Tag: hobbits

As a thank you for that wonderful response to the racism post that is going around, have a headcanon about Belladonna: In her travels she found this little walking stick crafter who made her a beautiful walking staff. It hangs in a place of honor above the fireplace, long before Sting ever joins it.

skjdhflajsgfajsalhdfal SO ADORABLE AHHHH I LOVE BELLADONNA SO MUCH

(I bet it’s the one Bilbo took when he left Bag End in lotr ahhhh)

Why Is There Not More of This? Part 3

poplitealqueen:

poplitealqueen:

daincrediblegg:

dain-mothafocka:

poplitealqueen:

FEMALE CHILD CHARACTERS.

Why aren’t there more adorable little Dwarfling girls? Or Dwarflings that identify as girls? (because dain-mothafocka has written splendiferous Dwarf headcanons about gender and I just…

ARE YOU GONNA BE ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE tolkienfish ?

I dunno how exactly Smaug being the “last dragon” (what about the Withered Hearth?) has to do with this conversation at all, but oooookay.

And ‘super AU’?  For wanting Hobbit girls that daydream about adventure? About Hobbits in general thinking of leaving the Shire?

So that makes the Hobbit and LotR super AUs, then? Huh.

This just in: Tooks are not Hobbits. 

*raises eyebrows* Huh. 

okay, I dislike getting into these sorts of arguments. But I would like to ask this person politely to stop pestering people for wanting to see themselves in Middle Earth, rather than yet another Standard Grim White Male Protagonist (tm – with optional manpain!!). The made-up fictional people in the made-up fictional world can be any colour. Yes, the dear professor likely didn’t intend for that, but unless you can ask him directly, please stop.

Yep, the vast vast majority of Hobbits stay at home, and frown on going out of the Shire. Guess what? It doesn’t stop their kids from listening avidly to Bilbo’s stories. Imagination is not limited by location, and that applies to little girl Hobbits too. Or perhaps they are not permitted to be imaginative and adventurous, bc reasons canon reasons blah?

(also, apparently the ‘remarkable’ Belladonna Took and her referenced but not detailed adventures are outliers and should not have been counted.)

Aaaaand you may wish to investigate this. And this. Smaug was not intended to be the last dragon. Only the last dragon with ‘fire hot enough’ (whatever that means). Finding both of those took ten seconds of googling, btw.

I have to mention as well – the Professor contradicted his own creation all the freakin’ time. Anyone who clings to the sword of ‘canon’ in Middle-Earth is gonna eventually come across a discrepancy. Beliiiiiieve me. (just look up Celeborn for a good example.)

Another person’s interpretation takes nothing from you. It is important to them. Don’t shoot it down. It appears uninformed at best; bigoted, racist and sexist at worst.

In the meanwhile, enjoy these canon descriptions of Aragorn (all from the chapter “From the Sign of the Prancing Pony”):

In those days no other Men had settled dwellings so far west, or within a hundred leagues of the Shire. But in the wild lands beyond Bree there were mysterious wanderers. The Bree-folk called them Rangers, and knew nothing of their origin. They were taller and darker than the Men of Bree and were believed to have strange powers of sight and hearing, and to understand the languages of beasts and birds.

(Gandalf’s letter delivered by Butterbur)

Dear Frodo,
Bad news has reached me here. I must go off at once. You had better leave Bag End soon, and get out of the Shire before the end of July at latest. I will return as soon as I can; and I will follow you, if I find that you are gone. Leave a message for me here, if you pass through Bree. You can trust the landlord (Butterbur). You may meet a friend of mine on the Road: a Man, lean, dark, tall, by some called Strider. He knows our business and will help you. Make for Rivendell. There I hope we may meet again. If I do not come, Elrond will advise you.
Yours in haste
GANDALF.

Frodo lay down again, but for a long while he could still see the white flashes, and against them the tall dark figure of Strider, standing silent and watchful. At last he passed into uneasy sleep. 

Why Is There Not More of This? Part 3

A question that popped in my head when you talked about the affect that the Ring had on Bilbo. How do the Elves handle his outbursts of anger, and suspicion, and paranoia? Or does he still have them as badly now that the Ring has been out of his possession for some time, or can they still crop up from time to time? Btw, you’re so super sweet to give such detailed and amazing insights into all these characters, and I’m super excited to see where you take this epic story. <3

Headcanony things to follow, all totally subjective!

They’re receding, yes. Mentions of the Ring can bring a resurgence of vague anger, possessiveness and secretiveness. However, as his mind begins to drift and age creeps up on him at last, the obsession is beginning to fade. It took the very sight of it to bring Bilbo to near-violence, after all… and even then he controlled himself (brrr). 

The Elves have not really been subjected to any unpleasantness: these matters, as Bilbo would say, are his own private business and no nosy busybodies need go poking about. He would most likely seclude himself when he has a “funny turn”. I expect he always did, tbh, and didn’t realise that it was the Ring encouraging to do so, pushing him further into his own isolation.

Thank god for Frodo. 

It’s remarkable, actually, just how resilient Hobbits are – and Bilbo in particular. I honestly don’t know if anyone else could have carried the Ring for so long, and retained so much of themselves. But yeah. Thank god for Frodo. Those 12 years that Bilbo lived with Frodo might (and this is just a personal idea) have been the saving of him.

