I shan't call it the end, till we've cleared up all the mess...and that'll take a lot of time and work

Don't let him go! Kill him! He's a villain and a murderer. Kill him!

When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you

Even if your war...was just...what will you say of your torches in the Westfold and the children that lie dead there?

We will have peace, when you and all your works have perished...You are a liar...and a corrupter of men's hearts

Awake! Awake! Fear, Fire, Foes! Awake! Fire, Foes! Awake!

So it's begun at last! I've been itching for trouble all this year, but folks wouldn't help. And I've had the wife and Rosie to think of. These ruffians don't stick at nothing. But come on now, lads! Bywater is up! We must be in it!

Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be important, but don't at all understand what is really going on. But...folk have been so comfortable so long they don't know what to do

If we all got angry together, something might be done We can master them, if we stick together

I hoped to have a rest, but I can see there's work and trouble ahead It's no good "getting under cover." That is just what these ruffians like...No, we have got to do something at once.

All the ruffians do what he says; and what he says is mostly: hack, burn, and ruin; and now it's come to killing. There's no longer even any bad sense in it.

They've shot one or two of our folk

They've made...prisons for those as stand up to them. He sends them round everywhere, and if any of us small folk stand up for our rights, they drag him off to the Lockholes...often they beat 'em now

They're always a-hammering and a-letting out a smoke and a stench...and they pour out filth a purpose...if they want to make the Shire into a desert, they're going the right way about it. It comes home to you, as they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was all ruined.

The ruffians are on top, gathering, robbing and bullying, and running or ruining things as they like Scaring Breeland peasants, and bullying bewildered hobbits

A lot of Men, ruffians mostly, came...And before we knew where we were they were planted here and there all over...soon they began lording it around and taking what they wanted. Then there was a bit of trouble, but not enough.

Even in the Shire there are some as like minding other folk's business and talking big

He already did own a sight more than was good for him; and he was always grabbing more, though where he got the money was a mystery. Of course he started with a lot of property...which he had from his dad

What I thought might be the first outright chronological contradiction I've found so far in the #LOTR narrative itself had to do with the conspiracy of Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Fredegar to find out why Frodo is leaving the Shire, and to assist and accompany him. (But I was probably wrong!)

Every now and again I feel obliged to repost David E. Alter Jr's brilliant 1982 pic Bilbo's Great Adventure. Like a cross between a Victorian neo-medieval tapestry and an 8-bit platform game it condenses the whole story of The Hobbit into one image. My fave #Tolkien detail...that awesome little Bard

#timelinetuesday: Another #LOTR #Tolkien timeline mystery I've come across is: When in the year do hobbits consider each new season to start? I think they might consider summer to start on June 1, autumn on September 1, winter on December 1, and spring on March 1. Keep reading to find out why!

I was going to try to do #timelinetuesday every week but research for last week's post got a little out of hand, so it's incoming for this week!

yeah I’m into LOTR Loving Others and Treating them with Respect 🥰

It's #timelinetuesday! Have you ever wondered: what is the date of the narrative at the very beginning of #LOTR? #Tolkien doesn't make it easy, but we can narrow it down to between September 1 and 12th, TA 3001 (SR 1401). How? Keep reading!

1/ What is the lone red star shining low in the south before the Company departs Rivendell? Is it simply Mars/Carnil? Is it an actual star? Or is this supernatural, something to do with Sauron? If so, what is it?

1/ I've been looking at all references to the phase and position of the moon in #LOTR. On Sept 26th (SR), Frodo dreams about Gandalf escaping Orthanc, and "he saw the young moon rising". On that date, it was indeed very close to a new moon. But...