tolkienmatters

[tolkienmatters]

"S-s-s-s-s," said Gollum more upset than ever. He thought of all the things he kept in his own pockets: fishbones, goblins' teeth, wet shells, a bit of bat-wing, a sharp stone to sharpen his fangs on, and other nasty things. He tried to think what other people kept in their pockets. "Knife!" he said at last.

"Wrong!" said Bilbo, who had lost his some time ago.

Gollum's pockets, The Hobbit, Riddles in the Dark.

Yep!

But also, it had become pretty nearly universal to depict him loinclothed (or entirely nude) in illustrations before the movies were made, which is probably why they went that route.

We only know Gollum has clothes in part because he was being drawn that way when jirt was still alive to say 'Hey, why is Gollum naked? I never said he was naked?'

There's another weird evolution of visual design here... Gollum was stealing his clothes from orcs. Well, orcs are usually depicted naked now too, for some reason, so there's nothing for him to steal but a loincloth. Sméagol can't get a break.

[tolkienmatters]

Heart by the door,

Lungs on the floor,

I left my kidneys downstairs.

For anyone who cares.

I don’t know where my spleen is,

It’s almost out anyway.

My brain I think I remember,

At least in its original form.

Perhaps all this blood isn’t from me,

Perhaps it came from the crowd.

But I forgot that nobody’s around me,

And that it was just a shroud,

I still have one thing I can cling to,

Or well, it clings onto me.

And that is the guilt I suffer,

And sometimes it makes poetry.

Heart by the Door by C. D. Valera.

[tolkienmatters]

Reading this in Lord of the Rings and knowing how silmarillion got to be printed is an experience.

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“The West Door of Moria” by Darrel K. Sweet (1981)

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Bilbo being a rabbit in The Hobbit

“He wouldn’t make above a mouthful,” said William, who had already had a fine supper, “not when he was skinned and boned”.

“P’raps there are more like him round about, and we might make a pie,” said Bert. “Here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin’ in these here woods, yer nassty little rabbit,” said he looking at the hobbit’s furry feet; and he picked him up by the toes and shook him.

“Yes, lots,” said Bilbo, before he remembered not to give his friends away. “No, none at all, not one,” he said immediately afterwards.

William, Tom, & Bert plotting to eat Bilbo, The Hobbit, Roast Mutton.

Gandalf, who was a good deal taller than the others, had found a tree into which they could not climb, a large pine standing at the very edge of the glade. He was quite hidden in its boughs, but you could see his eyes gleaming in the moon as he peeped out.

And Bilbo? He could not get into any tree, and was scuttling about from trunk to trunk, like a rabbit that has lost its hole and has a dog after it. “You’ve left the burglar behind again}” said Nori to Dori looking down.

“I can’t be always carrying burglars on my back,” said Dori, “down tunnels and up trees! What do you think I am? A porter?”

“He’ll be eaten if we don’t ‘do something,” said Thorin

Thorin’s Company hiding in a tree from wolves, The Hobbit, Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire.

Soon another eagle flew up. “The Lord of the Eagles bids you to bring your prisoners to the Great Shelf,” he cried and was off again. The other seized Dori in his claws and flew away with him into the night leaving Bilbo all alone. He had just strength to wonder what the messenger had meant by ‘prisoners,’ and to begin to think of being torn up for supper like a rabbit, when his own turn came. The eagle came back, seized him in his talons by the back of his coat, and swooped off.

Bilbo being picked up by an Eagle, The Hobbit, Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire.

“Don’t pinch!” said his eagle. “You need not be frightened like a rabbit, even if you look rather like one. It is a fair morning with little wind. What is finer than flying?”

Bilbo would have liked to say: “A warm bath and late breakfast on the lawn afterwards;” but he thought it better to say nothing at all, and to let go his clutch just a tiny bit.

Bilbo riding on an Eagle. The Hobbit, Queer Lodgings.

“You! You!” cried Thorin, turning upon him and grasping him with both hands. “You miserable hobbit! You undersized-burglar!” he shouted at a loss for words, and he shook poor Bilbo like a rabbit.

“By the beard of Durin! I wish I had Gandalf here! Curse him for his choice of you! May his beard wither! As for you I will throw you to the rocks!” he cried and lifted Bilbo in his arms.

Thorin angered by Bilbo’s surrender of the Arkenstone, The Hobbit, The Clouds Burst.

[tolkienmatters]

In the 1050 of the Third Age Gondor was at the height of its power and "defeated the Men of the Harad, and their kings were compelled to acknowledge the overlordship of Gondor…the kings of the Harad did homage to Gondor, and their sons lived as hostages in the court of its King."

RotK, Appendix A, I, iv, Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion

✔ Close-up of Haradrim Prince -> click here

[tolkienmatters]

Elvis was a hero in motion 🕺

[tolkienmatters]

There is an inn, a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill, And there they brew a beer so brown That the Man in the Moon himself came down one night to drink his fill.

