Happy Bilbo & Frodo's Birthday! (ft. the Tolkien Blog Party Tag)

 

Happy Bilbo & Frodo's Birthday, and hello ye peoples of the interwebs! (Yeah, I don’t know why I said that either. It’s been a crazy week and I’m getting a little punchy.) As hinted in the previous parenthesis, I am having an insanely busy three-week period (I had a cow judging competition last weekend, this weekend I’m helping with a retreat, and next weekend, my team is going to the national dairy cow judging competition), but I couldn’t possibly let a Tolkien Blog Week go by without contributing a post!

Unfortunately, while pawing through my catalogue of drafted posts, I realized that I had exactly zero (0) posts devoted to my dear Professor, which is a travesty. But Hamlette to the rescue, because there is a tag to go along with this most excellent party, and that is what I will be doing today!

So without further ado…on to the tag!

1.     Rohan or Gondor?
I’m already stumped. Might as well give up on the tag and go back to bed. XD But okay, you’re asking me to choose between things that kind of feel like the flip sides of my personality—the more informal, slightly wild, rugged people who are very close to their animals (all those horses!) living in their isolated fastnesses in the wild versus the much more formal, urban, learned people, in their beautiful high city with the White Tree at the top. It’s like asking me “So, Sam, do you want to be a landscape architect for the rest of your life, or an animal scientist?” Or asking “Sam, would you rather live in the city, or the country?” The answer is both, and I’m not sure how to do that, which makes me rather torn and somewhat anxious. I often feel like my life is divided into three pieces: the Newman piece, the Landscape Architecture piece, and the Animal Science piece, and it’s rather strange.
(You didn’t know you were going to get an existential crisis with this question, did you?)

HOWEVER. Since I am required to answer the question… I’ve recently learned what a sycamore tree is (specifically the London Plane tree), and I’ve been seeing them everywhere and been very struck by the similarity to the White Tree of Gondor. So, just because I’ve been thinking about Gondor on a daily basis for the last couple weeks, I’m going to go with Gondor. (Also because at the Newman center, we call ourselves Newmanoreans.)

2.       Rivendell or Lothlorien?
This is a slightly easier one. As much as I love the description of Lothlorien, especially the trees (I am a Landscape Architecture major, after all, even if I love Animal Science too), Rivendell is the Last Homely House East of the Sea, and I love that about it. I love how it’s a place of rest and renewal for the Fellowship, and how it’s situated just close enough to the mountains that it feels adventurous to Bilbo. I love the description of it as a place of “story and song”, and how they tell stories in the evenings, and how it brings everyone together—how Aragorn can be Bilbo’s storytelling friend, as well as the other hobbits’ travelling companion. Also, the set design of Rivendell in the movies is gorgeous.

3.       Erebor or Moria?
Moria. As much as the title The Lonely Mountain is cool, and as much as I love mountains, Moria just checks the box of sending delighted and delightful shivers down my spine. I wouldn’t want to go there… but as a setting for me to read about, the hollowed-out underground halls of the dwarfs are superlative. First of all, the “speak, friend, and enter” doors make me smile because Gandalf is literally throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it, getting more and more complicated, until he’s like “oh. I just…say that I’m a friend, and the doors open.” It is, as the kids say, an epic facepalm moment. Second of all, I’ve always had a soft spot for places that were mysteriously abandoned. Historical mysteries like that, such as the Roanoke colony, are just fascinating. Third of all, the way it’s described is so spooky and terrifying in the best possible way. “They delved too deep.” “Drums, drums in the deep. They are coming.” GAH. YES.

4.       Bilbo or Frodo?
Frodo. I’m sorry, but Bilbo has always driven me a little bit crazy. He’s actually pretty arrogant, sneaky, tricksy, and later in life he becomes a bit avaricious as well. (I know that was about the Ring, but STILL.) And while I can relate to his longing to see mountains again (*cue my siblings saying, in a exaggeratedly whiny voices “I want to see mountains, Gandalf. Mouuuuuuuuuuuntaaaaaaaaaaaains."*), and his delight in going on adventures, overall, he irritates me.
Frodo, on the other hand, is handed this absolutely insane and horrible responsibility, and he carries it with perseverance and fortitude. He even volunteers to take the Ring to Mordor, when he could have simply said “I’ve gotten it to Rivendell, I’m done.” He makes the journey with incredible stamina, and nearly sacrifices his life for it, in the end. And after all of that, he comes home, only to have to leave again, because of all the changes his journey has wrought.
Basically, compared to Bilbo, who is selfish, secretive, and arrogant, Frodo is self-sacrificing, perseverant, long-suffering, and courageous. So…yeah. I like Frodo.

5.       Merry or Pippin?
Merry. As much as I love the Fool of a Took, I like Merry more. I hadn’t thought about it until I started writing this post today, which is funny but true. Merry is somewhat more competent than Pippin, and also tends to try to be the responsible one, while Pippin is off doing whatever the heck comes into his head, which reminds me of the dynamic between myself and my cousin, nicknamed Pippin. So that’s funny. But what I was thinking about most when I decided that I liked Merry better was the part where he swears fealty to Rohan, and then rides into battle with Eowyn and helps her to kill the Witch-King. That, there, is a peak example of how awesome hobbits are. I love his courage, displayed even when it seems like all is lost, and there’s nothing that he can do to turn the tide of the battle, because there is something that he can do to turn the tide, and when he sees that, he does it. (Also, my best friend in high school was nicknamed Merry.)

