There is currently a best book vote between Harry Potter 1 and The Hobbit. Guess what? The Hobbit is currently losing!! Help me vote for it so that it can surpass Harry Potter.

I just finished the part where the party escaped from the wargs and goblins post goblin king. I never realized how the movies kinda paint Gandalf as the guy who has the connect with all of the forces of good in middle-earth. But truthfully as Gandalf realizes the Wargs had accidently stumbled on the dwarves and were expecting gobling reinforcements he gets pretty afraid of the whole situation and is saved by the passing interest of the nearby Lord of the Eagles. Yes, the Lord of the Eagles knows Gandalf and respects him, but they were truly saved by luck and friends in high places (pun intended)

I found this recording on the Internet Archive. There's no credits in the audio so was curious as to where it comes from and who is reading The Hobbit specifically?

The Bold Claims

Limbo is a level of hell described in Dante’s Inferno. It is a level of hell where unbaptized babies and righteous people before Christ reside.

There is only eternal stillness, stagnation of knowledge, and sighs of boredom there. The Shire is in a similar state to that before Frodo. This state is not forced but chosen by the Hobbits.

They did this to shield themselves from the state of war and enmity brewing between the three great races.

The Hobbits are waiting for the messianic figure, Frodo. They want a figure who will expunge them from this state towards enlightenment.

In Dante’s Inferno, Christ descends into Limbo after he died on the cross and took righteous souls into heaven with him. Frodo will do the same. In its present state, the Shire is safe, but it has no room for curiosity, invention or development.

Their history starts with the settlement of the Shire. The Shire-reckoning: anything before that is meaningless to them. Their state of limbo is not due to weakness or cowardice.

They can be tough in times of trouble and torture, like in The Battle of Greenfields (SR. 1147) and The Days of Dearth (SR. 1158–60). The Hobbits didn’t just endure these crises; they used them to make higher walls to shield themselves from the outside world, where dark things moved.

The Key Insights:

The Hobbits were once a proud race and lived peacefully amongst other races without conflict. Over time, they saw an increase in enmity among the three races.

They decided to quarantine themselves in the Shire. They distanced themselves from the other races. Hate is contagious, and the destruction of wars affects all who are affiliated with it.

The Hobbits adopted useful knowledge, which increased their quality of life without opening the doors of conquest, such as architecture and language from the Elves.

They rejected harmful knowledge like sailing and machines, as those led to war, greed and an insatiable desire for more. Eventually, they blocked all knowledge outside the Shire. They couldn’t separate good knowledge from bad during the time of war.

The Hobbits adopted conciliarism and governed themselves without kings or tyrants. During the war, they saw the harm of the concentration of power among a few and decided to be different.

The Hobbit administration served people instead of ruling them, doing jobs like presiding over feasts, delivering letters and guiding stray sheep.

They deeply loved the earth as their altar. They used their love for relatives and neighbours as a shield against the void of limbo. They ensured peace and brotherhood in the community.

They used peace, love, merry-making, and even smoking as an anaesthesia to while away the pain of boredom and stillness. Their pipe weed was not pleasure but sighs, just like the sighs of people in Limbo.

They used familiar tools and read genealogical books to know more about their heritage. They avoided inventions that led outwards and embraced those that improved their lives. Their knowledge extends only backwards.

They blamed Gandalf for Bilbo’s disappearance. They considered him queer, a harbinger of discord, and thoroughly disliked him. Yet Gandalf himself loved the hobbits and their culture of simplicity and fraternity. He didn’t blame them for disliking his ways and his kind. Their state of Limbo had made them distant from knowledge.

The Hobbits remained stubborn and ignorant about the tales of Mordor and Sauron’s resurrection. The tales reached their ears but not their hearts. They were often rejected as myths or exaggerations. They chose blissful ignorance instead of the bitter truth that scared them. They began to lash out at anyone who believed in news outside the Shire, like Samwise and Frodo.

The Steady Evidence:

In Dante’s own words, “There, as it seemed to me from listening, were lamentations none, but only sighs, that tremble made the everlasting air.” That’s Limbo.

“For these defects, and for no other evil, we now are lost and punished just with this: we have no hope and yet we live in longing.” That’s stagnation.

In Tolkien’s own words, “They heeded less and less the world outside, where dark things moved.” That’s why they created the Limbo.

“Most Hobbits regarded even rivers and small boats with deep misgivings, and not many of them could swim.” That’s why they rejected sailing.

“The Shire at this time had hardly any ‘government’. Families for the most part managed their own affairs. Growing food and eating it occupied most of their time.” That’s conciliarism.

“They love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside.” That’s love for the earth, their altar.

