Middle-earth Journeys

librislove, when WRoR closed down, M-eJ volunteered to store all the calendar entries here. They're in the attic somewhere, I think.

Thanks, Merry--we just have to find that attic door.. . .I know--we need a Ranger!

It would be good to have a look at that and see if we could, or would want to carry on from where it stopped, or whether we'd get more out of it by starting afresh. It would be a helpful template at the very least.

This would be a massive undertaking but in bite-sized chunks it might just be possible. I've learnt so much as we've gone through The Hobbit that I'm up for giving it a go. The Sil is the story from Tolkien's heart and to get nearer to it is to get nearer to Tolkien.

That's exactly the way I feel, Iolanthe. And as I stated earlier, there's absolutely no reason for us to feel as though we must rush through the project. If it takes us two years or more to get through it slowly but surely, I feel certain the end result will serve as a valuable introduction to the tales that form the heart of Tolkien's great work. It is my hope that such an endeavor would encourage others to read The Silmarillion -- those who have held back previously because it is not as immediately accessible as The Hobbit and LOTR. I know it took me several tries to finally get all the way through it the first time, but I have returned time and time again as I made further and deeper connections between The Sil and the other two works.

The only part I really struggle with is the chapter about the coming of men into the west - it's rather turgid and I skip it .

As this isn't a calendar we won't be under any pressure, of course.

Hi, all--

I know I've got a Hobbit calendar due to be posted on Monday, but I'm a little swamped right now. I'll write it this weekend, though!

No worries Merry. I am still working on mine for Sunday.

September 21: The company escapes the Elvenking in the afternoon and reaches the huts of the Raft-men at dusk.

Oh! I get it! This is exactly one of those situations that Gandalf envisioned when he sent Bilbo running after the Dwarves on this grand adventure. The depressed Thorin has taken heart and indeed has a new respect for Bilbo and the magic Ring that makes him invisible, and therefore the perfect escape coordinator.

It is interesting that Tolkien has placed each Dwarf in a separate cell and unable to communicate with the others…a tactic much used even today in criminal incarceration and interrogation methods. It also gives Bilbo the chance to prove his worth in planning their escape and communicating with them all to pull it off. It is, however, very much in Bilbo’s personality that he is not comfortable with this new role. Too much responsibility…too much stress.

Thorin also stays true to form. Not only is he delighted with Bilbo, he is equally pleased that he will not have to barter away any of the treasure from the Lonely Mountain to secure the Company’s release from the Elven King. The ever present greed and suspicion of Thorin and the rest of the Dwarves shows itself again and is engraved in the mind as a true Dwarvish trait.

Bilbo has discovered a second path of exit other than the great gates. He discovers the Elves love of wine and their method of transporting via the river that flows under the palace. The empty barrels were floated downstream to Long Lake and Lake-town. The perfect escape vehicles! Waiting until the Elf guards had drunk their fill and fallen asleep, Bilbo at length convinces the not to enthusiastic Dwarves that it is now or never and loads each of them into his own barrel. The Elves supply the muscle power to push the barrels through the trap door into the river. It is only here that it dawns on still invisible Bilbo that he hasn’t figured out how he himself will escape and it is only at the last moment that grabs hold of the final barrel and is pushed through the trap door as well.

At last, wet and cold, they come to a place where Men gather the barrels and tie them into rafts before floating them further downstream. It is now dusk and Bilbo is wretched and cold and manages to find a little food, but has no way the reach the em-barralled Dwarves. It is a long cold night indeed. Are his Dwarf friends alive or dead?

"Em-barralled"? Great word!

I am Tolkien influenced.

September 22: The Company reaches Laketown just after sunset.

By the time that Bilbo and the “em-barralled” dwarves reach Laketown, we can also see the Professor foreshadowing his later writing style that we see in The Lord of the Rings. Look at this excerpt:

Not far from the mouth of the Forest River was the strange town he heard the elves speak of in the king’s cellars. It was not built on the shore, though there were a few huts and buildings there, but right out on the surface of the lake, protected from the swirl of the entering river by a promontory of rock which formed a calm bay. A great bridge made of wood ran out to where on huge piles made of forest trees was built a busy wooden town, not a town of elves but of Men, who still dared to dwell here under the shadow of the distant dragon-mountain. They still throve on the trade that came up the great river from the South and was carted past the falls to their town; but in the great days of old, when Dale in the North was rich and prosperous, they had been wealthy and powerful, and there had been fleets of boats on the waters, and some were filled with gold and some with warriors in armour, and there had been wars and deeds which were now only a legend. The rotting piles of a greater town could still be seen along the shores when the waters sank in a drought.

But men remembered little of all that, though some still sang old songs . . .

This is vintage Tolkien, isn’t it? First is the great imaginary place, with a totally different kind of scape, like elves living in flets in trees. Second is the detailed geographical description, further enhancing the sense of place. Third is the description of trade patterns, adding an air of detail that helps us believe in the reality of the place. Fourth is the allusion to a great and glorious past, upon which the present is built, just like Laketown is built on the ruins of a greater city. And last, but not least, are the dim memories of that past which are present only in old songs. Although it seems to be accepted that The Hobbit is a children’s book, here is one of the transition passages into a more adult style. And certainly the political corruption in Laketown is a more sophisticated theme.

P.S. Do you think Bilbo remembered that today was his birthday?

Good entries both! Food for thought, Merry, and fun, too--"embarrelled?"
And I will ponder, when the cold I caught from my students lets me--the little joys of teaching are without number.....

Nice one Merry.

We truly have invented a new word. Methinks the Professor would approve.

Thanks for posting it with its illustration, RR!

Truly my pleasure.