The ostler has a tipsy cat that plays a five-stringed fiddle; And up and down he runs his bow, Now squeaking high, now purring low, now sawing in the middle.

The landlord keeps a little dog that is mighty fond of jokes; When there’s good cheer among the guests, He cocks an ear at all the jests and laughs until he chokes.

They also keep a hornéd cow as proud as any queen; But music turns her head like ale, And makes her wave her tufted tail and dance upon the green.

And O! the rows of silver dishes and the store of silver spoons! For Sunday there’s a special pair, And these they polish up with care on Saturday afternoons.

The Man in the Moon was drinking deep, and the cat began to wail; A dish and a spoon on the table danced, The cow in the garden madly pranced, and the little dog chased his tail.

The Man in the Moon took another mug and then rolled beneath his chair; And there he dozed and dreamed of ale, Till in the sky the stars were pale, and dawn was in the air.

Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat: ‘The white horses of the Moon, They neigh and champ their silver bits; But their master’s been and drowned his wits, and the Sun’ll be rising soon!’

So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle, a jig that would wake the dead: He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune, While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon: ‘It’s after three!’ he said.

They rolled the Man slowly up the hill and bundled him into the Moon, While his horses galloped up in rear, And the cow came capering like a deer, and a dish ran up with the spoon.

Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle; the dog began to roar, The cow and the horses stood on their heads; The guests all bounded from their beds and danced upon the floor.

With a ping and a pong the fiddle-strings broke! the cow jumped over the Moon, And the little dog laughed to see such fun, And the Saturday dish went off at a run with the silver Sunday spoon.

The round Moon rolled behind the hill as the Sun raised up her head. She hardly believed her fiery eyes; For though it was day, to her surprise they all went back to bed

"a ridiculous song invented by Bilbo" as sung by Frodo Baggins in the Prancing Pony. This song was likely a precursor to our modern song "The Cat and the Fiddle", Tom Shippey asserts "If one assumes a long tradition of 'idle children' repeating 'thoughtless tales' in increasing confusion, one might think that poems like Tolkien's were the remote ancestors of the modern rhymes." & "This interest in the descent of fables probably explains why Tolkien did try his hand at two 'Man in the Moon' poems, 'The Man in the Moon came down too soon'" in relation to this (Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth, Philological Inquiries). Fellowship of the Ring, At the Sign of the Prancing Pony.

[tolkienmatters]

✨ Congratulations to Maedhros for winning the Silm Sexyman Tournament! ✨

This was such a fun little event to run, thank you guys for sticking along <3 I’ll be posting a google form soon so you can vote for second sexiest Silm man, as was popularly requested.

I’ll also be posting other silly polls going forward, as well as hosting a Silm Sexywoman tournament! Many things to come!

[tolkienmatters]

hi yes i exploded my evil horse can i have another please?

i have the worst ringwraiths in fucking middle earth

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Congrats to the winners!! This is getting juicy >:)

[tolkienmatters]

"But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.

'There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil no more east of the sea.'

Here ends this tale, as it has come to us from the South; and with the passing of Evenstar no more is said in this book of the days of old."

The fate of Arwen upon Aragorn's death. Lord of the Rings Appendix A, V. Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen.

[tolkienmatters]

Barliman Butterbur is just like me fr

[tolkienmatters]

Bilbo, Retired Burglar

Artist: Livia Prima TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[tolkienmatters]

"I now suggest as titles of the volumes, under the over-all title The Lord of the Rings: Vol. I The Fellowship of the Ring. Vol. II The Two Towers. Vol. III The War of the Ring (or, if you still prefer that: The Return of the King).

The Fellowship of the Ring will do, I think; and fits well with the fact that the last chapter of the Volume is The Breaking of the Fellowship. The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 and 4; and can be left ambiguous – it might refer to Isengard and Barad-dûr, or to Minas Tirith and B; or Isengard and Cirith Ungol."

(From a letter to Rayner Unwin 17 August 1953, LJRRT, Carpenter)

"I am not at all happy about the title 'the Two Towers'. It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading. There is, of course, actually no real connecting link between Books III and IV, when cut off and presented separately as a volume"

(From a letter to Rayner Unwin 22 January 1954, LJRRT, Carpenter)

Tolkien's opinions on the "Two Towers" as the subtitle for Vol. II of the Lord of the Rings. (Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Carpenter)

[tolkienmatters]

Happy Easter!

“And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story - and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love. Of course I do not mean that the Gospels tell what is only a fairy-story; but I do mean very strongly that they do tell a fairy-story: the greatest.

Tolkien on the Resurrection of Christ. (From a letter to Christopher Tolkien, 28 October 1944 (FS 58) LJRRT, Carpenter)