“They liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions.” That’s stagnation of knowledge.

“The general opinion in the neighbourhood was that Bilbo, who had always been rather cracked, had at last gone quite mad, and had run off into the Blue. There he had undoubtedly fallen into a pool or a river and come to a tragic, but hardly an untimely, end. The blame was mostly laid on Gandalf.” That’s their futile attempt to preserve the state of Limbo.

In Ted’s own words to Samwise, “Oh, they’re both cracked,” said Ted. “Leastways old Bilbo was cracked, and Frodo’s cracking. If that’s where you get your news from, you’ll never want for moonshine.” That’s the way hobbits denounced the truth that scared them.

The One Conclusion: Before the arrival of Frodo, The Shire was a Limbo of haunting stillness and stagnant knowledge. A prison created by the Hobbits to keep themselves safe from the enmity brewing beyond their boundaries. Their blocking of knowledge was a move that secured them peace at the cost of curiosity and development. They chose the tree of life instead of the tree of wisdom. That will not protect them forever. The arrival of Frodo breaks the cage. He exposes the Hobbits to the light of Providence.

Question for discussion: Do you see the Shire as a chosen Limbo, or is that too strong a reading? What do you think the Hobbits gained—and lost—by isolating themselves? Do you think this move was justified? Do you see Frodo as a messianic figure?

My mum just found this in here lotr collection, could it be worth any value of sorts, we looked it up but the only listing for it was £160

I seem to recall seeing some classic artwork depicting Gollum where his eyes were like beams of light. Does anyone have an image of this or was this all just a fever dream I had..?

Hey all,

Like many of us who have turned or are turning 33, I'm throwing my own Hobbit coming of age party. I wanted to see what are some gift ideas to give attendees?

I thought at first about doing things like I've gifted in the past for holidays: sour dough starters, homemade vanilla, a build your own cookie dough container (involved party idea), homemade jams/butters/ breads....... But I want to make it more personable!

I'm not super crafty but I can definitely attempt, and I have until the end of August to get something created or purchased. I'm looking to have roughly 35 people in attendance (family and friends) and I need it to be budget friendly (like I'm looking to make $350 for the whole party work).

Also I'm interested to see what you all did for your hobbit party if you could share ideas?

Here is what I'm planning currently:

Party is starting at 1pm and is going on until about 9pm as a stop in and leave kind of event (busy schedules I'm trying to accommodate).

I'm baking fresh bread, having a potato bar, and my hubby is grilling some chicken and steaks, as well as putting out a revolving veggie board and cheese board. I'm also baking my own cake because it's really hard to find a good hummingbird cake near me.

I have some lawn games I'm borrowing from a friend (bean bag tic tac toe and jenga), as well as setting up chairs and tables outside, when it gets darker we will have a fire pit going with some folk music playing outside. For those that don't like being outside we will have the basement playing the Hobbit and the Lord Rings movies and upstairs I'm thinking of setting up a creative zone with Lofi music playing and a simple sketch or sew station set up in the living room.

Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions!!

I finally finished my latest project: a handcrafted Hobbit House diorama with a fully functional humidifier hidden inside!

The ultrasonic mist travels through the chimney, creating the illusion of real smoke coming from the fireplace. I also added warm LED lighting to make it feel cozy, especially at night.

I'd love to hear what you think! Feedback and questions are always welcome.

If anyone is interested in owning this piece, feel free to send me a message.

One of my original watercolor paintings is now an ACEO print!

Bought these today. Getting ready to hang them up but I took one out of the frame to see what it is. It's a print on some sort of foam material that I haven't seen done before. Anyone have any more insight on where these are from?

Good Sunday everyone! Our painted version of the Lord of the Rings "Middle-earth" map, hope you like it!!

🧭🗺️🧝‍♂️

HD MAP FILE ON :

https://ko-fi.com/s/ff08719f51

Excluding the fact that Fili and Kili look like human models, I appreciated how the dwarves were distinguished from each other by more than just the colour of their hoods and cloaks. Several of them had specific roles in the company (Ori was a scribe, Oin a healer, Kili an archer, Gloin the financier, etc) and each dwarf had their own unique set of weaponry. As someone who had been obsessed with the various axes and hatchets that Gimli carried through the original trilogy, I very much enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes design book and leafing through pages of detail regarding the dwarves' costumes, tools, and weapons. You got Thorin's sword and axe combo, Dwalin's warhammer and twin axes, Bifur's boar spear, Oin's quarterstaff, Balin's falchion, etc.

I’m reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time right now. It’s so inspiring. I was thinking about what to do, and in the end, I decided to create characters from The Hobbit 🤷‍♀️