LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 01 - A Long-Expected Party

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Of course, there are other explanations possible - maybe there is some sort of dichotomy here in that there may actually be tons of books around in the Shire, but they are all family chronicles. Maybe people also don't mind Hugo Bracegirdle not returning books that much if they don't read so much themselves. (What else could these be if not belles-lettres? Books about herbs? Treatises on pipeweed? - I bet that exists! - Atlas of mushrooms. That kind of stuff...)

This is actually interesting and made me think of this new thread I saw yesterday: Smaug Is Not a Bookworm.

Boro, you mentioned Gandalf's fireworks. They are a lovely detail and a good way to introduce fire as Gandalf's element and thus sort of foreshadow his use of fire in The Ring Goes South and the revelation that Gandalf is the bearer of Narya. (Side note, do you guys think Gandalf was able to make such fancy fireworks thanks to the ring? ) This would be a topic for a thread of its own, but I just thought about how fire is quite closely associated with Gandalf the Grey but Gandalf the White doesn't seem to have any special connection with the element. I wonder if it's an intentional choice on Tolkien's part, or if there is just no space for Gandalf's "fire magic" later in the book.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

(Side note, do you guys think Gandalf was able to make such fancy fireworks thanks to the ring? )

I never doubted it. If Galadriel uses her ring to make Lórien beautiful, why not use Narya to make the Shire celebrations pretty? I don't think it would be any blasphemy to use the Ring for such purposes.

Originally Posted by Lommy

This would be a topic for a thread of its own, but I just thought about how fire is quite closely associated with Gandalf the Grey but Gandalf the White doesn't seem to have any special connecion with the element. I wonder if it's an intentional choice on Tolkien's part, or if there is just no space for Gandalf's "fire magic" later in the book.

Actually I think he does some fire-stuff later. I can't recall exactly now what, but I think there were some cases. But in any case sure, they would be much less-pronounced than the earlier ones: from frying Wargs (twice) and making fireworks (and torturing Gollums...), there isn't that much else... of course you could say he is much more associated with pure light there, afterwards: a fire in a "higher form", perhaps? An "ideal fire without smoke"?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for re-starting this discussion, Lommy and Legate! I'm going to try to join in as much as possible.

I just realized that there's an additional echo back to the first chapter of the Hobbit - an impromptu orchestra! The Dwarves played together at the Unexpected Party - with quite a result, getting Bilbo to feel with them and join their quest.

At the Long-Expected Party the younger Hobbits played together with the instruments they got in the musical crackers. They got others to dance (and we learn of the Springle-ring), but other than that, nothing really resulted from their music.

Is it the diminished stature of Hobbits vs. Dwarves that makes their music less moving? Is it the smaller size of the instruments? It does seem that music diminishes in Middle-earth, starting off mighty with the Great Music of creation, then dwindling over the ages.