Tolkien Moments

ok i know i already posted here like 3 times but i see tolkien in everything. its really muddy at our farm so i rolled up my jeans to keep the bottoms of them clean and i was walking around barefoot. I felt like such a hobbit. even tho my feet arent very hairy. then at dinner we had chips and i go, "keep your nasssssssssssttttttttty chipsssssssssssss." lol it was so funny

2 Tolkien Moments

The first came when I was watching Midsomer Murders a few evenings ago. A young villain with short dark hair and brown eyes came into the story, scowling and whinging and being generally anti-social. Then his face uncreased and I recognised Orlando Bloom. "Hey, it's Legolas! I said to my husband."

"Who's he?" came the reply. I explained, and he remembered the film. So, I can now confirm that Orlando Bloom does know how to do facial expressions.

The second moment came while watching the local news this morning. A body had been found. The reporter was stood outside a pub called "The Hobbit" (cue scarey music).

I'm as bad as Celebrian T, but I've had another one!

I was walking in the Savernake Forest this afternoon, and I saw an Ent!

Yesterday a really bad storm was coming in. The sky was pitch black at about three o'clock. Seriously. I felt like going to bed. It looked so much like how I imagined the dawnless day. And it was funny, because I was just reading that part in the book. Anyways, everyone was starting to get scared because the sky was black. We were driving home from piano yesterday, and it was too dark to read so I was looking out the window. There were a few fields, and a few places with just dirt. It was so quiet. The day before it had been 70 degrees outside. We kept driving. We came to a place where they were building houses. They have a small metal tower there, with a red light glowing in the center. In the dark you can only see it's shape, and the glowing red dot. There was a really dark cloud over it. From the distance it looked like Barad Dur, with a Nazgul, in the dark. We drove up by it, and it was freaky, looking up. The only other time I have seen it look like that was when I was driving by it going home from seeing TTT a while back. But yesterday it was really freaky. I went home and read some more about that part in the book. It was weird. Then it started raining and snowing, but it is cool because right now I am home on a snow-day, the first we have had in about three years. Ah. And next week is spring Break, and I get to see TTT again. Yay!

I went to a wedding on Saturday. Instead of being numbered, all the tables were named after places in Middle Earth.

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

Is nobody out there having any Tolkien moments anymore?

Well, I am!

For instance, I saw another Ent - this time in Epping Forest...

Does this count for a tolkien moment?

at dinner one night, my dad was like " these are some good 'taters" to my mom. and i was like " what's 'taters? what's 'taters preciousss?" and then my dad was like " po-ta-toes! mash 'em boil 'em stick 'em in a stew. nice big golden chips with a piece of fried fish." and i was like" phht" and my dad said " not even you could say no to that" and i said " oh yes we could! give it to us raw and wrrigling. you keep nasty chips" it was really funny

That happens to me a lot too! When we eat potatoes. Except my dad only says 'These are some good taters'. I say my part and my brother finishes for him. It's always kind of funny.

VioletFalcon, you are really blessed to be able to have Tolkien moments with your Dad at the dinner table, and for him to know the story well enough to come out with that line. Many of us will envy you.

It seems there are not many of us unhinged enough to see Middle Earth in every leaf and mudhole we pass, but I am one of them.

I was recently walking through the village of Lower Slaughter (really!), when I cam upon Glaurung lying in the water where Turin left him. The chasm into which he fell has silted up to almost ground level, and the river is now a trickling stream, but think about it - how else could the village have got its name?

Maybe this isn't too Tolkien-ish, but Galadwen and I named our guinea pigs Frodo and Bilbo. They're little, and fat, and cute, so I thought it was fitting.

Also, there's a guy friend at school that 'plays' LotR with me. He's Legolas, and I'm Arwen. Well, school started yesterday, and we found out that we have English together. So he saw me walk in, came over, took my hand, kissed it, and then led me to a seat. It was so sweet! And he's learning to speak Elvish so that we can talk together in it, but he's hard to keep up with!

Eledhwen said:

... I was watching Midsomer Murders a few evenings ago. A young villain with short dark hair and brown eyes came into the story, scowling and whinging and being generally anti-social. Then his face uncreased and I recognised Orlando Bloom. "Hey, it's Legolas! I said to my husband."

"Who's he?" came the reply. I explained, and he remembered the film. So, I can now confirm that Orlando Bloom does know how to do facial expressions.

Click to expand...

I'm exhuming this decades-old thread because I just saw the episode of Midsomer Murders referenced here (and didn't want to start a new thread). The episode first aired on January 29th, 2000, so it was while The Lord of the Rings was still filming. I don't know if that means Orlando Bloom himself shot this episode while the filming of LoR was going on, though I imagine it probably had to have been.

Anyway, also, in this episode, perhaps coincidentally, is a manor curiously called 'Lothlorian' as shown below:



The name has no significance in this episode (and is obviously spelled differently), except the two main characters, DCI Thomas Barnaby and Sgt Gavin Troy briefly discuss it and Tolkien:

Barnaby: "Ah, 'Lothlorian'. That's Lord of the Rings, eh?
Troy: Uh?
Barnaby: "J. R. R. Tolkien"
Troy: "Ah, never read it. I started The Hobbit once."
Barnaby: "And?"
Troy: "It's all dwarves and fairies. I like books that are a bit more... you know."
Barnaby: "Yeah, I can imagine."

