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Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Tolkien Blog Party Tag 2018


Time to join my own party!  Here are my answers to this year's Tolkien Blog Party Tag, as set forth on my book blog.  If you haven't joined the fun yet, please zip over there and do so!  I've got a giveaway going, and two blog games too.

1. What's your favorite Middle-earth story/book?

The Fellowship of the Ring is dearest to my heart, especially the few chapters where the whole Fellowship is together.

2. Do you have a favorite subplot?

I love Sam's character arc.  He goes from quiet, retiring, and hesitant to fierce and even bold.  But who he is inside never changes.  Instead, his true self emerges into the light over the course of the story.


3. What's your favorite theme in Tolkien's books? (Can be in one specific story, or overall.)

Hope.  Hope in the face of overwhelming obstacles, hope in the face of certain death, hope in the face of hunger and fear and destruction.

4. Do you have a favorite weapon from Middle-earth?

I'm fairly partial to Glamdring and would love to own a replica one day.  Even a tiny letter-opener replica.


5. Would you like to be a hobbit?

I think I would get bored.  Not enough books.  But I do love simple, gentle, quiet life with lots of gardening and baking and eating.  So maybe if I could be one of the few bookish hobbits, then yes, I would.

 6. Do you have a favorite romance/couple?

Faramir and Eowyn are amazing, especially in the books.  Both broken, abandoned, lost people who find healing at the hands of Aragorn and each other.


7. What's your favorite Middle-earth creature? (Can be "real" or "imaginary.")

I love Shadowfax.

8. What character do you look the most like?

Ummmmmm... I look a bit like Sigrid, Bard's daughter (Peggy Nesbit) in the Hobbit movies.



9. Are there any books about Middle-earth or Professor Tolkien (but not written by him) you recommend?

I learned a LOT from both The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power by Jane Chance and Finding God in the Lord of the Rings by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware.  Click on those titles for my full reviews of them.  I'm also getting a LOT out of A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Laconte, which I plan to review for this blog party later this week.  Just have to finish reading it first.

10. List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotations from the Middle-earth books and/or movies.

There is a seed of courage hidden (often deeply, it is true) in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit, waiting for some final and desperate danger to make it grow (The Fellowship of the Ring, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs").

And seated a little apart was a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance (The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Council of Elrond").


In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lorien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world (The Fellowship of the Ring, "Lothlorien").

He strode to the archway and stood for some time under the falling rain of the spring.  Then he laughed and shook himself, and wherever the drops of water fell glittering from him to the ground they glinted like red and green sparks (The Two Towers, "Treebeard").

The great horse tossed his head.  His flowing tail flicked in the moonlight.  Then he leapt forward, spurning the earth, and was gone like the north wind from the mountains (The Two Towers, "The Palantir").


The eyes were hollow and the carven beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold.  A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, an din the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed (The Two Towers, "Journey to the Cross-Roads").

Proud and grave he stood for a moment as he spoke to the guard, and Pippin gazing at him saw how closely he resembled his brother Boromir -- whom Pippin had liked from the first, admiring the great man's lordly but kindly manner (The Return of the King, "The Siege of Gondor").

And then softly, to his own surprise, there at the vain end of his long journey and his grief, moved by what thought in his heart he could not tell, Sam began to sing (The Return of the King, "The Tower of Cirith Ungol").


Then the heart of Eowyn changed, or else at last she understood it.  And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her (The Return of the King, "The Steward and the King").

Sam blushed, but he looked gratefully at Frodo, for Rosie's eyes were shining and she was smiling at him (The Return of the King, "The Scouring of the Shire").


That's all for me!  And if you're a Tolkien fan, but haven't join the party yet, you can do that right here.

15 comments:

  1. A letter-opener sword would be pretty rad . . .

    I like the quotes you shared a lot!

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    1. Jessica, rumor has it a certain Cowboy thinks this would be a great Christmas present, which makes me very happy.

      Thanks! I decided to find all-new ones that I've marked as ones I especially love over the years, but never shared for my Tolkien parties.

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    2. Ooooooooooooooooooooh . . . YAY! *heart-eyes*

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  2. I didn't know Faramir and Eowyn were your favorite, too! (I don't know who I thought WAS, though . . . )

    HOPE. Yes.

    Oh, I had forgotten Bard's daughter when answering these. I guess I need to finish my re-watch of that movie. :-P

    I have Finding God in The Lord of the Rings (I think?), just haven't read it yet.

    I love all those quotes! An endless mine of gorgeous quotes, these books. <3

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    1. Olivia, well, now you know! They're such a beautiful couple. They make me cry.

      I like Movie-Bard's kids and I think we could be friends.

      I know quite a few people who have read Finding God in the LOTR, so I'm not surprised you have it. It works as a devotional!

      Yeah, you could really just blindly open to any page of his books and stab your finger somewhere on the page, and it would be a good line.

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  3. For the first question, I've always thought of LotR as one book (even though the edition I own is shelved on GoodReads as 3 books). Sam has a great character arc! I really like Faramir & Eowyn too. Great answers.

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    1. Beth, I think of LOTR as one book, as three books, and as six books, depending on the situation :-)

      Thanks!

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  4. <33333

    I love it! (Your answers, your quotes you chose - I love everything LOTR. *heart eye emoji*)

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    1. Also, heck yes to a little Glamdring letter opener! My Mum has a little sword letter opener, but it's not the same as Glamdring. ;)

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    2. Gabby A, thanks! Glad you're enjoying this party :-)

      I have a little sword letter opener too! It's got a plastic purple stone that it sets in, and I guess it's supposed to be the sword Arthur pulls out of the stone, though IIRC it also says "Excalibur" on it somewhere, but I don't call it that because Excalibur is NOT the sword in the stone, it's the sword the Lady in the Lake holds aloft, with the scabbard of invincibility. Because, why yes, I like to quibble.

      But Glamdring would be infinitely better.

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  5. Great answers! Sam has such a good character arc. A Glamdring letter opener would be awesome. I got my Dad a replica of Orcrist, for Christmas one year. He loves it!

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    1. Thanks, Skye! Did you get him a full-size replica, or a small one? What a cool gift, either way.

      When my hubby saw my mention of a Glamdring letter opener in this post, he messaged me and said, "Rohan will answer," so I think I know now what I'm getting for Christmas ;-)

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  6. OH! There is so much I love about this tag and this post!

    Dear Sam.

    That epic picture of Gandalf. Me likey!! :D

    Faramir and Eowyn <3

    Boromir!

    LOOOVED all the quotes you shared! Tolkien was so good at his craft!! <3

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    Replies
    1. Cordy, so glad you loved it! I have a bit of personal headcanon about that picture of Boromir, that it's him sitting for his royal portrait befor he leaves on this quest, quick finding time to let the portrait-maker get the basics down before he leaves again. He's always running around being a Mighty Warrior, but Denethor is all, "You're going to be the next Steward of Gondor, so sit down and let them start your portrait while you're in your prime so people remember you like this forever."

      Um, anyway, yeah, that's how my head works :-)

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    2. Oooh, I like the way your head works, Hamlette. ;) I can totally see what you're saying.

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