What will you choose?

[Nurumaiel]

...but I, like Frodo, am getting rather used to being Master of my own Bag End...

Lyta, you have summed up my entire feelings in these shorts words. It's something that I found very hard to describe; I commend you for your excellent work in saying it half a sentence!

To wake up in the morning in my own little room and hear the birds singing and little feet just beginning to run about... Sure, I could have a little room in the Shire (or wherever I would live in Middle-Earth) but it wouldn't by my little room, because I already have a little room. Birds would sing, but they wouldn't be the birds I've tempted for hours a day with seeds so they would come perch on my hand. Little feet might run about and I might hear children's laughter but they wouldn't be the dear children I've become accustomed to hearing.

And to wander out into the garden and bid good morning to the flowers, feeling delighted when I see new little buds blooming. It would be highly unlikely that I wouldn't have a garden in the Shire, but it wouldn't be my garden because my garden wouldn't be home.

I could have books in the Shire, I suppose, but they wouldn't be my books that have been passed down through the family till they came to me. And I could sit by a fireside and read, but it wouldn't be the fireside of my childhood, the one I have sat by for years, the one I sat by when I first heard tales of Frodo and Sam.

I could live without these things, sure, but it would be hard to be somewhere else, in an entirely different world, and still have these things that were not mine. Rather like raising a little boy who was your own and then switching sons with some other woman. You'd still have a little boy but he wouldn't be yours, would he? Of course the pain of switching books, gardens, etc. would be much less than the pain of switching sons! I merely use it as an example... not one quite equal to the situation, I fear.

I would have small regrets about not going to Middle-Earth... it would be lovely to Walk to Rivendell for real.

[Willow]

Right. Not a doubt.
What if we got to Middle-earth, and it wasn't what we wanted? We'd be stuck and disappointed.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Long ago, the temptation for me to take the left door would have great. It would have been comparable to Ar-Pharazôn's quest to wrest the Undying Lands from the Valar and claim immortality, shunning the dread of Death. But such temptation comes of ignorance - ignorance of what is, and ignorance of what is desired. This blindness could be summed up in a sentence: That world, indeed any world, is better than this one. So I'll go there.

But is it really? Is life at Middle-earth all it's cracked up to be? A great adventure, or an endless peace, perhaps? Really, what would make Middle-earth superior to Planet Earth?

The setting would have been different, but the same cast participate in the play. Characters with the same weaknesses, the same darkness that lies within the people in this world. Sure, we see shining examples of those who had overcome the shadow, but in the end, we'll see too much of Bill Ferny and Gríma.

It is the truth, in this world as in that of Tolkien's imagination, that vigilance tires. The terror of the Enemy might have been fresh in the people's mind by the end of LotR, but how long before the people grow indifferent again? What if there are no new Travellers to stop the despoliation of the new Sharkey's engines? What if there is no new Gandalf to rally all the Free People to the go up against the return of the Shadow? During the first three Ages of the Sun, it was almost too late to stop the Shadow - indeed, in the Age of the Trees, they were too late. There is precedence for complacency in Middle-earth. What would happen to the next ages? Would the hobbits one day awake to smog, AIDS, or famine?

It would be better for me to live in this world. At least now, with everyone seeing the ascendancy of man’s destructive abilities, people are slowly turning the tide. That would be nice.

Besides, it's escapism. I'd hate the day I have to escape from such a world.

You're just too morbid. Admit it.

[Evisse the Blue]

Diamond, I get your point. I was thinking along the lines of not which is the most rewarding, but which is the most difficult path. Going left would take a lot of adapting and fighting against hardships, despite having one's curiosity infinitely rewarded; while going right (staying behind) would mean settling comfy in the same life as before, with a hint of regret, or maybe with pride in having rejected temptation. That was so smart of you not seeing the third part of Matrix. I wish I had taken the blue pill that one time.

A clarification of my motivation is in order. I see myself almost in the minority here. I don't want to go there in hopes of finding an ideal world. I'm perfectly aware that ME is as full of villains as our world is. I just want a taste of that experience. It won't be better, but granted, it will be different.

[Diamond18]

I don't want to go there in hopes of finding an ideal world. I'm perfectly aware that ME is as full of villains as our world is. I just want a taste of that experience. It won't be better, but granted, it will be different.

Very true. I myself would love to be able to visit Middle-Earth for a time (maybe not Mordor), but Sharon put that "you shall not go back" stipulation in there to make it a more weighty decision. For me that one catch changes it into a matter of foresaking this world forever, and I don't plan on doing that in this life.

Now I wonder -- (and forgive me for posing a new question in your thread, Sharon...)

If you were a person who would, on your own, chose the Right, would you go Left after all if someone you loved was going there and begged you to come with? I mean, if someone you really, really don't think you can live without is bent on going to Middle Earth, how would you react?

I've seen people saying they'd go to Middle Earth and bring so-and-so with them, or would stay because so-and-so wouldn't want to go. But what if you were so-and-so?

Not sure I'd go.... But them I am single so the question is purely hypothetical for me.

[PaleStar]

Time has passed, and I've actually thought over this whole thing again; right or left?
I'm still leaning towards left; heck, I'd muck out stalls in Rohan if it just meant being on Middle Earth; but...the thing is, even the short period of time that we'd be there, M-E would be starting on it's way to being like our world is; industrialized to the brink of insanity. I always assumed that, after Aragorn left to die, that there was peace for a while, and then the Men, like we so often do, went back and saw all that machinery that the enimes(orcs, in this case) used and adapted it for their own. We do that today; the A-bomb was made because the US was told that Germany was making one.
It'd be especially heart-breaking to watch the hobbits dissapate and fade from existance...
But, like Alda, this gift from Illuvatar might be made easier by seeing M-E...I think I'll join him(I've actually quoted him there...*soft laughter* sorry)
Yes, it would be hard to keep knowledge of technology and all that a secret but...I suppose after a while you'd forget about it. If you don't remember it, you can't miss it, can you?
But, Araréiel, when you plan that trip, let me know. I intend on coming, if I can.

P.S. I still would like to direct everyone's attention to Alda's post; he's simply wonderful with his response; I was considering right until I reread his post...*gives Alda a hug*

P.P.S. The theory of Middle Earth being Heaven is wonderful; there's a piece of me screaming that it's truth; I truly hope so...but it wouldn't be the M-E we all know; there would be no conflict, like, let's say, someone like Melkor had never existed, or had been bested and locked away. Perhaps it would seem more like Valinor than Middle Earth

[The Elusive Spirit]

PaleStar, I agree with you whole-heartedly. I expect industrialization to follow Aragorn's reign. Time flows, and as the elves know, there's noting you can do to stop it. Going back to that time is, in my mind anyway, going back to what Middle Earth was supposed to be like. Evil villains and all.

My decision to go left is based on one major idea. I'm all about seeing and experiencing everything I can before I take Illuvatar’s gift.