#re fatty bolger

[kindlythevoid]

Friendly reminder that Merry knew about the Ring before Bilbo even left. Friendly reminder that all of Frodo’s hobbit friends were spying on him through Sam to make sure that he was alright and that he wasn’t going to leave without saying goodbye. Friendly reminder that Merry and Pippin knew about the Ring and its importance to the Enemy and still decided to go with Frodo. Friendly reminder that Frodo wasn’t going to ask them to leave the Shire. Friendly reminder that Fredegar Bolger was one of Frodo’s close friends and knew about the Ring as well, but stayed behind in order to keep Frodo’s disappearance a secret for as long as possible.

#listen the hobbits don’t get enough credit #They’re sneaky bastards and will use that against you in the best ways possible #The ultimate chaotic goods honestly #I love the movies and they are a service to the books #But sometimes I get sad that people don’t seem to get how smart and insightful the hobbits actually are #kiki re-re-re-reads the lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #meriadoc brandybuck #peregrin took #merry and pippin #sam gamgee #frodo baggins #fatty bolger #just yelling into the void

[sethelliott]

The Fellowship of the Ring

In August 2002, when I was 13, my cousins were staying in a furlough home in the Chicago suburbs, on a break from being missionary kids in Mexico. My recollection is that they were mortified that I had never heard of The Lord of the Rings, especially since The Fellowship of the Ring (movie) had come out less than a year prior. We immediately sat down to watch, on a small CRT TV (just as Peter Jackson intended, I’m sure). I remember our parents being annoyed at how late that night went, but I was hooked.

I immediately got a copy of Fellowship from the library, trade paperback in size but with one of those cardboardy hardcovers added by libraries for durability. I was quite disappointed. I found the first 200 pages an absolute slog, and struggled to get through them. My appetite for Fatty Bolger, mushrooms, Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Wights was nearly non-existent, even on first reading. My next door neighbor and best friend at the time promised me it would get better, and I kept going.

But Strider! Aragorn’s appearance in Bree was the turning point, and I tore through the rest of the book. I quickly finished the next two books, sped through The Hobbit, and trudged through The Silmarillion. I went to the midnight showing of The Two Towers, and re-read the trilogy leading up to the midnight showing of The Return of the King. I haven’t read the main series since.

I’m surprised, nearly 22 years later, by how similar reading Fellowship again felt to the first two times. As masterful as Andy Serkis’ narration is, I still found the beginning fairly painful, and struggled not to skip over some of the songs, some of the scenes I mentioned. If we removed chapter 8, “Fog on the Barrow-downs”, would we have to change anything else about the book? Not that I’ve been able to think of. I’ve asked two others what they thought of the Barrow Wights and they both had no idea what I was talking about, despite having read the book more than once.

The biggest difference I can recognize is how I feel about Aragorn. For years I have loved stories of characters coming into their own, even though (because?) I do not believe that our actual world is shaped like that in any way. I don’t remember such stories being so resonant when I was 13. But just now, alone in an empty office building at 9:30pm on a Friday, I re-listened to Aragorn’s poem as Frodo reads Gandalf’s letter in The Prancing Pony, and cried, as I always do.

I have never been able to articulate why these kinds of stories are so powerful to me. Perhaps there’s a sense of longing that our world did have that shape? Or that I might have a greater role in that world? I don’t know and in this moment, profoundly sleep deprived with building security strolling by yet again, I don’t feel like trying to figure it out. I’m increasingly OK with having chunks of myself that I don’t wholly understand, depending on the chunk. And that’s enough tears for one night, no matter how much I agree with Gandalf: “I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”

[Originally on Goodreads]

[rohirric-hunter]

The purest expression of Love in Tolkien’s works is following

Sam follows Frodo into Mordor. Arwen chooses to follow Aragorn’s fate instead of the one she was born to. Amroth will not leave Middle-earth when Nimrodel cannot follow. Sam, Merry, and Pippin will not let Frodo leave the Shire alone. Beren and Lúthien follow each other into the darkest places in the world, or rather Beren goes, alone, repeatedly, and Lúthien pursues him with the same fervor that he once used to pursue her.

Tom Bombadil follows the river to find Goldberry and once he finds her he’s always following the path home to her; the only paths in the Old Forest that are dependable and constant are the ones that lead to his home and to Goldberry’s pool. “I have my house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting,” for him to follow her home at last.

Gimli follows Legolas and Galadriel into the West, and bears a love so powerful that he is the one exception to the rule; he bore no ring and yet is welcomed for the sake of his love for them. Sam swears to return to where he thinks Frodo died after the duty is done, but in that moment, the hardest thing is not the weight of the Ring or the fear of Sauron, but the burden of leaving him. Éowyn and Faramir stand together on the walls of Minas Tirith as they wait for the end. The Three Hunters push themselves to near impossible feats of endurance pursuing their friends when they are in danger. The ents constantly followed the entwives to their gardens, even though they didn’t care for them much, and the story goes that one day they will follow them and find “a land where both our hearts may rest”, a place where they can both be happy.

