Hello friends, new and old! Welcome to my new blog!
It’s hard to sell oneself in merely a header, title or description, so I figured - for the sake of anyone who wanders into this place - that I would organize a bunch of fundamental information right here!
Who am I?
Who are you?You needn’t think of that now, unless of course, you’d like to.
My name is Jules, I use he/they pronouns, and I am a lifelong fan of Tolkien’s work and world. As a small child, my mother read The Lord of the Rings to me, and by the age of six I had seen the films. I read the books for myself between the ages of eight and ten, and have done so some times since.
Tolkien’s work shaped me fundamentally from that starry-eyed chapter in my youth, everything from my fantastical adventures and ambitious in my backyard to my perception of masculinity, femininity, love, power and comradery. The young man I am and grow to be each day is very much indebted to the characters and stories of all The Professor’s work.
What is this blog?
Obviously, this blog is themed around an appreciation for anything and everything Middle Earth.
In particular, though, I intend to post a combination of quotes from the novels and/or films, and brief observations or notations I find in the margins of my copies of the novels as I re-read them, perhaps with some fresh notes to join them. In addition, I am taking a class this semester in University entitled “J. R. R. Tolkien and Counterculture,” (with our dear @wilderlandranger) and will likely post some notes, food for thought, or even scribbles for assignments.
There will also likely be memes. Maybe some of my own writing.
I am very much going to treat this blog like a more organized version of a very disorganized Word doc currently festering on my Desktop called “Tolkien Diary,” if that adds any briefer explanation or flavor to what you expect.
Additives and Addendums
If I find anything more noteworthy to add to this post of great importance, then it will be listed under this section! But, for now, good day!
I love hobbits. You don’t even know, I just really really fucking love hobbits. They are so filled with courage, and love, and loyalty.
Bilbo “you don’t have a home, it was taken from you, and if I can I will help you take it back” Baggins, who gave up riches beyond measure when he took the Arkenstone as his 14th share of the treasure, and gave it away so that he might stop a war and save his friends.
Frodo, who missed The Shire and wanted to go home, after being hunted and terrorised all the way the Rivendell, nearly dying on the journey to the elves, but still said “I will take it” when someone needed to deliver the ring to Mount Doom.
Samwise who too wanted to go home, but in his heart knew that Frodo was his home, who followed him with unwavering love, lending his strength to his friend when Frodo’s burden became too great.
Merry and Pippin, because you can’t have one without the other. Two Hobbits who ran into their friends on the road and instantly saw a terrible evil atop a horse, and without question or conversation, went with Sam and Frodo. They did that. They really just thought, “well that was a terrifying rider after these two, guess we’re sticking with them” instead of going home?!
I really wish Hobbits were real. The world would be such a beautiful place if Hobbits were real.
Little Hobbits, who love good food, good ale, and good company. Who seek a peaceful life, but don’t hesitate to put that life on hold, and face danger, because they want everyone to have a peaceful life.
Got a kofi to draw some stuff for fun/something I wanted to draw and so here’s some Sam/Frodo :^) I’ve been re-listening to LotR as I work the last few weeks and it’s made me remember how much I adore these two.
First pic is a redraw of the scene where they fell asleep together just before being lead to Shelob, second is some dream world where they get to dance and Be Happy For Once.
This post is like getting pelted with marshmallows shot out of a tennis ball launcher
THAT LAST PIC IS NEW OMG
It so weird how I posted this never thinking it would gain any tracktion. I just want to share a tweet I thought was funny and here we are 175000 notes later and this post has become a real thing of beauty. I don’t know if anything will top this composite photo.
Made an lotr fanart. Just rewatched the first two movies last month and plan to reread the books soon with my brother. Pretty excited to discuss books :D
my favorite scene in LotR as a kid was when Sam started miserably freestyling in the tower of Cirith Ungol and the only reason he ever found Frodo was because he deliriously tried to join in
…i did read some of the novels, but i couldn’t get through them entirely…
…and so i genuinely have no idea whether or not this is serious. coz i mean, obviously, it could be a joke. but it could also have legitimately happened. people who have only seen the films underestimate the amount of random things that happen in the books that could come off as utterly silly and ridiculous if removed from their context.
Haha, well, it is pretty much what happens. Sam is looking for Frodo in the tower of Cirith Ungol and is despairing that he will ever find him. He sits down and does what any self-respecting Tolkien character does during their moments of hopelessness and bursts into song.
It’s a really good song (ten year old Ship had it memorized) and as he begins the refrain a second time, he hears Frodo’s voice answering weakly from above. Frodo is poisoned and despairing and beaten but he is still a Hobbit and cannot resist a singalong even while on the brink of death.
I’m just thinking about how….Frodo saw himself in Gollum. He saw what he might gradually become.
But he also saw how much SamhatedGollum, how much Sam didn’t think Gollum had any chance of being redeemed.
Frodo wasn’t just afraid that he was losing his mind to the Ring…he was afraid that he was becoming someone who Sam could no longer love.
When Sam tells Frodo “there’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for” he’s not just reassuring Frodo that world is worth loving, even though it’s falling apart…..he’s also reassuring Frodo that he is still worth loving, even though he’s falling apart under the burden of the Ring.