Click to expand...

Incidentally, I could find no information on such a house in England. Anyone curious to see this episode (S3E3: "Judgement Day") can do so for free on tubitv.com.

Anyway, I found this pretty interesting. I also resurrected this thread because I think there ought to be an active thread where people can mention such moments where Tolkien and his works are discussed in other media. Speaking of which, I just thought of another one, in the Disney+ MCU series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, wherein the two titular characters mention Gandalf and The Hobbit:

@Radaghast...loved your post. The whole thing. All of it. 😉

Radaghast said:

I'm exhuming this decades-old thread because I just saw the episode of Midsomer Murders referenced here.
...
The name has no significance in this episode (and is obviously spelled differently), except the two main characters, DCI Thomas Barnaby and Sgt Gavin Troy briefly discuss it and Tolkien:

Click to expand...

"Midsomer Murders" didn't ring a bell, but DCI Thomas Barnaby and Sgt Gavin Troy certainly did. The series runs in Germany under the title "Inspector Barnaby", and of course in early 2011 Thomas Barnaby (John Nettles) handed over to his cousin John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon). It's one of the few police series I occasionally watch (my wife is the TV junkie of the family), though I'd guess I've seen more of the Nettles episodes than the Dudgeon ones.

But that brings me to another British (police) detective series, entitled in the original "Lewis" - and set in Oxford ...
A Lewis in Oxford ... ? 😉

Anyway, though I watched this series less than "Midsomer" (always together with my wife, natch), I did catch some occasions when investigations took the folks to "The Eagle and Child" pub, aka The Bird and Baby. That's about as close as it gets to a "Tolkien Moment" for me. I suppose there just isn't that much in Germany that elicits JRRT images - at least for me and for the places in Germany I've been to. I exclude the cases (innumerable and not worth remembering) where the names "Saruman" or "Wormtongue" might have popped into my mind. But I'll guess that's a near-universal experience for JRRT fans ...

Deimos said:

@Radaghast...loved your post. The whole thing. All of it. 😉

Click to expand...

Thanks

Ent really likes this thread for some reason.

He will restate one of his favorite.... the feeling he gets in one area on one of his favorite walks, when the path dips into and across a very deep part of the forest, branches overhanging, a stillness not felt in that forested area on the rest of the walk... Fangorn always comes to mind. He's a bit distant from that particular patch of forest now... but has plans to revisit soon, just for this one reason. (Though the rest of the forested walk, with beautiful little lake at the end, is a tremendous place to be as well. And the oxygen within? The freshness of the air? Incredible.)

Here’s a really cool one that actually made me pretty emotional: Last Friday I graduated and we all had a teacher give a speech about each of us. Mine was the English teacher, and she started quoting Elrond’s Fellowship speech. In Quenya. To me, sending me off into the world. I was really touched, even though she was struggling through the pronunciation.

I always feel especially Hobbitish when I am actually reading the Books, but I try to live my life in as Hobbitish a way as I can. To take pleasure in little things like food (regardless of the caliber of the meal), entertaining company, going on long walks and looking at trees/gardens, and especially doing a lot of gardening myself. I feel that Shire-folk really knew what made a good and peaceful life.

I often go for walks in my neighborhood, a mid-sized Midwestern U.S. town, that has lots of lovely old trees and many people that put a lot of effort into their yards. During these walks I am always looking at peoples flowers and gardens as inspiration for my own, which both gives me immense pleasure and makes me feel quite Hobbitish.

There is an area in a park not far from my house that is set a bit aways from the path. It's a big open field that has a ring of five enormous Oak trees, and in summer I always end up taking off my shoes and wandering through the trees barefoot. Just enjoying the feel of the breeze and the ancientness of the trees around me makes me practically buzzing. I did so just this evening in fact, and thought of Hobbits while doing so.

I have also put A LOT of time into my yard and gardens. My wife and I grow a lot of our own food (carrots, beets, lettuce, melons, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants!), but I have also continued to plant lots of flowers. I try and think what Bilbo and the Old Gaffer would say about my garden and try to do what would honor their love of things that grow.

I will see if I can find and post some before and after pictures of my yard, so you all can see what we've accomplished in the two years we have had this house!

Talierin said:

Ok, this here thread is to post when you have a "Tolkien Moment" in your day... those are anything from spotting a Tolkien reference in something, or something that reminds you of Tolkien, etc... get the picture?

Click to expand...

Umm ... well OK... but what if you just spot Tolkien? You know, the man himself...just kind of right there in front of you (but maybe a little ways off).
And he's not looking at you, but he's looking off into the distance, and he's smoking his pipe.
Because I saw him... just like I described.

You've got all these alternate universes/realities/timelines and such, and then the wormholes connecting (and disconnecting) all of it.
So it actually seems much more likely than unlikely that there could be a temporary overlap or coincident point of our universe and the one where he is still alive (different time frame of course).

So.... does that count as a "Tolkien moment"?
(And lest anyone be imprudent, or audacious so as to dispute what I saw, let me remind him/her..."The burden of proof/disproof is always incumbent on the accuser." 😉 )