hobbit Shire drama and shenanigans, guys-- I need that cozy comedy content.

[teddybarebones]

[dopaminetreasurehoard]

Gotta spread some love for Meriadoc.

I wish they'd kept a bit more of his personality from the book, because Merry is quite smart.

His relationship to Frodo (though they are cousins) reads more like Cambridge school-chums. Like he's the resident prankster and class-clown due to being both smart and bored.

He fits the type in Regency literature of the guy who's technically in the upper class by title and connections, but whose family's estate is in Ireland or Scotland - an outsider. A gentleman, but not as respectable as the more conventional.

The Brandybucks are like that, too - considered the odd, frontier hobbits compared with the rest.

[morporkian-cryptid]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Arsène Lupin Copyright Shenanigans

Have I ever told y’all about the absolute madness that is the legal issues around the Lupin franchise ? Probably. Can I find the post in question ? No. Am I going to tell you again ? You fucking bet !

The year is 1905, and detective stories are all the rage. Maurice Leblanc, a young writer, is commissioned by the magazine Je Sais Tout to write a short story on the same model as Sherlock Holmes. Maurice Leblanc says « Screw this detective shit », and creates the character of Arsène Lopin, gentleman thief.

No, this is not a typo.

Arsène Lopin, a municipal advisor in Paris, hears about it and contacts Leblanc. « You are not fucking writing a story about a thief who shares my name. » To which Leblanc replied, « Lopin ? No no, you misunderstand, this is Arsène Lupin, completely different person. »

And he gets away with it.

Leblanc writes a bunch more stories about Arsène Lupin, they get popular, and he decides he wants to write a crossover with the famous British detective, Sherlock Holmes. A crossover in which, of course, Lupin will win and Holmes will be humiliated.

Arthur Conan Doyle hears about it, and is not thrilled. He contacts Maurice Leblanc with a message along the lines of « You are not fucking writing a story where my Amazing-Original-Character-Do-Not-Steal gets bested by a thief. » To which Leblanc replies, « Sherlock Holmes? No no, you misunderstand, this is Herlock Sholmes, completely different person. »

And he gets away with it.

The years pass, more Lupin stories are written, they’re translated and exported outside of France, and wouldn’t you know it, Japan takes a strong liking to the « gentleman thief » archetype in general and to Arsène Lupin in particular.

The years is 1967, and mangaka Kazuhiko Kato, best known by his pen name Monkey Punch, is commissioned by the magazine Weekly Manga Action to create a manga for their first issue. He reads 15 of Leblanc’s stories, and creates Lupin the Third, a character who is the grandson of the famous gentleman thief. He does not bother asking the Leblanc Estate for permission, as Japan doesn’t give much of a crap about French copyright laws.

(For the record, Weekly Manga Action was the first manga magazine for an adult audience (outside of erotica), and Lupin III was published in its first issue, effectively making it one if not the very first adult manga in the history of manga.)

The Lupin III manga gets popular, is adapted into an anime, the anime gets popular, it gets translated into other languages and exported to Europe…

And then the Leblanc estate rears its head. «You are not making an anime about our character without paying us fucking royalties, » they say to Monkey Punch. To which Monkey Punch, channeling the spirit of the deceased Maurice Leblanc into his very soul, replies : « Lupin ? No no, you misunderstand, this is Rupan, completely different person. »

And he fucking gets away with it.

(Arsène Lupin became public domain in France in 2012. Before that, Lupin the Third took many different names in European releases, among which Rupan, Wolf, and in France, Edgar de la Cambriole (Edgar of Burglary).)

Additional tomfuckery :

The year is 1982, and science-fiction animated series are getting extremely popular. TMS decides to try and get a slice of the cake, and begins the development of Lupin VIII, a sci-fi spinoff about Lupin III’s descendant. The anime is being produced in France, and the Leblanc Estate once again rears its head. « Sure, you can make that anime, » they say, « but pay us fucking royalties. » TMS, as previously established, does not want to pay the Leblanc Estate diddly squat, and so they scrap half of the project, recycle the other half, and go « Lupin VIII ? No no, you misunderstand, this is Inspector Gadget, completely different person. »

The year is 1930, and famous Japanese writer Tarō Hirai writes The Golden Mask, a novel in which his detective character Kogoro Akechi goes up against none other than Arsène Lupin. Hirai’s pen name was Edgar Allan Poe- wait, wait, no, sorry, it’s Edogawa Ranpo, completely different person.

(Later, Gosho Aoyama names his character, Detective Conan Edogawa, after Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo (and the anime is distributed by TMS).)