(And you are super-sweet to say so! Thank you so much!)

just imagine how many times the fellowship has walked in on each other peeing

One of the many, many hazards of travelling!

(I am wondering, actually, if there was a rota or something for digging the latrine hole every night – or if Gimli and the Hobbits had a long-standing argument: “You’re the lot that are famous for digging!”  
“In rocks an’ mountains! Not dirt! That’s Hobbits!”  
“But we’re not as big or strong as you…”  
“You think we dig holes with axes?”  
“Oh, and we’re meant to manage with our swords, I suppose!”

Meanwhile, Aragorn has shared a long look with Boromir and sighed, and they go off and dig the damned hole themselves.)

Hi! So I was scrolling through your head cannony things tag, and I saw you said that you were writing something about Legolas’ childhood. I was wondering if that’s been posted, and if not are you still planning on it? That would be such a great story! Also, I got to wondering, how would the fellowship hobbits feel about gigolas? I know you said hobbits generally don’t approve of LGBT+ relationships, but would they feel differently, and why? Thanks ❤️😊

OHGOSH, I was totally planning that, approximately one zillion years ago, as a present for the lovely flukeoffate. And I still intend to write it. Funny, I was just mentioning the whole ‘being stuck’ thing, coincidentally…

I WILL get to it eventually! But Chapter 36 comes first 🙂

Ahhhhh! Well, Merry was initially rather taken aback. We’ll go into further detail later concerning his views. But as we see before the Paths of the Dead, he’s totally on board the Gigolas Train, and in the most practical of Hobbit ways:

(Chapter 32)

“I hope so,” Merry said underneath his breath, and he let out a gusty sigh. “All right, go watch him. He’ll brood himself into fits if you don’t. Get him to eat more, it’s frightful how little he eats. And you two: sort yourselves out! I’ve known tweens better organised than you!”

Pippin’s attitude I have answered here. 

What do you think bungos relationship with his son is?

Okay, thoughts on Bungo Baggins…

He’s stated to be respectable and staid, well-to-do, rather a proper sort of Hobbit, and very well thought of. He’s described as ‘solid and comfortable’ – and Bilbo is supposed to be the spitting image of him.

I think Bungo was rather well-read. Bilbo is always quoting him, all those little axioms of his! ‘Third time pays for all’, etc. He also built Bag End! Guy wasn’t a slouch when it came to caring for his loved ones.

I think Bungo might also have had a pinch of the love of adventure that his son eventually acted upon so spectacularly. He did marry the famous and remarkable Belladonna, and she wouldn’t have married just anybody! I imagine that people simply didn’t understand their relationship very well, looking from the outside in. Belladonna brought adventure into Bungo’s safe, sedentary life; and Bungo gave Belladonna a safe harbour, a stability, a person that always meant home.

So, growing up, I think Bilbo would have adored his mother’s stories. I can imagine little Bilbo sitting upon his mother’s knee as she told him her tales, gazing up at her with shining eyes, while Bungo read in his armchair or sat smoking his pipe. Bungo would surreptitiously watch both those lively faces, full of joy and wonder and the love of faraway places, and feel a secret little leap in his stomach. Such remarkable Hobbits, his wife and his son. Though the whole of the Northfarthing called Bilbo the spit of Bungo, they couldn’t see this, couldn’t see that the lad really was his mother’s son. 

When the tale was done, little Bilbo would exclaim, “I will go there one day! I will!”

And although Bungo would shake his head and say, ‘never venture east, my boy!’, he probably did so with a little twinkle in his eye.

As a veteran of country-village life, I love all your recent thoughts on the issue of (Hobbit-defined-)respectability in the Shire. If you have the time and interest, I’d be curious to hear to how you feel that would play into ‘Shire AU’ or similar scenarios? Do you think a non-Hobbit could ever settle in the Shire with any degree of success or happiness? What level of acceptance might be achievable? And how patient (and persistent) would they have to be to reach it?

Oh, really glad you like! Thank you!

Hmmm, yes, I do think a non-hobbit could settle in the Shire. But they would be a figure of public gossip until the end of their days. Not always maliciously meant… but look at how the Hobbits consider the Rangers, Men who protect their borders: as ruffians, untrustworthy, odd and disreputable. So, more insular Hobbits would always consider the non-hobbit an outsider, I suspect. 

But even a parochial insular society is not monolothic, and so there would absolutely be hobbits who welcome the non-hobbit with open arms and a big food-filled party. (Any excuse for a party!)

I like how even though the hobbits view on gender and sexuality are… un-accepting… pippin still doesn’t seem to care(did I mis read), while bilbo has internal things going on.

Pippin don’t give a fuck 🙂 He’s young, not even of-age, and isn’t as indoctrinated in the respectability politics of the Shire. PLUS he’s a Took. 

Bilbo has internalised a lot of it, yes. From an adventurous youth he settled down to appear to all and sundry as Bungo’s proper, respectable son. Even though he shredded his good reputation with his little ‘holiday’, he is still a product of that society. 

I’m glad people are liking that I am addressing these issues!