35. Do the Hobbits Have H.O.A.s?

All about the Shire.

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: the Shire. The
homeland of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and many of Middle-earth’s hobbits in
general, and the entry point for nearly every reader to Tolkien’s imaginative
geographical and creative landscape, the Shire often seems like an idyllic and
nostalgic English utopia, an untroubled land where the beer is good, the
family trees are all spelled out carefully and there’s not much to worry about
aside from the occasional wolf or Orc raid over the centuries. Yet Tolkien
himself said he didn’t view it as a utopia, and both as sociopolitical
organization and as physical location, the Shire has more going on with it
than might be seen at first glance, even by some of its most well-known
inhabitants. What is the sense of history among the hobbits of the Shire, and
how do they regard their land and their sense of who they are? What does the
Shire being a seemingly safe place truly reveal when the Scouring is necessary
at the end of the grand story? Who are the authorities, if there are any, that
keep this seeming anarchist fantasy going as a functioning concern, and does
that cover monetary issues as well? And is that the only linguistically
blessed fox in the Shire, much less Middle-earth as a whole?

Jared’s
doodle. A
party of special magnificence indeed.

Amazon’s title announcement
video – FINALLY. (And yes we
know there’s more but that happened after recording this episode – next time!)
TheOneRing.net
got some behind the scenes shots from the creation of said video, pretty cool.

The formal Haggerty Museum of Art
announcement about the
“J. R. R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript” exhibition in Milwaukee, running
from August 19 to December 12.

Douglas Trumbull is rather
well known in the field.

The Shire: a basic overview.

Some of our relevant past episodes on the Scouring of the
Shire and Sam
Gamgee.

Karen Wynn Fonstad’s Shire
map,
as with all her work, is very great. (Pick up The Atlas of Middle-earth if you haven’t.)

What is utopia? Everywhere and
nowhere…well, nowhere, really.

Golf is canon!

English gardens are indeed a
thing.

Asterix rules, the end. The specific
volume in question – and
here’s the lawn
joke.

Merry England, or rather an
overview of the stereotype.

A recent article on Tolkien and
satire in the context of the
Shire.

Air traffic controller
memes!

The Worlds of J. R. R.
Tolkien by John Garth – well worth picking up. Here’s the
Birmingham map mentioned – Sarehole is location 1.

Britton Hill – Florida’s highest
point. (In contrast Ned climbed Mount
Marcy once.)

Who doesn’t love a Shire fox?

Watership Down and The Plague
Dogs, both very good reads and
often harrowing movies.

The feast with Gildor at
Woodhall as depicted
by Alan Lee.

Lovely Crickhollow.

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