(More than fifty years later, the Lupin III anime makes a tribute to Ranpo’s Gold Mask with the double episode The Imperial City Dreams of Thieves.)

The year is 2021, and Capcom is releasing the video game The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, in which famous detective Sherlock Holmes plays a central role. Unfortunately for them, a few Sherlock Holmes stories are still under copyright, and the Conan Doyle Estate is about as stubborn and greedy as their French cousins. « Pay us fucking royalties, » they say.

In the English release of the game, Sherlock Holmes is renamed to, you guessed it...

...fucking Herlock Sholmes.

[morningnoodles]

more than a year into this fandom and one of my favourite things ever is seeing fanartists' different versions and iterations on these specific images

[eliounora]

I don't like the hobbit films for many reasons but the "what is this horrid creature, goblin mutant?" "that's my wee lad, gimli!" scene was such a precious addition, like legolas had no place in the films but if they gave him that one cameo it would have been brilliant

[heart-select]

fav hobbit fic (mostly bagginshield) tropes that delight me to no end

dwarves making bets (esp on matters of courtship)

line of durin having horrible sweet tooth

Acknowledging Bilbo as the grandson of Old Took, the Thain (gasp he's a prince!)

courting each other without telling you're courting but everyone in the room knowing whats going on

Thorin coming back with Bilbo and people assuming theyre married (that one shire custom about disappearing and coming back together) (bonus if bilbo does not explain)

Bilbo wearing mithril mail Thorin gave and people assuming theyre married

Alternatively theyre married but people are making bets when theyre gonna get together bc they don't know

Bofur has the best stone sense out of the entire company (i like him smart stupid 😔 ❤️)

inseperable heirs of durin (bonus dumb shenanigans) (bonus bonus: theyre also actually competent, theyre both just bored)

Bilbo's family having a time with the dwarves (bonus: hobbits taking in dwarves well enough for gossip and work) (wbk its dori thats having tea with them every 3 days between luncheon and dinner)

Dwalin being really good with kids even if he doesn't like it (he's building an army)

Dwalin Clocking Thorin's attraction to the hobbit and making fun of him for it (still supportive)

Anything that has to do with Dis and her being a menace specifically to Thorin

[melody-of-qinju]

Watching Lord of the Rings with Sylus.

MC: Did you know Viggo Mortensen, the actor that played Aragorn actually broke his foot when he kicked the helmet, so his screams of agony was real?

Sylus, who did his research before this marathon started: I did not know that.

[smolestboop]

he's trying very hard not to strangle someone

[forestal-ramblings]

What do you mean the hobbit doesn't end with Thorin very much alive and marrying Bilbo who then gets a romcon worth of dwarf courting misunderstandings ?

All those fanfics couldn't possibly be lying to me.

[trees-of-valinor]

"He was as noble and fair as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer."

is such an amazing character description. All of it lends to the image of a being who is very stately and aged, but "kind as summer" in particular is incredibly evocative. Even if you generally dislike summer (like me), you can't help but know what it means.

It just conjures up the image and feeling of the softest most beautiful day, golden sunlight, flowers and meadows. Just life. And there is strength in summer. The heat of the sun, and summer is all about vitality and growth.

That short phrase says so much and shows Elrond's character so well. After everything he's been through, he still has so much life and strength.

He manages to show so much softness and kindness to people who come to him and his home for help, and is a person of healing, and the fact that he is able to be so and to remain so kind is his strength.

[queerofthedagger]

woke up thinking about thorin and how his relationship to the epithet of 'oakenshield' must have been so conflicted because yeah, it saved him against azog and his people called him brave for it, but isn't it also so symbolic for the losses of that day, both of his family, and of his kingdom and its resources. nothing left but a tree stump instead of an actual shield, nothing left but making do with whatever he can find, trying to get his people through, no longer son of durin first but someone doing what they can and it still not being enough. the way that when under the gold sickness, he roars at dwalin to no longer call him that, the hurt and despair when he says it.

and then there comes bilbo, for whom a little acorn is nothing but potential, growth, something promising and to be nurtured. for whom an oak means home and peace and splendour. and how it's almost, almost, almost enough to drag thorin back to himself.

[fantasyinallforms]

Bagginshield feels so safe to me. It's become a blanket I can wrap myself up in and breath a little easier. They're nestled into the corner of my heart.

[dearyorchidhunter]

What if Thorin was really fine and he didn't pass away and he just took a long nap and he and Bilbo got married and Fili and Kili survived and were only pretending and what if I wasn't going insane? What then?

[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.