Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

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Cimrandir
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Cimrandir »

Could be worse though. Apparently there was once policemen on bicycles protecting the Shire. That would have thrown things in quite a different direction.
“Not even a policeman on a bicycle is ever seen this way; they have rarely heard of the king even; and the less inquisitive you are as you go along the less trouble you are likely to find.”
https://sweatingtomordor.wordpress.com/ ... -this-way/
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OParnoShoshoi
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by OParnoShoshoi »

Iodo wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:52 am
OParnoShoshoi wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:51 pm
Elleth wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:21 pm Yeah... for "reenacting" purposes I write off most of the ahistoric stuff of the hobbits (and crazy capacious packs of the dwarves) as literary license and stick with Tudor-level technology. For just enjoying the story though, of course Bilbo has matches. How else is he going to light his pipe and read his mail? :mrgreen:
And that is sort of the catch isn't it? A large part ould be so only JRRT translating sack as rucksack, tinder as matches, etc.

Though I do like the idea of hobbits being weirdly advanced but only in ways that affect comfort.

I honestly think that there is too many of these "anachronisms" within hobbit life for this to be the case, personally I think it is actually how Tolkien imagined the Shire to be, even how the hobbits dress is "out of time" compared with the rest of Middle earth. I think he wanted the Shire to seem just a little magical and shrouded in mystery even to those who already live inside a magical world

This is my favourite quote when thinking about hobbit dress, aesthetic and technology:

J. R. R. Tolkien, letter 178 wrote: …no one would have said ‘The Shire is not far from North Oxford’. It is in fact more or less a Warwickshire village of about the period of the Diamond Jubilee…

The diamond jubilee that Tolkien would have been talking about would have been queen Victoria's in 1897, so I've always taken that to mean that anything Tolkien writes that hobbits have, that existed in the real world on or before 1897, he probably intended for them to have

but everyone will have they're own interpretations, it's all part of the fun :P
The implication being that had hobbits anywhere important to be they would already have trains 😂
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Iodo
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Iodo »

Cimrandir wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:18 pm Could be worse though. Apparently there was once policemen on bicycles protecting the Shire. That would have thrown things in quite a different direction.
“Not even a policeman on a bicycle is ever seen this way; they have rarely heard of the king even; and the less inquisitive you are as you go along the less trouble you are likely to find.”
https://sweatingtomordor.wordpress.com/ ... -this-way/

LOL, but I can imagine, the Shire was basically what the countryside was like when Tolkien was a child

OParnoShoshoi wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:06 pm The implication being that had hobbits anywhere important to be they would already have trains 😂

That's actually an interesting thought, I mean, how close was trains in Middle earth really? I can't imagine it would be possible for the dwarves to mine as extensively as they did without a rail track of some sort under the ground, stuff like that can be powered by waterwheels and chains, all it would take is the dwarves to build a stationary engine and trains would exist quite quickly. It's impossible to predict the development of technology in a fantasy world but the way I see it, Middle earth at the end of LOTR's must only be two or three century's away from the dawn of steam, maybe less?

that would be a cool world to explore in fanfiction :P

[me: worries about derailing (pun intended!) someone else's thread, then realises that it's my thread, so meh... ]
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by OParnoShoshoi »

Iodo wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:59 am Middle earth at the end of LOTR's must only be two or three century's away from the dawn of steam, maybe less?

that would be a cool world to explore in fanfiction :P

[me: worries about derailing (pun intended!) someone else's thread, then realises that it's my thread, so meh... ]
Oh wow yeah. That would be an amazing time period to explore in fiction. All the nations would still exist, hobbits, orcs, dwarves, trolls, and probably a very few elves, would all still be in Middle-Earth, but the wizards and most of the elves have left, man is slowly becoming dominant. Technology is advancing just a little, old traditions and cultural ties are eroding.

And excellent pun.
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Iodo
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Iodo »

sounds cool doesn't it :P

...but on second thoughts, is that not exactly what Terry Pratchett did in "Raising Steam"?
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by OParnoShoshoi »

I don't think I've read that one, and I have a Feegle tattoo lol!

But I assume, bunch like Going Postal or the third Men At Arms book, it involves a seeming anachronism?
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Jack
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Jack »

Cimrandir wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:18 pm Could be worse though. Apparently there was once policemen on bicycles protecting the Shire. That would have thrown things in quite a different direction.
“Not even a policeman on a bicycle is ever seen this way; they have rarely heard of the king even; and the less inquisitive you are as you go along the less trouble you are likely to find.”
https://sweatingtomordor.wordpress.com/ ... -this-way/
If you look at what early draisienne bicycles were like it doesnt seem too outlandish for a Hobbit bounder to be scooting around the shire on something like this
Image

Be that as it may though i can see why that got changed in later editions of the Hobbit lol
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Iodo
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Iodo »

Jack, I think it was changed because Hobbits primary mode of transport being horses, ponies, donkeys etc.. more well matched the style Tolkien was trying to create, however That looks like absolutely the thing that would suit hobbits as technology starts to advance, in our hypothetical "Steam age Middle earth" as it were :P

(I can just feel other members cringing at this conversation LOL)

OParnoShoshoi wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 12:15 pm I don't think I've read that one, and I have a Feegle tattoo lol!

But I assume, bunch like Going Postal or the third Men At Arms book, it involves a seeming anachronism?
you are correct, it's about the first steam engine and steam railway coming to Discworld, it's quite a good story, but IMO going postal is a better story
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Jack
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Jack »

Iodo wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:38 am Jack, I think it was changed because Hobbits primary mode of transport being horses, ponies, donkeys etc.. more well matched the style Tolkien was trying to create, however That looks like absolutely the thing that would suit hobbits as technology starts to advance, in our hypothetical "Steam age Middle earth" as it were :P

(I can just feel other members cringing at this conversation LOL)

Yes i suppose we should apologize for any rabble rousing we contemptuous steam/rail-mongering youths may have wrought with our insolent anachronisms... :lol: Lol
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Iodo
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Iodo »

that sounds exactly like something a Hobbit steam train driver would say :lol:
...why am I so tempted to create that persona now?
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by OParnoShoshoi »

Okay but you know a hobbit driving car would be paradise
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Iodo
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by Iodo »

or a traction engine :P
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Re: Many ways to carry stuff - Experimentation

Post by OParnoShoshoi »

I meant to say dining car, but also yes
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Pack - Inside or Outside of Cloak

Post by Tom_Ranger »

I've been thinking recently of the ways to carry a pack with a cloak, and If I were Froto, I would not want my pack getting wet from the rain so I would want to drape my waterproof cloak over the pack. I know it looks cooler to have it on the outside, but having a bedroll and blanket getting wet would be a real bummer. From a practical sense, I say it's better to have it UNDER the cloak. What does everybody else think?
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Re: Pack - Inside or Outside of Cloak

Post by Jack »

Tom_Ranger wrote: Mon Jul 11, 2022 6:08 am I've been thinking recently of the ways to carry a pack with a cloak, and If I were Froto, I would not want my pack getting wet from the rain so I would want to drape my waterproof cloak over the pack. I know it looks cooler to have it on the outside, but having a bedroll and blanket getting wet would be a real bummer. From a practical sense, I say it's better to have it UNDER the cloak. What does everybody else think?
If that's the route you want to take I see no reason not to.
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