6.       Galadriel or Elrond?
My initial response to this question was “meh”. (One might even say that it was meh enough that it put me to sleep, because I’m writing this post while driving back from this past weekend’s dairy cow judging competition, and between this question and the last one, I literally did take a nap. Or as good of a nap as I’m going to get in the car.)
I honestly don’t have a strong opinion on either Galadriel or Elrond. Like yep, Elrond is Arwen’s dad. That’s pretty cool. Galadriel is a female leader. That’s pretty cool. They both did cool things in the Second Age, I’m pretty sure.
See what I mean?
But I guess I’m going to go with Galadriel, because she was offered the ring and refused it, a noble feat.

7.       Eomer or Faramir?
I feel like this should be a hard question, and maybe it is for those who have only watched the movies. And there are some ways in which it’s hard for me, too…mostly because I love the way Eomer cares for his sister. But if we’re talking about just overall love of character, Faramir is going to win every time. Heck, Faramir might win if you asked me Faramir vs. Aragorn, but thank goodness that wasn’t a question.
I love the nobility of Faramir, and his resignation to his lot in life, but also his determination to do his best in whatever is set before him. He resists the temptation of the ring, just like Galadriel, and although he knows that his father doesn’t love him as much as Boromir, and thus sets him either boring or extremely dangerous tasks that are dangerous to the point of foolhardiness, he is resigned to the lack of love, and does the tasks to the utmost of his ability. His men love him beyond ordinary measure—I’m thinking of Beregond, who is one of my very favorite characters—and would follow him anywhere.
And then, once he’s passed through fire, and been wounded, and accepted his own hurt and healed from it, he’s able to help heal Eowyn, too, and that’s one of the most beautiful scenes in the entire book.

        "And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many."    

      So, while Eomer’s courage and care for his sister are beautiful things (and my own Eomer brother(s) are dearly beloved), I’m going to have to say Faramir for overall nobility, character, and beauty of soul.

8.       Fili or Kili?
Aren’t they, like, the same person? Except in the Hobbit movies, where Kili has a weird romance with an elf? (I haven’t seen the Hobbit movies, so I’m extrapolating from the rants I’ve heard from my cousins.) Poor Kili. Peter Jackson didn’t need to do him dirty like that. In all seriousness, I haven’t read The Hobbit enough times to have an opinion on Fili vs. Kili, nor to remember if there are difference between them in the book. But I’m going to say Fili, because I like the way his name sounds more than Kili. It sounds like “filius”. *shrugs*

9.       Bard or Beorn?
I may not have read The Hobbit enough times to have an opinion on Fili vs. Kili, but I have certainly read The Hobbit enough to have an opinion on Bard vs. Beorn. Because if it’s a choice between a handsome leader who is an incredible archer, and a dude who is big and gruff, can turn into a bear, and lives in the wilderness and keeps bees…

…I’m going to choose the bear dude every time.
(Not what you were expecting? XD)
But I mean GUYS. He’s this huge, powerful, gruff dude who keeps BEES. Do you know how much finesse is required to keep bees? That endears him to me GREATLY. (I know that Tolkien may have just been like “haha, the bear keeps bees, haha”, but I love it anyway.)

10.   Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White?
See, this is a fascinating question, because the difference between Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White is a death and Resurrection of sorts. In a way, Gandalf the White has a glorified body, and Gandalf the Grey is the ‘ordinary’ Gandalf, the pre-Resurrection Gandalf. But they’re really the same person. Which means that the question could almost be rephrased as “pre-Resurrection, or post-Resurrection?" or "the Old Man or the New Man?" And the ‘correct’ answer is of course “Gandalf the White, post-Resurrection, the New Man”, inasmuch as the Resurrected Christ is the one Who has the power to save, and the New Man is the one who has put off the old self and put on the new self of righteousness. (I’m probably badly mangling St. Paul, but you get the idea.)

But what’s super interesting about this question is that, while after philosophical consideration of the thing, I would answer “Gandalf the White” (also because number one he does some awesome stuff as the White, like when he gets rid of Wormtongue, and number two I love the significance and symbolism of him replacing Saruman as the White), my initial reaction was “Gandalf the Grey, of course.” Because he’s more familiar that way. More comfortable. More predictable, and more endearing as the grumpy old wizard. Gandalf the White does strong, stark things sometimes, and is concerned about the passage of events throughout all of Middle-Earth, whereas Gandalf the Grey blows smoke rings and sets off fireworks. And doesn’t that truly speak to all of our discomfort with change, and desire for everything to stay the same? Even our faults and sins can become comfortable and familiar, and we don’t want to change them, almost like Denethor, or even Theoden. Which is why we need a Gandalf the White to come in and shake us up, bring us to life, and help us shake off those vices.

And on that happy note, lol, I wish you a happy Tolkien Blog Week, Happy Bilbo & Frodo's Birthday, and bid you adieu!

So tell me…do you have a strong opinion about Elrond vs. Galadriel? How many times have you read The Hobbit? Faramir, or Aragorn?