Posted by: @twigs

I am slowly making my way through the book. I am part way through "A Conspiracy Unmasked." I tend to think of the LotR as a serious series, but on this reading I have noticed that there is still some of the humor and lightheartedness found in The Hobbit. I also enjoy the part

Spoiler

A Conspiracy Unmasked

where Pippin splashes water in this bath to act out the song he is singing. It really helps show his personality and is funny.

I never thought of that as a deliberate action by Pippin - I assumed he was splashing about, or sliding up and down, accidently creating a big splash of water. 

'Crickhollow' is what I named my house (in the book it's a village, or area, I know). It was a safe refuge across a river, cosy and friendly. Recently my bathroom was rebuilt, and I chose plain white fittings but a few Shire elements - the front of the vanity has a woodgrain look,the walls are painted gold-yellow, and the floor vinyl is fake flagstones, which I'd assume the bathroom at Crickhollow had. (also fake worn and grubby look).

Posted by: @coracle

I never thought of that as a deliberate action by Pippin - I assumed he was splashing about, or sliding up and down, accidently creating a big splash of water. 

What do other people think? The last stanza if the song is:

O! Water is fair that leaps on high

in  fountain white beneath the sky;

but never did fountain sound so sweet

as splashing Hot Water with my feet!

Then Tolkien wrote: "There was a terrfic, .... It appeared that a lot of Pippen's bath had imitated a fountain and leaped on high."

Was it an accidental fountain or a purposeful fountain?

To me it sounds like Pippin made that fountain on purpose as a grand conclusion to the song  

(also happily splashing his friend Frodo in the process).

My New Year's resolution is to read at least some of LotR 5 nights a week and to post here at least one time a week. We shall see how that goes.  

I realized how likely it would be for the Fellowship to have more arguments among themselves than actually happened. Gandalf was the leader but in different settings Boromir and Aragorn were also leaders. Boromir is used to getting his own way. Legolas is the Prince of Mirkwood so is probably also a leader and or used to getting his own way. Gandalf can have a quick temper. Of course there is tension beween the elf and the dwarf. It is very impressive that they were able to mostly get along for the greater good.

Galadriel says of Celeborn, "... the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth," yet Galadriel 

@twigs
His being wisest of the elves doesn't make him omniscient, nor prevent his making errors of judgement. If I had been writing that part I would probably have Galadriel state that he is 'known as the wisest' or 'generally known as...' or even 'the wisest but may not always be right..'.

If I were to name the wisest elf, I might say Elrond (unless he's excluded from the list for being half-elven...). But I'd give Celeborn a pass, because going, 'mmmm, balrog, NOPE' would be conventional wisdom, even if as readers we know Galadriel is correct in giving hospitality to the Fellowship.

I've just found a quote from commentator Tom Shippey.

'The critic Tom Shippey notes that "Baggins" is close to the spoken words bæggin, bægginz in the dialect of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, where it means a substantial meal eaten between main meals, most particularly at teatime in the afternoon; and Mr Baggins is definitely, Shippey writes, "partial to ... his tea".'

It’s interesting that the first part of The Lord of the Rings is called The Fellowship of the Ring when the ring itself actually threatens the fellowship of the hobbits and the humans in the story.  I’m not sure how Tolkien thought of the title of the first part of the story, but since it introduces the book it must have been very important to him. He had to have a separate title for each of the three parts since the story was too long for his publisher to have it in one volume when the book was first introduced.

I just listened to the Fellowship of the Ring in about a week. I also watched the extended version of the movie with some friends. Since I was so immersed in the book at the time, I was struck by the subtle shifts between the book and the movie, such as giving different characters lines of dialog. Also, we watched a clip from an interview with Peter Jackson where he discussed his take on the meaning of the ring. Based on what I remember/ my interpretation of what was said, he thinks the ring symbolizes the loss of free will and humans being dependent on machines. To me that isn't the symbolism behind the ring and actually Tolkien didn't intend for that kind of symbolism. I'll have to see if I can find the quote.

It got me thinking about what the themes and important ideas are. What are the essential scenes, themes, and ideas in Fellowship of the Ring?

The Hobbit conspiracy is essential. There are others too but I shall have to wait until I have more time and are wider awake.