The Hobbit as JRR Tolkien imagined it...

[TurquoiseSunset]

I don't know if this link has been posted already, but just in case... It's a 'slideshow' of illustrations Tolkien made about The Hobbit.

The Hobbit as JRR Tolkien imagined it. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2011/oct/24/hobbit-tolkien-in-pictures)

[WyattGwyon]

Your thread title should be: The Hobbit as JRR Tolkien drew it; I doubt any amateur artist of mediocre abilities has a direct line between his imagination and what ends up on paper. More important, do you have any reason to believe Tolkien was even attempting to capture the scenes as he imagined them?

[BAD_PEGASUS]

Why wouldn't he be attempting to capture the scene as he imagined it? How likely is it that he decided to draw up a scene which he imagined vividly and described in great detail in any other way? Anyway those illustrations were interesting to look over. There's a certain edition of The Hobbit I read a couple months back whose cover Tolkien drew himself, and it's a simply wonderful design. What do you guys think about the upcoming films?

[tanchen]

looks cool! i am really curious how the movie will turn out. i also have an edition of the hobbit with the original smaug dragon that tokien drew on the cover.


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[WICKES]

When trying to visualize the shire and the hobbits you need to picture an isolated, snug little English village around 150 years ago: woodsmoke, ploughed fields of dark, wet earth, men with long side burns smoking clay pipes etc. That is wht Tolkein has in mind. The hobbits are based on the young English soldiers he commanded during WW1, many of whom came from such villages; Mordor is the western front.

I loved the films, but I was very disappointed by the depiction of the shire- it was too clean and artificial looking.

[Ancient Mariner]

Tolkien was primarily an author, not a painter. So his imagination was captured in his writing not in his drawing. As others have pointed out, he probably wouldn't have been able to portray his imagination perfectly through drawing. So it is wrong to say that those pictures show how he imagined. But he did perfectly portray his imagination through his writing and that why he is widely admired.

[Des Essientes]

The hobbits are based on the young English soldiers he commanded during WW1, many of whom came from such villages; Mordor is the western front.

Hobbits are Englishmen. Orcs are Pagan Norsemen. Elves are Finns. The people of Rohan are Franks,and those of Gondor are Spanish Visigoths.
The Hobbit is Tolkien's best book because it is fun. LOTR is a moralistic Roman Catholic allegory.

[WyattGwyon]

Why wouldn't he be attempting to capture the scene as he imagined it? How likely is it that he decided to draw up a scene which he imagined vividly and described in great detail in any other way?

Perhaps because he knew, given his skill, that this was hopeless and beside the point. He was making a piece of illustrative art from which it would be strange to expect realistic accuracy.


Hobbits are Englishmen. Orcs are Pagan Norsemen. Elves are Finns. The people of Rohan are Franks,and those of Gondor are Spanish Visigoths.
The Hobbit is Tolkien's best book because it is fun. LOTR is a moralistic Roman Catholic allegory.

Clearly you jest—Spanish Visigoths indeed! For what it is worth, Tolkien repudiated allegorical interpretations of his work. In any case, I don't think Christian mythology is the most obvious place to look for them if one insists on doing it.

[Des Essientes]

Clearly you jest—Spanish Visigoths indeed!

Yes, indeed, the Visigoths settled in Spain and had their capital at Toledo. Tolkien based the Orcish language on Norse and he based the Elvish language on Finnish. The battle for Middle Earth in LOTR is based on the battle for Christendom in the Dark Ages when pagan Vikings and Muslim Moors were threatening to destroy her.

[wat??]

Your thread title should be: The Hobbit as JRR Tolkien drew it; I doubt any amateur artist of mediocre abilities has a direct line between his imagination and what ends up on paper. More important, do you have any reason to believe Tolkien was even attempting to capture the scenes as he imagined them?

My goodness you're certainly an *** aren't you?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

My goodness you're certainly an *** aren't you?

You're one to talk, looking at your posting history.

Anyways, he's right. Those pictures aren't very good.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Hm, I only saw the responses to my post just now. Anyhoo...

Wyatt, the reason why I called the thread "The Hobbit as JRR Tolkien imagined it..." is because that is what the article/slideshow is called. I couldn't really care less whether it actually is how he imagined it or not, I just posted the link in case anyone wanted to see the drawings.