Team Baggins

My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burrowses, and Hornblowers, and Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, and Proudfoots… 

We have reached at last the end of the read-along! 

To the giveaway winners - congratulations! To those of you who finished a bingo card - well done! To everyone who filled a prompt, started or replied to a discussion, posted in the #tolkienreadalong tag, took part in the Monday parties, joined in the #hobbitwatchalong, spent time in the read-along chatroom, or just read along with us - thank you so very much for being part of our Unexpected Journey! 

The queue is now empty, all asks have been answered, and this is alas the end of team-took. (Two blogs are quite enough for one hobbit.) Feel free to unfollow this blog, but make sure you are following tolkienreadalong and askmiddlearth to hear about upcoming read-alongs. 

(And if you’re a fan of The Silmarillion, Admin Luna and I respectively run teamainur and teamedain - we would be delighted if you checked out these blogs!) 

Tooks, it has been absolutely wonderful being your captain, and I do hope you’ve enjoyed being part of the team. I hope to see you all again in future read-alongs! 

Everyone did such an amazing job with the Bingo Cards! In a perfect world, you would all get the prizes you deserve for enriching out read-along experiences. But, alas, reality. Still, congratulations to our two giveaway winners:

whereisbarton (for general Bingo Card awesomeness)

the-cooky-navy (chosen randomly to represent Team Took’s victory in earning the most points through Bingo Cards and discussions)

And what did they win?! Either this lovely print or Thror’s map or one of these pen/bookmark sets (Thorin, Bilbo, or Gandalf.) Congrats, you two! I’ll be sending you each a private message regarding shipping, etc as soon as I get home from work tonight. :)

For the first time ever (might be because I’ve never read the Hobbit only a few months after the Sil) I noticed the part in “Flies and Spiders” that tells us some things about Elves and their background and I got quite some Sil feels.

I found the different choice of words very interesting though.

Faerie = Valinor

Light-elves = Vanyar

Deep-elves = Noldor

Sea-elves = Teleri

Did he ever use these descriptions somewhere else? Are they used somewhere in the HoMe?

He also tells the story that resembles Thingol’s strife with the dwarves a lot even though it sounds like the narrator is talking about the current Mirkwood king. I suppose he wanted to keep everything as uncomplicated as possible and also the Hobbit was never supposed to become a part of his universe, I think?

On a sidenote: I also noticed for the first time that the first chapter of the Hobbit and LotR have kind of matching, but opposed titles.

“An Unexpected Party” vs. “A Long-expected Party”

(”A Long-expected party” can be found in my Hobbit edition right at the end which is why I noticed this.)

Everyone, please meet Klaus Ensikat’s Hobbit illustrations from the 2nd German edition published in 1974. These creepy-cute, fairy tale-like and renaissance-ish drawings shaped my first imagination about Middle because I read the Hobbit before LotR hit the theatres. I will never be over frog!Gollum and butterfly-winged Smaug.

If you want to see more of these beauties check out this link.

Bilbo traveled back to Erebor after his 111th birthday party, but doesn’t find what his heart was looking for.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 1: Many Meetings:

Bilbo had not much to say of himself. When he had left Hobbiton he had wandered off aimlessly, along the Road or in the country on either side; but somehow he had steered all the time towards Rivendell. 

All my stories round up for the Tolkienreadalong, I had a really great time writing all of these.

You can read all of them on AO3 here.

1. Gandalf and the Shire: Gandalf has always liked to embellish the stories he loves. 2. Elrond: Bilbo helps to remind Lord Elrond of why he fights, simply by being himself. 3. Beorn: Bilbo never spoke much of Beorn, the man’s history hurt him too much to make into a story. 4. Spiders: The spiders did not just appear in Mirkwood, for their tale is older than the sun. 5. Erebor: On the mountain, before the door, Was sat an old Raven, Who cawed the tale of Erebor. 6. Bilbo’s Choice: Bilbo makes the choice to give away the Arkenstone, but his reasons aren’t completely altruistic. 7. The Aftermath: Dain makes Bilbo an offer, but all he wants is to go home. 8. Free: Balin comes to visit and brings news of a new quest. 9. Other works, The Fellowship of the Ring: Bilbo traveled back to Erebor after his party, but doesn’t find what his heart was looking for.

For the free spot on the standard bingo card.

Here’s my round-up for the Standard card of the Tolkien Read-along bingo! It’s been really fun, both the read-along and to get to be creative.

Thanks very much to everyone who responded! 

So, Tooks and Bagginses, it’s time for one last #hobbitwatchalong! Join us in the read-along chatroom this Saturday at 9PM London Time (which corresponds, I think, to 3PM Central Time). We’ll be watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and everyone is welcome to watch along, or if you’re short on time, just drop by to say hello and chat! 

Admin Luna from team-baggins will be hosting the watchalong, so make sure you keep an eye on that blog for announcements. 

Tolkien read-along bingo | Standard card | Week 7 | The Battle of Five Armies