Happy Birthday, Bilbo and Frodo!

September 22nd is the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo!

The Hobbit I used to ignore even more than I ignored the four in The Lord of the Rings (shame on my irreverent youth!), now my favorite Hobbit. Three cheers for Bilbo, the bravest little Hobbit of them all!

"Go back?" he thought. "No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!"

 

 

"I come from under the hill,

And under the hills and over the hills my paths led.

And through the air: I am he that walks unseen.

I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly.

I was chosen for the lucky number.

I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water.

I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.

I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles.

I am Ring-winner and Luckwearer;

and I am Barrel-rider."

 

 

 

"Farewell, King under the Mountain!" he said. "This is a bitter adventure, if it must end so; and not a mountain of gold can amend it. Yet I am glad that I have shared in your perils - that has been more than any Baggins deserved."

 

 

 

"If ever you are passing my way," said Bilbo, "don't wait to knock! Tea is at four; but any of you are welcome at any time!"

 

 

 

"Roads go ever ever on,

Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

By streams that never find the sea;

 

Over snow by winter sown,

And through the merry flowers of June,

Over grass and over stone,

And under mountains in the Moon.

 

Roads go ever ever on,

Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar.

 

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

Look at last on meadows green

And trees and hills they long have known."

 

 

 

"The Road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began,

And far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it meets some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say."

 

Thank you, Bilbo. And thank you, Professor Tolkien. You have changed my world for the better, and I would not have it any other way.

 

Aaaaaand here is where this post devolves into the many different gifs I have of Bilbo - and of Frodo, because we haven't forgotten him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though I oft have passed them by

A day shall come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run,

West of the Moon, East of the Sun."

 



 

In Pace Christi,

 

Elyse

More Fun With LEGOs And A Camera

"You're late."

"A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

"Good morning!"

"What do you mean? Do you mean to wish me a good morning, or do you mean that it is a good morning, whether I want it or not? Or do you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning, or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on?"

"...All of them at once, I suppose."

--

Gandalf is the king of witty comebacks, is he not? XD

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Fellowship Tribute

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater."

-- Haldir, The Fellowship of the Ring

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Some Random Amusing Things

All I can say is I would LOVE to have this My Little Tolkien Book! Seriously. If I ever had kids I would read it to them regularly, perhaps every night. I would make sure they learned all the characters' names.

Can you see why, if I ever got married, the fact that he would have to like Tolkien is non-negotiable? Talk about a matter of basic compatibility!

Martin Freeman is awesome, is all I can say. He concluded one of his Twitter interviews with, "Now *** off and do something useful." (He's known for swearing in interviews. Yeeeeaaah.)

My brother loves this scene. It's a random funny background event that most people will likely miss, as they're likely focused on Bilbo walking past, asking if Bombur has a cheese knife and generally being flustered by all these Dwarves in his house. However, Fili and Kili are having a bit of trouble with the beer barrel. They can't get the tap to work. (Fairly sure that's Rob Kazinsky as Fili there, too. Don't know why, but the back of his head looks different from Dean O'Gorman's.)

Later, when Gandalf is counting off all the Dwarves on his fingers, you see Fili and Kili walk by, having given up on the tap and just bringing the whole barrel with them. Of course, later Fili walks across the table with some mugs, asking, "Anyone want an ale?" If you look for it, he steps on Kili's plate and Kili smacks him for it. Ah, it's good to see that they're normal brothers...

(Mine have been arguing again, over who threw a basketball at the other. Apparently, both did. *headbang*)

This one is for Elaine, who knows more about Adele than I do. (I only know "Rolling in the Deep" and "Set Fire to the Rain". So I at least get the joke here. Obviously. Or I wouldn't be posting it.)

This one will make more sense for those people who can remember half of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and have seen the infamous Irish Elk Thranduil rides in the prologue of TH:AUJ. Or have seen the sneak peak for The Desolation of Smaug.

I cannot tell you how much I love the way Thranduil is lounging on his throne there. (Thranduil is Legolas's dad, by the way. Now you know why there are fanart of Legolas going, "Daaaad, you're embarassing meeeeee!" behind Thranduil up to his latest wacky stunt.) I think he's going to be one of the high points about The Desolation of Smaug. I just have a good feeling about it.

At this point during the sneak peak, however, I had to clap my hands over my mouth, because it also looks like a lot of fan speculation is going to come true. It will be priceless.

I can't wait. Is it really another eight months?

In Pace Christi,

Elyse