As way of introduction, I am reading through “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” by Bilbo Baggins ( and JRR Tolkien!) with my own 7 year old hobbit. He and I have also played some LOTRO together, mostly with me driving and him mashing buttons to kill goblins (or boars or bears…). But as we’ve been reading, he’s suddenly started to recognize a couple of the names of places in the Shire that we’d previously visited.
"Dad, didn't we see that place in LOTRO?" So, we’ve now started to visit the places of Bilbo’s original journey, taking a look around, and taking a screenshot or two. We’re only reading a few pages a day at bedtime, so it will likely take us a while to move our way through. This is our own little photo journal, and in no small part, this idea is copied from Briarflower’s A Long Walk (so thank you for that!).
To make this a little more interesting for us, and to also help me to show my little guy the difference between the time of “The Hobbit” and the latter setting of LOTR, we’ve created a new character, Slamwise, a second cousin twice removed of the more well known Samwise, and a cousin of Halfast who once saw a walking elm tree in the north moors. I've created a bit of an RP backstory for him, to find a way to make sense of having him follow Bilbo's path.
As well, I’d like to quote bits out of The Hobbit, but I’m afraid that probably violates the ToS, so I’ll just put short little bits and clearly note if they’re Tolkien quotes, which I hope will be okay. We will be adding to this a little bit at a time, maybe weekly, maybe a little more often, as we walk around the Shire and make our way to Rivendell and maybe points East. My little guy is driving Slamwise and learning the controls as we go, so the walking speed suits us just fine. If you happen to see Slamwise wandering about (we're still in the Shire) feel free to say hi, but we may not answer - it's hard to type in the chat box when your seven year old is still figuring out the keyboard.
“Mad Baggins”, thought Slamwise, “may not have been so mad after all.” Slamwise had just taken his first trip to Staddle and Archet. The trip had turned frightening – a dark rider, a mysterious evil priest, and in the end, he was a witness to the burning of Archet. He was still shocked and stunned by the memories, and had no desire to ever leave the Shire again. And someone had to return that annoying Lotho Sackville-Baggins to Hobbiton.
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"Dad, didn't we see that place in LOTRO?" So, we’ve now started to visit the places of Bilbo’s original journey, taking a look around, and taking a screenshot or two. We’re only reading a few pages a day at bedtime, so it will likely take us a while to move our way through. This is our own little photo journal, and in no small part, this idea is copied from Briarflower’s A Long Walk (so thank you for that!).
To make this a little more interesting for us, and to also help me to show my little guy the difference between the time of “The Hobbit” and the latter setting of LOTR, we’ve created a new character, Slamwise, a second cousin twice removed of the more well known Samwise, and a cousin of Halfast who once saw a walking elm tree in the north moors. I've created a bit of an RP backstory for him, to find a way to make sense of having him follow Bilbo's path.
As well, I’d like to quote bits out of The Hobbit, but I’m afraid that probably violates the ToS, so I’ll just put short little bits and clearly note if they’re Tolkien quotes, which I hope will be okay. We will be adding to this a little bit at a time, maybe weekly, maybe a little more often, as we walk around the Shire and make our way to Rivendell and maybe points East. My little guy is driving Slamwise and learning the controls as we go, so the walking speed suits us just fine. If you happen to see Slamwise wandering about (we're still in the Shire) feel free to say hi, but we may not answer - it's hard to type in the chat box when your seven year old is still figuring out the keyboard.
“Mad Baggins”, thought Slamwise, “may not have been so mad after all.” Slamwise had just taken his first trip to Staddle and Archet. The trip had turned frightening – a dark rider, a mysterious evil priest, and in the end, he was a witness to the burning of Archet. He was still shocked and stunned by the memories, and had no desire to ever leave the Shire again. And someone had to return that annoying Lotho Sackville-Baggins to Hobbiton.