They go only because they would not be parted from thee -- because they love thee, Éowyn whispers.

You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin -- to the bitter end.... But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word, Merry scolds.

Don’t go where I can’t follow, Sam weeps.

#lotr #idk guys i was thinking about this while i went to sleep last night and it came on me like a baseball to the face #none of this is to say that you dont love someone if you dont follow them #sometimes you cant #sometimes its better if you dont #re fatty bolger #but #theres a lot to be said for the prevalence of #following #pursuing #staying beside #idk idk idk

[astriiformes]

Actually, on that note, another thing that’s standing out to me on this re-read is the very genuine way Tolkien manages to infuse the idea that contributions of all kinds -- from all kinds of people, no less -- are the reason the Quest succeeds and Middle-earth is saved. 

I feel like it’s something that a lot of narratives want to have be a part of their story, but they struggle to figure out how to make the small parts or less conventionally "impressive” heroics feel like they matter in the face of the larger story. (And for that matter, that not enough narratives try to have in the first place, favoring instead the idea that larger-than-life heroes are the only ones that matter). Taking a few pages out of Tolkien’s book isn’t a bad one to look at though, because at about half-way through Fellowship -- at which point we haven’t even met all the members the titular party anyways -- I can give you the names of a lot of characters other than Fellowship members whose help prevented the Ring from falling into Sauron’s hands, including:

Gaffer Gamgee, whose loyalty to Frodo meant that when the Nazgûl came calling at Bag End (though he admittedly thought they were just unpleasant visitors) asking for “Baggins,” he lied and said he’d already gone on to Crickhollow

Fatty Bolger, who kept up the charade that Frodo was at Crickhollow than he actually stayed (and who also helped plan process of getting Frodo out in the first place, which isn’t to be discounted as a contribution just because he wasn’t one of the members who went with him)

Tom Bombadil, who..... he does so much, actually (freeing the hobbits from Old Man Willow, getting them out of the Old Forest and then also the Barrow Downs safely, etc etc), and is admittedly a pretty powerful character but a great example of how Involvement In The Greater Plot isn’t always a thing that corresponds with powerful abilities

Barliman Butterbur (and the other staff at the Prancing Pony) who does his best to keep the group safe in Bree and personally foots the expense of getting them Bill the pony when their old ones are cut loose

And then the other thing Tolkien does, because of course none of those things are as significant in the eyes of The Plot as marching into Mordor, is show you these things mattered. He checks back in with Fatty, even after the other hobbits have left him, has the other, main characters talk aloud about how they appreciated or needed these other people’s help. People do small things that could be considered part of a chain reaction in other stories, too, but rarely do those stories take the same care in lingering there, in telling you what those people did mattered instead of speeding on to the next flashy bit.

It’s why arguing over who the true “hero” of LotR is is such a futile endeavor -- not only do you have so many major characters whose contributions are critical that choosing one would be difficult, but by establishing that kind of ensemble cast and then also telling you how the friend at home or the innkeeper mattered, the story couldn’t be telling you more fervently that it’s not the point to pick one person and call it a day. And it’s so good at it! And that’s important!

#lotr reread

[miloscat]

The Fellowship of the Ring, low-res pixel style!

The heroes of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books, love ‘em. This art is modelled after their representation in Peter Jackson’s film series; Fatty Bolger and Tom Bombadil aren’t in the films so I used as reference art the photos used in the Trading Card Game, which is the nearest “canonical” visual equivalent. I’ve always loved these books and movies, such a rich world to get lost in!

The first picture is the Fellowship as they were at their founding, setting out from Rivendell. Gandalf the Grey, “Strider” Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin.

The second is them towards the end of their journey, as they’ve been changed by their trials. Gandalf the White, battle king Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli (best buds, now with elven cloaks!), tired Frodo and Sam, Rohan Merry, and Gondor Pippin.

The third picture is all the good folk who helped them and travelled with them for part of the way (so not counting Galadriel or Théoden, etc.). “Fatty” Bolger, Tom Bombadil, Arwen, Treebeard, Éomer, Éowyn, Sméagol, Faramir, Bill the pony, Shadowfax, Gwaihir.

#the lord of the rings #jrr tolkien #pixel art #middle earth

[astriiformes]

Speaking of my re-read I have officially reached the first instance of significant heroics by Fatty Bolger and am thus obligated to link to the fantastic song by The Faithful Sidekicks which is, as the kids say, a bop

#we were in a circle at ovff last year where they sang this one and it was such a fun song to do with a big group #'I'M FATTY BOLGER AND I'M STILL A HERO' #music #filk tag