THE LIFE LESSONS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN'S HOBBITS
About Me
My name is Noble Smith. I'm a lifelong Tolkien fan, novelist, video game writer, documentary film producer, and father of two. My book The Wisdom of the Shire will be published by Thomas Dunne Books this October. info [@] shirewisdom.com.
Follow me on Twitter @ShireWisdom
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It’s so nice that the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle now has signs for idiots. I’m glad the sign was there because I was very tempted at first. But then I saw the sign. Whew!
The Two Towers in Russian. Somehow “Sauron” got translated as “Squid-legged-eyeball.” The bowlegged guy with the antennae wielding the spear and sword is one of the more perplexing things I’ve ever seen on the cover of a book. And Tolkien looks like a hardboiled detective from the fifties firing up a cigarette with his Zippo lighter. If somebody had given me this book when I was a kid I would have used it prop up my tippy desk.
Yé! utúvienyes! I have found it, Gandalf!
Aragorn! You’ve discovered the scion of the Eldest of Trees?
No! Not that! I found my awesome purple robe, burgundy cowboy boots and winged tiara! Check me out. When I undertook my journeys and errantries as a young man I always told myself, “When I am King of Minas Tirith I shall wear purple.”
Pssst…Gimli.
What is it, Legolas, Elf-friend?
Does my hair look cool? I just got it done. It’s called “feathering.”
I like it. Maybe I’ll have my beard feathered. And then we’ll go visit the Glittering Caves.
Right on.
The cover of my new book coming June 14th. But where are the Hobbits? I told the publisher I wanted Hobbits on the cover. Not some buff ancient Greek Hoplite warrior…ooops…I see what happened. Hobbits…Hoplites..shit!
