The Shire

The Shire- one of the more idyllic places in Middle Earth. A land of rolling hills, farms and hobbit burrows, lazy rivers and a peace that seems to pervade the land. It's hard not to read the descriptions in The Hobbit or The Fellowship of the Ring and not want to go there to experience this peace for oneself. The Shire is a varied place though, from Waymoot and Michel Delving in the west to Bridgefields and the Brandywine in the east. It is divided into Farthings -one for each cardinal direction- and is a pretty autonomous area within the ruins of the old North Kingdom.  

The Great East Road crosses through the middle of the Shire- one could go towards Bree and eventually the Misty Mountains, or towards the Gulf of Lune and the Grey Havens. I'd love to explore the hills and streams and chat with hobbits going about their business. I always imagined Hobbiton or Bywater to be industrious little places with a post office and a few shops (and of course a tavern or inn). 

One could of course always stop for a bite and a pint at The Green Dragon Inn or similar establishments. 

The Shire is a pastoral place and often sees dwarves on the road as well as elves in the forests. Frodo on his flight from the Shire encountered Gildor Inglorion  in the Green Hill Country near the Woody End, and Gildor sent word on throughout the land that Frodo was coming. And while not a part of the Shire itself, the Old Forest is a forbidding place, with the nature spirit Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry but also Old Man Willow and other things. 

There have been some great Tolkien artists over the years but my favorite is probably Ted Nasmith. And in my view he especially has a knack for the Shire and its rustic appeal. Below are some images of his that I think capture this land like few others.  

Bag End/ Hobbiton

One Morning Long Ago

This is a somewhat different view of the approach- in the distance you can see mountains and a winding river- I think this image provides a somewhat more wild view of the Shire. 

Here is a view of Hobbiton from the hill at Bag End. 



The Green Hill Country 



Last Sight of Hobbiton   



Green Hill Morning 



Bree

At The Sign of the Prancing Pony 



The End of the Age

This is the journey to the Grey Havens as they pass the White Towers. 

The Hobbit

The Hobbit was a re- read with La La in the Library and I was so glad to revisit this world. I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book now- I first read it years ago and it's been a few years since I read The Lord of the Rings as well, so I'm a little rusty on my Middle-earth? I needn't have worried, however. This was like putting on a warm blanket and settling in with a nice mug of tea. I was very happy to join Bilbo and company on their journey There and Back Again. 

There have been so many reviews of this, and so many have seen the movies/ read the book, that I won't review this as such. I'm just going to share, in no particular order, my thoughts and observations as I read. 

• No mention of the Shire! The Green Dragon gets name-dropped, and Bywater is mentioned, but when they leave there is no mention of the Shire or any of its byways or landmarks.

• There were already lots of tales of Gandalf in Bilbo's time- not just the fireworks stuff, but tales of people leaving to go overseas (!) or on misadventures. 

• Bilbo is mentioned as a Burglar, and Gandalf mentions a Warrior or Hero not being available. Some interesting archetypes here. 

• The hints of the magnificence of Dale in the time of Thror - including Dale being a toy market hub.  

• Moon- letters. Such a cool concept. 

• The ambivalence of dwarves. By the time they reach Erebor the dwarves' estimation of Bilbo has gone way up- he saves their bacon numerous times, after all- and when it's time to explore the secret door into the Mountain, none of the dwarves accompany him. As greedy as they are you'd think they would want to go see! Also... it's mentioned that Bilbo is practically their leader at that point! Thorin actually defers to him when Smaug first emerges to raze the mountainside. 

• Tolkien also mentions that dwarves are calculating, and while they'll help Bilbo as they can, they're not necessarily heroes? He says they can be tricky or treacherous (some anyways) and not to expect too much? 

The other issue that is fascinating to me is the idea of a haven in dangerous lands. I've noticed that Tolkien seems to like to place unassailable safe points in wild, untamed areas. Rivendell of course comes to mind most prominently, but I was struck by Beorn's place as well. The company are told that they are safe there, although they should refrain from venturing outside at night- the implication being that Beorn is in bear mode, not to mention the apparently large numbers of bears who congregate with him! 

These places serve as a safe haven though, a place for respite and camaraderie, amidst the dangers of the wild. Some other havens that come to mind would be Tom Bombadil's house in The Fellowship of the Ring, and even the Eagles' eyrie, where they briefly shelter in this one. 

Top Ten Tuesday #25

 

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted. Everyone is welcome to join. Link back to The Broke and the Bookish so everyone can check out other bloggers' lists. It's a fun way to get to know fellow bloggers.

This week's topic is Ten All Time Favorite Books of X Genre 

I'm going with Fantasy this week. It's always been my favorite genre- there's something about fantasy- the sense of wonder, the escapism of it, the chance to explore a new world with echoes of our own, but with all the fun stuff- dragons, elves

So here are ten fantasies that I think are pretty awesome. 

This is without a doubt one of my favorite fantasy books. It's huge, sprawling and there are so many great moments in it.  

The third book in the series and like A Dance with Dragons, there is just so much that happens in this one. 

The second Ice and Fire book this one takes the story into much deeper territory and has some amazing moments. The prologue especially sets the tone as we see just how mysterious the red priestess Melisandre really is. Plus Dragonstone!

For me not only is this a great conclusion, but I've always been fascinated by the period of time after the Lord of the Rings. The beginning of the Fourth Age, when man is ascendant and the elves leave- Aragorn Elessar's reign begins and the north and south kingdoms are reunited. I'd love to see how that develops- and the Appendices in this book give lots of hints. 

This book spends a lot of time in the Shire and that's one of the things I love about it. As a kid reading these all the build up and Shire stuff bored me, but as an adult I found that pastoral land to be fascinating and the images of it presented here are some of my favorites. The Old Forest, the sense that the Shire is a protected land and outside its borders is an encroaching darkness, the town of Bree- just amazing worldbuilding. 

 This is a very nice companion read to the Lord of the Rings. It provides background information on some of the fellowship members and what they were doing at various points before the quest, including Aragorn. There is a section on the Istari (the wizards) that shows where Gandalf and his kind came from, and it's just a wealth of information.